Early Saalian landscape dynamics in the Saale-Elbe region (Profen opencast mine, Central Germany): fluvial sedimentation, vegetation history and geochemistry

• Published in: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften
• Main Authors: Junge, F.W., Novenko, Elena, Seifert-Eulen, M., Böttger, Tatjana
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 2008
• Subjects: diapirism; fluvial sediments; gravel terrace; pollen; Early Saalian; Fuhne; Quaternary; Central Germany; Ice; permafrost; wedge*
• Online Access: https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=1072; https://doi.org/10.1127/1860-1804/2008/0159-0221

The paper presents palynological and geochemical investigations of fluviolimnic sediments from the Early Saalian gravel terrace of the Weiße Elster River (opencast lignite mine Profen-South). The results are discussed in conjunction with other Early Saalian records from Central Germany. Sedimentological (ice-wedge casts, cryoturbations, diapirism), geochemical (C/TN, stable isotope) and pollen data show that the transitional epoch from the Holsteinian Interglacial to the first Saalian Glacial ice advance (Drenthe advance) was characterized by alternating cooler (stadial) and warmer (interstadial) events that represent climatic oscillations of low magnitude. The observed warming phases, which are accompanied by permafrost decay, show no indications of interglacial conditions. For Central Germany, reliable findings for the existence of a Wacken/Dömnitz Interglacial are absent. Apparently, the warming was of interstadial rank only. Climatically induced changes of the water balance reflect the specific history of the fluvial stillwater environment and vegetation in an open periglacial fluvial landscape.