the chronology of holocene alluvial sediments from the wetterau germany provided by optical and 14c dating holocene floodplain chronologies are often hard to establish the principal limitation being the scarc ity of organic remains in the present study optical dating of flood loam was carried out in

identification of neolithic to modern erosion sedimentation phases using geochemical approach in a loess covered sub catchment of south moravia czech republic abstract a colluvial soil with a 380 cm deep humus enriched horizon was studied in a loess region of south moravia czech republic which is characterized by a strong soil material re deposition distribution of soil properties within the colluvial soil profile was used for distinguishing the different sedimentation phases and understanding colluvial soil formation the colluvial profile is stratified into different horizons distinguishable by a specific distribution of basic soil properties soil organic carbon content carbonate content or soil reaction in the profile low organic carbon content 0 6 0 8 and increased carbonate content up to 8 in the upper 260 cm indicates a rapid change of the soil cover and significant admixture of loess parent material in the sediment an abrupt increase of organic carbon content 2 and no carbonates between 300 and 380 cm is evidence of a buried chernozem at this depth antropogenically induced substances such as pesticide residues or increased nutrient content connected to agricultural practices enables the detection of sedimentation periods the peak ddt content up to 0 04 mg kg at the depth of 50 150 cm clearly delineates the material sedimented in the 1950s 1970s and material sedimented in earlier or later stages the same trend can be traced in phosphorus and potassium content given by intensive use of fertilizers at a given time period the potential use of lead and cadmium as another indicator of anthropogenic influence at some stage of soil sedimentation was not proven due to their low concentration in the colluvial profile three phases of soil erosion and sedimentation were distinguished each reflecting different land use and intensity of agriculture the highest amount of soil material 2 m deposited in the colluvial profile can be attributed to the last and shortest erosional phase corresponding to intensive agriculture and massive land consolidation in the last 70 years

littoral landforms and pedosedimentary sequences indicating late holocene lake level changes in northern central europe a case study from northeastern germany abstract a multidisciplinary study was carried out at lake groser furstenseer see lfs in order to explore the potential of littoral sediments palaeosols and landforms as indicators of historical lake level changes this research was initiated to investigate the extent to which lakes in northern central europe responded hydrologically to climatic and land use changes in the last millennium specific landforms investigated comprise lake terraces beach ridges local basins peatlands and dunes revealing a wealth of sedimentary sub environments at the lakeshore eleven sections were recorded with subsequent sedimentological pedological geochronological osl 14c and palaeobotanical pollen macro remains analyses most of the pedosedimentary littoral sequences show a succession of basal glacial sand intermediate palaeosols and lacustrine sand on top a broader number of semi terrestrial buried palaeosols along the lakeshore were systematically identified and analysed providing evidence for changing hydrological conditions during the late holocene additional historical data from the last centuries e g maps aerial photos public records allow the lake levels reconstructed from geoarchives to be connected with modern gauging data all local data sources available enable a tracing of lake level changes of the lfs during the last millennium comprising periods of relatively low c 1200 ad 2000s ad and relatively high water levels c 1250 1450 ad c 1780 ad 1980s ad the amplitude of lake level changes during the last c 1000 years amounts to c 3 m so that the fluctuations of the last 30 years recorded by lake level monitoring only reflect a small amount of the potential variability regional climate and local land use history suggest that the medieval lake level dynamics of lfs were primarily governed by climate and secondarily influenced by human impact on the drainage system at present the lake level is additionally influenced by the impact of highly water consuming pine plantations in the catchment area the regional significance of the local development at lfs can be demonstrated by comparison with other regional and supra regional lake level data the present study underlines the potential of a closer examination of the littoral zone for lake level reconstructions with high altitudinal precision

phases of soil erosion derived colluviation in the loess hills of south germany in south germany soil erosion is as old as farming and dates back to early neolithic times its sedimentary products form thick colluvial and alluvial sediment bodies in all drainage basins numerous local studies exist but the extrapolation of findings from local case studies to a regional scale has been problematic here a graphical approach is used for frequency analysis of existing data a frequency distribution for optical dates on colluvial sediments from the beginning of agriculture until 1200 ad was constructed by 1 representing the optical ages by gaussian distributions and 2 summing all the single curves the resulting graph clearly shows phases of increased colluviation during periods of stronger human impact a first significant increase occurred during the bronze age during the iron age roman period and at around 800 ad distinct maxima appear in the distribution and highest frequencies are present towards the end of the analysed period at around 1100 ad conclusions that can be drawn from such an approach are limited by sampling bias and other factors but for the analysed period and on a regional and long term scale colluviation seems to have been mainly triggered by intensity of land use climatic fluctuations are of only secondary importance rainfall events that were sufficiently erosive to produce colluvial sediments occurred throughout the agricultural periods the limiting factor for colluvium production was sensitivity of the landscape to erosion and this is a result of land use d 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

the tertiary structural and thermal evolution of the central alps compressional and extensional structures in an orogenic belt the western alpine arc has been created during the cretaceous and the tertiary orogenies the interference patterns of the tertiary structures suggest their formation during continental collision of the european and the adriatic plates with an accompanying anticlockwise rotation of the adriatic indenter extensional structures are mainly related to ductile deformation by simple shear these structures developed at a deep tectonic level in granitic crustal rocks at depths in excess of 10 km in the early palaeogene period of the tertiary orogeny the main tertiary nappe emplacement resulted from a nw thrusting of the austroalpine penninic and helvetic nappes heating of the deep zone of the upper cretaceous and tertiary nappe stack by geothermal heat flow is responsible for the tertiary regional metamorphism reaching amphibolite facies conditions in the lepontine gneiss dome geothermal gradient 25 c km the tertiary thrusting occurred mainly during prograde metamorphic conditions with creation of a penetrative nw se oriented stretching lineation xi finite extension parallel to the direction of simple shear earliest cooling after the culmination of the tertiary metamorphism some 38 ma ago is recorded by the cooling curves of the monte rosa and mischabel nappes to the west and the suretta nappe to the east of the lepontine gneiss dome the onset of dextral transpression with a strong extension parallel to the mountain belt and the oldest s vergent backfolding took place some 35 to 30 ma ago during retrograde amphibolite facies conditions and before the intrusion of the oligocene dikes north of the periadriatic line the main updoming of the lepontine gneiss dome started some 32 30 ma ago with the intrusion of the bergell tonalites and granodiorites concomitant with s vergent backfolding and backthrusting and dextral strike slip movements along the tonale and canavese lines argand s insubric phase subsequently the center of main updoming migrated slowly to the west reaching the simplon region some 20 ma ago this was contemporaneous with the westward migration of the adriatic indenter between 20 ma and the present the western aar massif toce culmination was the center of strong uplift the youngest s vergent backfolds the glishorn anticline and the berisal syncline fold the 12 ma rb sr biotite isochron and are cut by the 11 ma old rhone simplon line the discrete rhone simplon line represents a late retrograde manifestation in the preexisting ductile simplon shear zone this fault zone is still active today the oligocene neogene dextral transpression and extension in the simplon area were concurrent with thrusting to the northwest of the helvetic nappes the prealpes 35 15 ma and with the jura thin skinned thrust 11 3 ma it was also contemporaneous with thrusting to the south of the bergamasc 35 5 ma and milan thrusts 16 5 ma the oligocene neogene dextral transpression in the central alps is of the same age as the thrusting to the west and southwest in the external french part and to the east in the internal italian part of the alpine arc of the western alps

holocene soil formation and soil erosion at a slope beneath the neolithic earthwork salzmunde saxony anhalt germany abstract phases of formation and erosion of holocene soils were reconstructed based on a sequence of buried soil horizons and colluvial layers at a lower slope section beneath the neolithic earthwork of salzmunde germany the chronology is based on eight radiocarbon ages of charcoal soil organic matter as well as on archaeological age estimations of embedded artefacts until ca 2200 bc a chernozemic a c soil developed in fluvially redeposited loess the occurrence of charcoal the darker colour and a shift of soil matrix radiocarbon age indicate an alteration of the upper part of the humus horizon probably related to anthropogenic activities at ca 2200 bc this soil was probably buried rapidly by a colluvial layer at ca 2200 bc until ca 900 ad a phase of less intensive land use with slope stability followed during this phase a pedogenetic alteration probably under forest cover in the watershed and the deposition area of the upper part of the loess the buried soil and the prehistoric sediment occurred formation of chernozem cambisol the upper part of a dated humic crotowina fill was involved in pedogenesis as well soil formation is indicated by changes in soil colour brown pedogenic iron clay content the mineral assemblage of the clay fraction and magnetic susceptibility during medieval times ca 900 1500 ad two colluvial layers with a cumulative thickness of about 1 m buried this soil the partial destruction of the archaeological remains at the plateau started at this time during modern times since 1500 ad the deposition of two colluvial layers of a cumulative thickness of about 1 m completed the sequence of holocene slope deposits the results imply that the chernozem at the site might have been altered by prehistoric land use and altered further into a chernozem cambisol during a phase of slope stability of about 3000 years between the bronze age and medieval times the detected brunification processes took place at unexpected high rates

a giant deep seated slope deformation in the italian alps studied by paleoseismological and morphometric techniques this work proves the existence of a large deep seated gravitational slope deformation dgsd in a hilly region of the southwestern alps whereas dgsd are usually linked with high relief energy in mountain environments moreover we describe the usefulness of applying paleoseismological techniques by means of trench excavation to date and understand the deformation history and genesis of recent morphostructures and we found evidence of causative relationships between dgsd and surface landslides the studied dgsd of mt croce della tola mt scincina italy is the largest of the western alps it is 7 km long and involves a minimum area of 16 km2 with a volume 3 5 km3 probably extending further ne beneath lake maggiore surface several parallel scarps representing the surface expression of slip planes affect the upper part of the slope whereas the lower part presents a convex profile dgsd at mt croce della tola started in the last interglacial period 120 40 ka bp and the following glacial phase was not able to significantly modify the general slope geometry post glacial deformation also occurred especially at mt scincina after 25 ka bp post glacial and active surface landslides developed on the convex lower part of the slope suggesting that they resulted from instability due to the new profile assumed by the slopes during the deep seated deformation the occurrence of mt scincina dgsd with a very low topographic gradient is interpreted as an effect induced by on other large dgsd

brittle ductile transition zone in the northern bergell alps along the northern contact of bergell granite the style of deformation changes from ductile mylonites at high metamorphic grade amphibolite facies in the west val bondasca to brittle faulting at low grade greenschist facies in the east maloja this transition is documented with large scale structural observations petrofabric data and microstructure which suggest that faulting in the margneta maloja casaccia region is related to emplacement of the bergell granite and not extending beyond isola rather than to a large scale strike slip fault engadine line

the processes and timing of sediment delivery from headwaters to the trunk stream of a central european mountain gully catchment abstract gully systems determine downstream water quality and sediment loads since they are located where streams begin they are often only considered as a sediment source and the degree to which gully systems also store sediment and the timescales of this storage have received less attention gully sediment storage is important because many sedimentary archives such as floodplains and lakes have recorded increases in sedimentation rates particularly in medieval times which are interpreted as the result of increased slope erosion and gully activity at present there is insufficient evidence directly linking such other sedimentary archives and gully systems there is also a lack of long term records which may indicate how the major external controls climatic or anthropogenic might determine gully responses to address this we analysed sediment sources and sinks within a small 43 ha gully catchment in the spessart mountains germany we found five main phases of erosion and deposition since 13 ka which revealed catchment vegetation significantly controlled geomorphic responses a loss of vegetation due to climate deterioration e g younger dryas or deforestation e g medieval period caused widespread slope instability and the aggradation of the gully thalweg in contrast well forested conditions before the medieval period and again in recent years re stabilised the slopes leading to gully incision with knickpoint retreat this result differs from previous interpretations of gully activity in central europe that gully erosion mostly occurred in medieval times our results also demonstrate that only the initial phase of knickpoint retreat is significant for supplying sediment to the gully fan and trunk stream then knickpoint retreat leads to a relative increase in the thalweg storage capacity downstream which limits further sediment export this has important implications for the interpretation of floodplain ages since the initial supply of gully sediment to trunk streams may not coincide with human impact instead there will be a lagged response between catchment reforestation and the onset of gully incision which in this study is up to 150 years therefore the assumption of a direct causal link between increases in floodplain sedimentation and slope erosion may not always be valid

lateglacial to holocene pedogenesis and formation of colluvial deposits in a loess landscape of central europe wetterau germany abstract loess areas in central europe have been settled since ancient times and are therefore predestined to archive information about both the paleoenvironment with and without human activities in gentle rolling loess landscapes distinct short and shallow valleys so called dells are prominent landscape elements that act as sediment traps the loess paleosol colluvium lpc sequence of gambach wetterau germany can be regarded as an exceptional sequence for lateglacial holocene pedogenesis and human impact in dry loess landscapes with the lpc sequence of gambach reflects climate controlled pedogenesis from ca 15 ka to 4 7 ka with the formation of a cambisol having some properties related to chernozem soil forming processes during the lateglacial a chernozem is developed in the deposits of the laacher see tephra which still show the influence of periglacial climate in their lowermost part the upper part of these deposits was relocated by colluvial processes at around 6 7 ka chernozem soil forming processes were still ongoing until 4 7 ka when these shifted to luvisol formation which is still active today since 4 7 ka extended land use with indications of agricultural fire use since at least 2 3 ka led to the formation of colluvial deposits combined with a topographic leveling of upland positions on a landscape scale the results of the formative element of humans on loess landscapes from the wetterau can also be taken as representative for around 9400 km2 of dry loess landscapes in central europe

mid pleistocene acheulean like stone technology of the bose basin south china stone artifacts from the bose basin south china are associated with tektites dated to 803 000 3000 years ago and represent the oldest known large cutting tools lcts in east asia bose toolmaking is compatible with mode 2 acheulean technologies in africa in its targeted manufacture and biased spatial distribution of lcts large scale flaking and high flake scar counts acheulean like tools in the mid pleistocene of south china imply that mode 2 technical advances were manifested in east asia contemporaneously with handaxe technology in africa and western eurasia bose lithic technology is associated with a tektite airfall and forest burning

holocene sediment accumulation rates in the western loess plateau china and a 2500 year record of agricultural activity revealed by osl dating high resolution optically stimulated luminescence osl dating of a terraced loess section in the western margins of the chinese loess plateau provides evidence of continuous and varying accumulation of dust throughout the holocene from 12030 to 2500 years ago the sediment accumulation rate was approxi mately 0 2 mm year after this time it increased to approximately 0 8 mm year during a historically docu mented period of agricultural expansion in adjacent areas from 680 years ago a further increase in accumu lation rate to approximately 3 4 mm year is evident particle size analysis indicates that this increase in accumulation rate was associated with anthropogenic addition of sandy sediment probably for soil improve ment the osl dating also identifies the period when the terrace was first cut for agricultural use between 2500 and 2070 years ago

quantifying historical gully erosion in northern bavaria the wolfsgraben is one of many ravines that cut into the silty sandy material of the triassic benchlands of northern bavaria germany within the research area a gully several meters in depth has carved in to a bluff 500 m west of the upper main valley an analysis of 17 exposures and 30 drillings was conducted within the gully and its colluvial fan in order to reconstruct the soil formation extreme rainfall events and land use changes throughout history detailed field studies chemical soil analysis dating methods of charcoal and pottery as well as written documents were combined to produce a high resolution stratigraphy nine main phases of landscape evolution caused by extreme rainfall runoff and soil erosion in agriculturally used areas have been identified since the medieval period the highest amount of soil loss occurred during 14th 18th and 19th centuries a result of intensive land use climate changes affected the intensity of rainfall and the magnitude of soil loss during these periods d 2003 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

changes in sediment flux and storage within a fluvial system some examples from the rhine catchment the rhine river system can look back on a long history of human impact whereas significant anthropogenic changes to the river channel started only 200 years ago the impacts of land use have been felt for more than 7500 years here we review results from several case studies and show how land use change and climate impacts have transformed the fluvial system we focus on changes in sediment delivery pathways and slope channel coupling and show that these vary in time and depend on the magnitude of a rainfall event these changes must be accounted for when trying to use sediments as archives of land use change and climatic impacts on fluvial systems for example human impact is recorded in slope deposits only as long as rainfall intensity and runoff generation do not exceed the threshold for gullying similarly climatic impacts are only recorded in alluvium when both the landscape is rendered sensitive by human activities e g deforestation and rainfall thresholds for gullying are exceeded copyright 2003 john wiley sons ltd

two stage mid brunhes climate transition and mid pleistocene human diversification abstract global climate shifted to markedly warmer interglacial conditions across the mid brunhes transition mbt 400 ka however a global mbt synthesis that spans marine and terrestrial evidence remains elusive which limits our understanding of the role of the mbt in mid pleistocene human evolution we synthesize asian precipitation reconstructions within a context of global palaeoclimatic records and find that the mbt occurred in two stages first stronger warming of northern hemisphere continents weaker southern hemisphere warming and related more extensive northward displacement of the intertropical convergence zone itcz during interglacial marine isotope stage mis 13 intensified and expanded precipitation in asian monsoon regions and in other widespread northern hemisphere regions with accompanying carbon reservoir changes featuring globally high marine benthic 13c values because of vegetation expansion at 500 ka subdued southern hemisphere warming and northward itcz displacement decreased southern hemisphere precipitation simultaneously during mis 13 second a shift to globally warmer interglacials at 400 ka with elevated atmospheric co2 concentrations smaller ice volume and higher sea level resulted in sustained high interglacial precipitation in east asia from mis 11 onward and sustained high marine benthic 13c values during mis 11 we also synthesize palaeoanthropological data and find that the climate and ecosystem changes across the mbt coincided with the timing of human lineage diversification including the emergence of neanderthals and denisovans in eurasia and homo sapiens in africa and their potential coexistence with h heidelbergensis h erectus h floresiensis h naledi and other homo archaics the timing of the mbt also coincided with novel hominin behavioural developments including fire control and the transition from handaxe industries to more versatile levallois techniques combined with environmental theories of human evolution this chronological coincidence suggests a potential link between mid pleistocene environmental changes and human evolution

the middle pleistocene handaxe site of shuangshu in the danjiangkou reservoir region central china abstract the presence of acheulean tool types e g handaxes and cleavers in east asia has recently attracted considerable attention they challenge the long lasting concept that the early palaeolithic in east asia is characterized only by mode 1 technology and they reflect the diversity and complexity of palaeolithic culture during hundreds of thousands of years in this paper we present a detailed technological analysis of the in situ artifact assemblage at the shuangshu site danjiangkou reservoir region central china as well as intra and inter regional comparisons of some characteristic traits used to test the difference between handaxes in the east and the west the results show that there are two reduction sequences taking place one is expressed in the predominant use of quartz in the production the small to medium sized artifacts which is an expedient technology that dominates the whole assemblage and the other is represented by the predominant use of quartz phyllite and trachyte in the production of large cutting tools lcts the latter displays the technical criteria characteristic of acheulean technology although its origins are much debated in addition the number of lcts and total artifacts is generally low for the size of the excavation area which probably is a result of relatively small population size and the high mobility of hominids the thickness of handaxes has been shown not to be a reliable variable in demonstrating the difference between the east and the west

are mid latitude slopes sensitive to climatic oscillations implications from an early holocene sequence of slope deposits and buried soils from eastern germany abstract on a straight slope within the lake catchment of kleiner tornowsee brandenburg germany a sequence of slope sediments has been deposited during the late glacial the early holocene and around cal 4 2 ka before today 800 500 and 300 years ago the chronology is based on 21 radiocarbon dates and 11 osl dates and a deposition model including the numerical data as well as stratigraphic information has been calculated with oxcal 4 1 a comparison of the woody taxa of charcoal particles n 566 embedded within the sediments with the known regional vegetation history confirmed the reliability of the dates according to the age volume and distribution the deposition of the early holocene sediments at ca 10 3 kyrs ca 9 5 kyrs and ca 8 2 to 7 7 kyrs before today strongly suggests an influence of known climatic deteriorations phases on geomorphologic processes cold and dry climatic conditions probably promoted wildfires in pinus dominated forests and therefore triggered the observed repeated slope instability in consequence mid latitude slope deposits provide a potential to reconstruct the geomorphological response to climatic events at a high spatial resolution in contrast the recorded mid to late holocene soil erosion phases on the slope have been triggered by land use activities apart from traditional environmental archives slope deposits provide valuable information about the vegetation and climate history

magnetostratigraphic dating of the donggutuo and maliang paleolithic sites in the nihewan basin north china a detailed magnetostratigraphic investigation coupled with rock magnetic studies was carried out on a lacustrine sequence in the eastern nihewan basin northern china which contains the donggutuo and maliang paleolithic sites magnetite and hematite were identified as the main carriers for the characteristic remanent magnetizations magnetostratigraphic results show that the lacustrine sequence recorded the late matuyama and brunhes chrons furthermore the maliang artifact layer occurs just below the brunhes matuyama boundary and the donggutuo artifact layer is just below the jaramillo onset therefore the age of the maliang and donggutuo artifact layers can be definitely estimated to be about 0 78 myr and 1 1 myr respectively these two paleomagnetic ages coupled with previously obtained paleomagnetic data of the majuangou xiaochangliang banshan lantian and xihoudu paleolithic sites suggest an expansion and lengthy flourishing of human groups from northern to north central china during the entire early pleistocene

the existence of open areas during the mesolithic evidence from aeolian sediments in the elbe jeetzel area northern germany abstract traditionally mesolithic hunter gatherer cultures are supposed to have lived in a primeval forest environment with a closed vegetation cover during the early and mid holocene it is not until the onset of subsequent neolithic agricultural societies that the development of more expansive open areas is assumed therefore our perception of the mesolithic economy in the european lowlands is highly affected by the idaea of adaptation to dense forest environments and a very stable system of resource exploitation however recent palaeoenvironmental studies provide evidence that areas of open landscapes must have existed at least temporarily during the mesolithic and evoke the question whether human impact may be accountable for this re activation of late glacial inland dunes may serve as an indicator for vegetation clearances using both optically stimulated luminescence osl and 14 c dates from five inland dune sites with traces of mesolithic activity in the elbe jeetzel area n germany we prove that asynchronous events of aeolian sedimentation persisted during the mesolithic especially during the older mesolithic around 9000 a and the late mesolithic from 7000 a and 6000 a there is no evidence that holocene climatic deteriorations like the 8 2 ka event had an effect on the intensity of aeolian sedimentation we conclude that either natural factors or mesolithic human impact or most likely a combination of both must have been a major driving force for the creation of open areas and thus ongoing aeolian activity while supra regional climatic causes seem less probable a prominent younger phase of human induced aeolian activity was identified during the late neolithic

a multi layered prehistoric settlement structure tell at niederroblingen germany and its implications at least 15 settlement layers deposited above each other from the early neolithic ca 5300 cal bc until roman imperial times ca 400 cal ad have been discovered at niederr blingen germany constituting the longest duration of prehistoric settlement in central europe so far known ca 4000 yrs the site is thought to represent the first multi layered settlement mound tell north of the alps this implicates that the occurrence of settlement mound is not limited to the circum mediterranean area the detailed chronology based on archaeological radiocarbon and osl dating and supporting a bayesian model shows one clear occupational gap early neolithic and a possible hiatus roman times erosion phases of the settlement mound and the deposition of alluvial sediments since roman imperial times in the surroundings resulted in an almost complete disappearance of the mound from the recent scenery being difficult to detect similar sites might be present undetected in central europe their discovery and study would enable the precise reconstruction of the settlement history as well as of the prehistoric man environmental interactions at a high resolution

reconstructing rates and patterns of colluvial soil redistribution in agrarian hummocky landscapes humans have triggered or accelerated erosion processes since prehistoric times through agricultural practices optically stimulated luminescence osl is widely used to quantify phases and rates of the corresponding landscape change by measuring the last moment of daylight exposure of sediments however natural and anthropogenic mixing processes such as bioturbation and tillage complicate the use of osl as grains of different depositional ages become mixed and grains become exposed to light even long after the depositional event of interest instead osl determines the stabilization age indicating when sediments were buried below the active mixing zone these stabilization ages can cause systematic underestimation when calculating deposition rates our focus is on colluvial deposition in a kettle hole in the uckermark region northeastern germany we took 32 samples from five locations in the colluvium filling the kettle hole to study both spatial and temporal patterns in colluviation we combined osl dating with advanced age modelling to determine the stabilization age of colluvial sediments these ages were combined with an archaeological reconstruction of historical ploughing depths to derive the levels of the soil surface at the moment of stabilization the deposition depths which were then used to calculate unbiased deposition rates we identified two phases of colluvial deposition the oldest deposits 5 ka were located at the fringe of the kettle hole and accumulated relatively slowly whereas the youngest deposits 0 3 ka rapidly filled the central kettle hole with rates of two orders of magnitude higher we suggest that the latter phase is related to artificial drainage facilitating accessibility in the central depression for agricultural practices our results show the need for numerical dating techniques that take archaeological and soil geomorphological information into account to identify spatiotemporal patterns of landscape change and to correctly interpret landscape dynamics in anthropogenically influenced hilly landscapes

lateglacial environmental and climatic changes at the maloja pass central swiss alps as recorded by chironomids and pollen abstract chironomids and pollen were studied in a radiocarbon dated sediment sequence obtained from a former lake near the maloja pass in the central swiss alps 1865 m a s l to reconstruct the lateglacial environment pollen assemblages imply a vegetation development around the maloja pass from shrub tundra at the beginning of the allerod to coniferous forest during the early holocene with a lowering of the timberline during the younger dryas chironomid assemblages are characterized by several abrupt shifts in dominant taxa through the lateglacial the occurrence of taxa able to survive hypoxia in the second part of the allerod and during the preboreal and their disappearance at the onset of the younger dryas cold phase suggest summer thermal stratification and unfavourable hypolimnetic oxygen conditions in the palaeo lake during the warmer periods of the lateglacial interstadial and early holocene mean july air temperatures were reconstructed using a chironomid temperature transfer function from the alpine region the pattern of reconstructed temperature changes agrees well with the greenland 18 o record and other lateglacial temperature inferences from central europe the inferred july temperatures of ca 10 0 c during most of the allerod were slightly lower than modern values 10 8 c and increased up to ca 11 7 c i e above present day values at the end of the allerod the first part of the younger dryas was colder ca 8 8 c than the second part ca 9 8 c during most of the preboreal the temperatures persisted within the limits of 13 5 14 5 c i e ca 3 c above present day values the amplitudes of temperature changes at the allerod younger dryas preboreal transitions were ca 3 5 4 0 c the temperature reconstruction also shows three short lived cooling events of ca 1 5 2 0 c which may be attributed to the centennial scale greenland interstadial events gi 1d and gi 1b and the preboreal oscillation

sedimentological study of the stratigraphy at the site of homo erectus yunxianensis in the upper hanjiang river valley china abstract geomorphological and sedimentological investigations were carried out in the upper hanjiang river valley the sediments in the profile at the site of homo erectus yunxianensis were sampled systematically magnetic susceptibility loss on ignition particle size distribution and geochemical elements were analyzed in the laboratory the results show that the medium sand and gravel beds in the lower part of the profile are fluvial deposits of the third terrace land of the hanjiang river the upper part is a blanket of aeolian loess and palaeosol deposited from dust storms and dust falls according to stratigraphical correlation and palaeomagnetic dating the carbonate nodules encasing the fossils of h erectus yunxianensis and other mammalian faunas were formed during 800 785 ka the palaeosol overlying on the fossil layer is defined as the s8 that was developed during the mis 19 and the aeolian loess below the fossil layer is defined as l9 that was deposited during mis 20 these loess and palaeosol are similar to those over the chinese loess plateau and correlatable with those in the luochuan loess profile they are very different from the fluvial deposits in the hanjiang river valley these indicate that h erectus yunxianensis lived at a climatic transition from glacial to interglacial these results are very important in understanding the environment of h erectus yunxianensis in the upper hanjiang river valley

the importance of independent chronology in integrating records of past climate change for the 60 8 ka intimate time interval this paper provides a brief overview of the most common dating techniques applied in palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental studies including four radiometric and isotopic dating methods radiocarbon 230th disequilibrium luminescence cosmogenic nuclides and two incremental methods based on layer counting ice layer varves for each method concise background information about the fundamental principles and methodological approaches is provided we concentrate on the time interval of focus for the intimate integrating ice core marine and terrestrial records community 60 8 ka this dating guide addresses palaeoclimatologists who aim at interpretation of their often regional and local proxy time series in a wider spatial context and therefore have to rely on correlation with proxy records obtained from different archives from various regions for this reason we especially emphasise scientific approaches for harmonising chronologies for sophisticated and robust proxy data integration in this respect up to date age modelling techniques are presented as well as tools for linking records by age equivalence including tephrochronology cosmogenic 10be and palaeomagnetic variations finally to avoid inadequate documentation of chronologies and assure reliable correlation of proxy time series this paper provides recommendations for minimum standards of uncertainty and age datum reporting

colluvium definition differentiation and possible suitability for reconstructing holocene climate data abstract this study examines whether colluvial soils store climatic data and if these data can be used as proxies colluvial soils as the correlated sediments of soil erosion represent a widespread geoarchive these soils store the morphology data of the eroded soils and contain clues as to the processes of the eroded soils formation as well as indications of the pedogenesis which took place after the deposition all of these processes are closely related to climatic factors especially rainfall this study discusses the genesis of young soils in colluvial sediments and shows that typical soil features may be related to climatic factors furthermore the study investigates the genesis of anthropogenic colluvial sediments which must be seen as a syngenetical product of relief field size time of usage pressure of population farming technique sediment erodibility deposition area and climatic factors to this end pedogenic features are separated from the sedimentological features the results show that the reconstruction of all factors which control the genesis of the formation of a colluvium is still not yet possible this is the necessary precondition for colluvial soils to yield proxy climate data or for the data to be correlated with already existing holocene climate archives as the results of our discussion are ambiguous in their interpretation we conclude that colluvial soils which clearly include climatic information cannot be used for the reconstruction of proxy climate data at present

soil erosion along a transect in a forested catchment recent or ancient processes abstract forested areas are assumed not to be influenced by erosion processes however forest soils of northern germany in a hummocky ground moraine landscape can sometimes exhibit a very shallow thickness on crest positions and buried soils on slope positions the question consequently is are these on going or ancient erosional and depositional processes plutonium isotopes act as soil erosion deposition tracers for recent last few decades processes here we quantified the 239 240pu inventories in a small forested catchment ancient forest melzower forst deciduous trees which is characterised by a hummocky terrain including a kettle hole soil development depths depth to c horizon and 239 240pu inventories along a catena of sixteen different profiles were determined and correlated to relief parameters moreover we compared different modelling approaches to derive erosion rates from pu data we find a strong relationship between soil development depths distance to sink and topography along the catena fully developed retisols thicknesses 1 m in the colluvium overlay old land surfaces as documented by fossil ah horizons however we found no relationship of pu based erosion rates to any relief parameter instead 239 240pu inventories showed a very high local spatial variability 36 70 bq m 2 low annual rainfall spatially distributed interception and stem flow might explain the high variability of the 239 240pu inventories giving rise to a patchy input pattern different models resulted in quite similar erosion and deposition rates max 5 t ha 1 yr 1 to 7 3 t ha 1 yr 1 although some rates are rather high the magnitude of soil erosion and deposition in terms of soil thickness change is negligible during the last 55 years the partially high values are an effect of the patchy pu deposition on the forest floor this forest has been protected for at least 240 years therefore rather natural events and anthropogenic activities during medieval times or even earlier must have caused the observed soil pattern which documents strong erosion and deposition processes

aeolian sands and buried soils in the mecklenburg lake district ne germany holocene land use history and pedo geomorphic response abstract the present study is a pedo geomorphic approach to reconstructing holocene aeolian sand dynamics in the mecklenburg lake district ne germany stratigraphical sedimentological and soil research supplemented by morphogenetic interpretations of the genesis of dunes and aeolian sands are discussed a complex late holocene aeolian stratigraphy within a drift sand area was developed at the shore of lake muritz the results were confirmed using palynological records archaeological data and regional history accelerated aeolian activity was triggered by the intensification of settlement and land use activities during the 13th and in the 15th to 16th century ad after a period of stability beginning with population decline during the thirty years war and continuing through the 18th century a final aeolian phase due to the establishment of glassworks was identified during the 19th century ad we assume a direct link between holocene aeolian dynamics and human activities prehistoric holocene drift sands on terrestrial sites have not been documented in the mecklenburg lake district so far this might be explained either by erosion and incorporation of older aeolian sediments during younger aeolian phases and or a lower regional land use intensity in older periods of the holocene the investigated drift sands are stratigraphically and sedimentologically characterised by a high degree of heterogeneity reflecting the spatial and temporal variability of holocene human impact

holocene evolution of closed depressions and its relation to landscape dynamics in the loess areas of poland past pleistocene topography of the loess uplands is rich in local sinks closed depressions cds influencing sediment fluxes soil sediment sequences from cds constituting geoarchives where lands

quaternary deformations along the engadine gruf tectonic system swiss italian alps the engadine line el is a seismically active fault in southeastern switzerland in the field we studied its western segment presently not affected by seismicity but characterised by features suggesting neotectonic motions and the coterminous gruf line uphill and downhill facing scarps offset rivers non equilibrium hydrological conditions and aligned deep seated gravitational slope deformations are dominant in the western sector of the el in the inn valley landform offsets and the most recent fault striations point to oblique left lateral strike slip close to the el at the maloja pass a huge collapse beheaded the inn valley trench excavation with palaeoseismic analysis stratigraphic correlations of quaternary deposits and optically stimulated luminescence dating indicate that the collapse and faulting mostly occurred in the late pleistocene in the bregaglia valley the gruf line stretches along the southwestern extension of the el six deep seated gravitational slope deformations developed along the gruf line and were dated to pre and post last glacial maximum times we suggest that the western sector of the el moved also in a pleistocene time interval during which tectonic forces in the area were probably larger than at present favouring local uplift widespread gravity deformation and retrogressive slope failure at the inn valley head copyright 2007 john wiley sons ltd

carbon burial in soil sediments from holocene agricultural erosion central europe 1 natural and human induced erosion supplies high amounts of soil organic carbon oc to terrestrial drainage networks yet oc fluxes in rivers were considered in global budgets only recently modern estimates of annual carbon burial in inland river sediments of 0 6 gt c or 22 of c transferred from terrestrial ecosystems to river channels consider only lakes and reservoirs and disregard any long term carbon burial in hillslope or floodplain sediments here we present the first assessment of sediment bound oc storage in central europe from a synthesis of 1500 holocene hillslope and floodplain sedimentary archives we show that sediment storage increases with drainage basin size due to more extensive floodplains in larger river basins however hillslopes retain hitherto unrecognized high amounts of eroded soils at the scale of large river basins such that average agricultural erosion rates during the holocene would have been at least twice as high as reported previously this anthropogenic hillslope sediment storage exceeds floodplain storage in drainage basins 105 km2 challenging the notion that floodplains are the dominant sedimentary sinks in terms of carbon burial oc concentrations in floodplains exceed those on hillslopes and net oc accumulation rates in floodplains 0 7 0 2 g c m 2a 1 surpass those on hillslopes 0 4 0 1 g c m 2a 1 over the last 7500 years we conclude that carbon burial in floodplains and on hillslopes in central europe exceeds terrestrial carbon storage in lakes and reservoirs by at least 2 orders of magnitude and should thus be considered in continental carbon budgets

the millennium flood of july 1342 revisited abstract the precipitation event in july 1342 which happened over an area now situated in central germany most probably exceeded in damage any other reported event in historic and recent times in central europe according to historic sources the event lasted several days and resulted in widespread and extreme soil erosion with gullies up to 10 m deep which devastated landscapes and ruined farmers in several regional records the resulting river levels were the highest of their entire records remarkable are also observations of extreme flood levels also in regions without significant rainfall occasionally the spatial extent of the flooding was reported to reach from the north sea coast to northern italy but other studies hint at missing flood reports from catchments in between due to these and other partially contradicting reports we critically review the body of evidence in order to come to a more conclusive synopsis of the event based on confirmed reports on floods and related rainfall the millennium flood we come to the conclusion that the event was generated by an extended convective system mainly confined to the catchment of the river main and adjacent headwaters of tributaries of the rivers danube elbe weser and lahn the intensity of the rainfall was sufficient to cause devastating soil erosion and extreme flood magnitudes along the river catchments even far downstream the precipitation area based on circulation patterns most likely related to extreme summer precipitation over the area indicated by those reports to which we attribute the highest confidence a central european trough trm configuration seems more plausible than the frequently postulated vb track cyclone genoa low peak discharge estimations along the rivers main wurzburg frankfurt and rhine mainz cologne suggest values up to approximately twice the largest flood ever observed by a gauge for most downstream gauges the values are the largest of the entire historic record several findings previously related to this flood event fit to our explanation when considering that during the year 1342 four additional severe floods took place in central europe

age and source of colluvial sediments at vaihingen enz germany abstract colluvial sediments accumulated on the lower slopes of a ridge as a result of past and present soil erosion were dated by optical 14 c and archaeological methods this allowed us to reconstruct the depositional history of the colluvium and also to identify temporary sedimentary sinks in its transportational pathway a cascade model of colluvium formation is developed colluvial sediments resulting from early soil erosion in the neolithic to iron age periods were mainly deposited on the upper slopes significant deposition on the lower slope occurred for the first time during the iron age and roman period since then deposition rates have increased because of more intensive land use

sand deposition during the last millennium at aberffraw anglesey north wales as determined by osl dating of quartz abstract ground penetrating radar gpr was used to identify sediment units at the terminus of a small dune field at aberffraw nine samples were taken from boreholes sample locations were based on the stratigraphy established by gpr quartz grains were dated using a single aliquot regenerative dose protocol that allows for sensitivity changes sand deposition at llyn coron aberffraw occurred three times in the last 700 years with initial sand movement occurring around 1331 ad when historical documents record sand being mobilised in a strong storm

the landslide response of alpine basins to post little ice age glacial thinning and retreat in southwestern british columbia abstract the role of post little ice age lia neoglacial retreat on landslide activity is investigated in 19 alpine basins along the upper lillooet river valley british columbia we examine how neoglacial scouring and glacial recession have modified hillslope form and slope stability and construct a decision making flowchart to identify landslide hazards associated with glacial retreat this work is based on field mapping gis analysis statistical associations between landslides and terrain attributes and a comparison between neoglaciated and non neoglaciated terrain within each basin the bedrock landslide response to glacial retreat varies appreciably according to lithology and the extent of glacial scour below the lia trimline valleys carved in weak quaternary volcanics show significant erosional oversteepening and contain deep seated slope movement features active rock fall rock slides and rock avalanches near glacial trimlines basins in stronger granitic rock rarely show increased bedrock instability resulting from post lia retreat except for shallow seated rock slides along some trimlines and failures on previously unstable slopes in surficial materials landslides associated with post lia retreat originate in till or colluvium as debris slides or debris avalanches and are concentrated along lateral moraines or glacial trimlines significant spatial association was also observed between recent catastrophic failures gravitational slope deformation and slopes that were oversteepened then debuttressed by glacial erosion eight out of nine catastrophic rock slope failures occurred just above glacial trimlines and all occurred in areas with a previous history of deep seated gravitational slope movement implying that this type of deformation is a precursor to catastrophic detachment

slope deposits as an indicator of anthropopressure in the light of research in central poland abstract results of research on neo holocene slope covers uncovered at archaeological sites in central poland are described in this paper geoarchaeological investigations have been undertaken in the ner river basin distinctive archaeological relicts of human activity document periods of intensive activity of human societies artefacts included within deposits play a very important role in correct recognition of the chronology of covers and ecofacts for reconstructions of environmental evolution the origin and development of slope covers have been correlated with anthropogenic changes of the natural environment two main phases of acceleration of slope processes have been recognised dated to the middle bronze age and to the late roman period slope deposits have been classified as deluvia deluvial slope wash deposits or colluvial deposits their features are most typical for deluvial sands and if they contain more humic matter for soil deluvia the deluvial covers have been deposited as an effect of moderately intensive slope wash processes accumulation of slope deposits has resulted from natural processes initiated by human impact during periods of intensive settlement and economic activity the slope cover sediments are the source for recognition of intensity of human impact and of economic activity of ancient societies and for distinct phases of hiatuses of settlement development the possibility of archaeological and palaeogeographical interpretations based on research on slope covers at archaeological sites is presented

archaeopedology and chronostratigraphy of colluvial deposits as a proxy for regional land use history baar southwest germany abstract soils are the basis of our food production supplying plants with nutrients and water farming leaves traces in the soil because cultivation can cause soil erosion one result is the formation of colluvial deposits which can be used as geoarchives of past human impacts on their terrestrial environment the present study combines pedological and archaeological knowledge with chronostratigraphic analyses to infer deposition phases of colluvial material thereby allowing the reconstruction of past land use and settlement activities in the baar region sw germany local colluvial signals are interpreted as a regional proxy for increased soil erosion and colluviation on the baar seven main deposition phases of colluvial material can be detected by 28 luminescence dates and 41 radiocarbon ages distributed through 26 soil profiles our results indicate increased colluviation in the younger neolithic 3800 bce the early to middle bronze age 1550 bce the iron age 500 bce the roman empire 100 ce and from the high middle ages onwards 1200 ce 1300 ce 1600 ce these dates and record of colluviation complement archaeological knowledge of the fundamental impact of human activities on the landscape due to sedentism and agriculture early anthropogenic hypothesis our study shows that most periods of intensified colluvial deposition often but not always date to times with colder more humid climatic periods the spatial and temporal correlation of main depositional phases with archaeological finds points to land use as the determining factor of colluvial deposition at least since roman times

deep seated gravitational slope deformations in the highest parts of the czech flysch carpathians evolutionary model based on kinematic analysis electrical imaging and trenching deep seated gravitational slope deformations dsgsds played an important role during the quaternary evolution of mountain ridges formed by anisotropic flysch rocks of the outer western carpathians owc four dsgsd affected ridges in the highest part of the czech sector of the owc have been subjected to multidisciplinary investigation involving mapping structural and kinematic analysis geoelectrical imaging trenching and dating all the studied dsgsds are strongly predisposed by regional structural fabric given by the intersection of bedding planes joint sets and faults performed research suggests high diversity of mechanisms leading to the origin of individual dsgsds the area of a single dsgsd can be affected by various types of movements such as sackung lateral spreading toppling or incipient sliding electrical imaging and trenching revealed that besides these mechanisms anisotropic flysch massifs formed by thick bedded sandstones are strongly exposed to subsurface opening of air filled voids related to widened crevices such a process is driven by deep seated creep and translational sliding of sandstone beds upon plastic claystones whose strength has been reduced to residual values of the angle of internal friction performed radiocarbon and osl dating revealed that some of the studied dsgsds originated in the holocene period particularly in the atlantic and subboreal chronozones

esr dating of tooth enamel from yunxian homo erectus site china abstract two almost complete fossil hominid crania ev9001 and ev9002 were found in 1989 and 1990 in middle pleistocene terrace deposit of han river yunxian county hubei province china they are classified as homo erectus nine fossil animal teeth stratigraphically associated with the skulls were selected for electron spin resonance esr dating the simple exponential function was used for determination of the accumulated dose de and its appropriateness was discussed on the base of the experimental study the closed system assumption was checked and the early uranium uptake model was applied to age determination a mean age value was yielded to be 581 93 ka it deviates from the palaeomagnetic dating result of 830 870 ka micro regional complete saturation of esr signal in enamel of very high u content may account for the underestimation of esr ages nevertheless both esr and palaeomagnetic dating results place yunxian crania in between the homo erectus of lantian and zhoukoudian which means that yunxian crania constitute an important link in the human evolutionary lineage of china

facies and microfacies of slope deposits abstract this paper reviews the facies and microfacies of the main types of slope deposits lamination and sorting when preserved are good evidence for overland flow features due to deformation folds boudins coatings and tails due to the rotation of clasts are associated with the early stages of deformation in earth slides other mass movements such as debris flows rock avalanches earth flows and to a certain extent dry grain flows may be characterised by similar microscopic facies typically a poorly sorted porphyric material porosity gives evidence for both liquefaction debris flows and frost induced mass movement solifluction however this criterion is thought to be irrelevant for fossil deposits owing to the rapidity and scale of post depositional changes wetting and drying freezing and thawing bioturbation at present only a detailed analysis of both the macro and micromorphological characteristics of the deposits allows an accurate identification of past slope dynamics

historical soil erosion by water in germany scales and archives chronology research perspectives abstract the published record of historical soil erosion by water in germany as deduced from dated slope deposits n 306 alluvial sediments n 120 and lake sediments is summarized in this paper the number of sediments investigated reflects the state of knowledge chronology of historical soil erosion and to a certain degree the intensity of the human impact on german landscapes during the holocene even though few data of calculated historical soil erosion intensities exist an estimation of historical soil erosion in germany combining the available data has been calculated soil erosion in germany occurred first locally during the early holocene probably triggered by climatic variability from the neolithic onward the record reflects the human impact according to agricultural land use the observed variability indicates phases of weaker and regained intensity of agricultural land use in germany few records characterise the early and middle bronze age ca 2000 1600 bc and the migration period and the early medieval times ca 400 1000 ad surprisingly for the roman emperor times ca 1 400 ad a decreasing number of soil sediments is recorded even when the data from southern germany is examined separately phases characterised by an increase in soil erosion were the late bronze age and pre roman iron age ca 1600 bc 1 ad the high and late medieval times ca 1000 1350 ad and the modern times ca 1500 ad until today some extraordinary heavy precipitation events late 18th early 19th first half of 14th century pre roman iron age topped the even high soil erosion intensities research gaps as well as potential for future research as derived from the available data are outlined

the history of human induced soil erosion geomorphic legacies early descriptions and research and the development of soil conservation a global synopsis abstract this paper presents a global synopsis about the geomorphic evidence of soil erosion in humid and semihumid areas since the beginning of agriculture historical documents starting from ancient records to data from the mid twentieth century and numerous literature reviews form an extensive assortment of examples that show how soil erosion has been perceived previously by scholars land surveyors farmers land owners researchers and policy makers examples have been selected from ancient greek and roman times and from central europe southern africa north america the chinese loess plateau australia new zealand and easter island furthermore a comprehensive collection on the development of soil erosion research and soil conservation has been provided with a particular focus on germany and the usa geomorphic evidence shows that most of the agriculturally used slopes in the old and new worlds had already been affected by soil erosion in earlier prehistoric times early descriptions of soil erosion are often very vague with regard to the roman times geomorphic evidence shows seemingly opposing results ranging from massive devastation to landscapes remaining stable for centuries unfortunately historical documentation is lacking in the following centuries historical records become more frequent and more precise and observations on extreme soil erosion events are prominent sometimes they can be clearly linked to geomorphic evidence in the field the advent of professional soil conservation took place in the late eighteenth century the first extensive essay on soil conservation known to the western world was published in germany in 1815 the rise of professional soil conservation occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries soil remediation and flood prevention programs were initiated but the long term success of these actions remains controversial in recent years increasing interest is to recover any traditional knowledge of soil management in order to incorporate it into modern soil conservation strategies the study shows that local and regional variations in natural settings cultural traditions and socioeconomic conditions played a major role for the dynamics and the rates of soil erosion on a long term perspective geomorphic evidence and historical sources can often complement each other but there should be also an awareness of new pitfalls when using them together

the building of the central swiss alps an experimental approach abstract a kinematic model explaining the building of the central swiss alps is proposed from a review of various kind of data including structural geophysical petrological and geochronological data the eo alpine event is taken into account in order to determine the thermo mechanical evolution from the cretaceous to the late tertiary the stacking process of crustal wedges which took place during cretaceous time has led to the formation of a thickened crust with a very low geothermal gradient high pressure low temperature metamorphism this period was followed by a lull in tectonic activity during which thermal relaxation took place the major tertiary deformation is thought to result from horizontal compression of a thickened crust having a geothermal gradient higher than the average horizontal surface forces are due to the adriatic sub plate acting as a rigid indenter the model explaining the present day structure of the swiss alps emphasizes vertical extrusion and horizontal intrusion of the deepest highly ductile basement units several scale model experiments have been carried out in order to test this basic kinematic idea they display quite similar structures to those identified for the swiss alps striking features of the swiss alps such as their metamorphic and uplift history are discussed and compared with the timing of the tectonic evolution we conclude that the general process of vertical extrusion and horizontal intrusion can possibly explain the overall structure of the central swiss alps external crystalline massifs and the penninic zone

stratigraphy and age of colluvial deposits indicating late holocene soil erosion in northeastern germany abstract in the focus of this study are the sedimentary characteristics chronology magnitude and causes of past soil erosion dynamics of an agriculturally intensively used glacial lowland landscape from the mesoscale quillow river catchment sedimentary sections bearing colluvial sediments from different landforms were analysed to explore their geoarchive potential and to establish a local chronology of late holocene soil erosion sections from footslopes contain a rather simple stratigraphy with one topping colluvial horizon of up to 1 m thickness burying a palaeosol in contrast glacial kettle holes preserve more complex sequences partly having several colluvial layers with intercalating palaeosols the most complex stratigraphy is associated with a kettle hole being the ultimate sediment trap for a dendritic gully system forming a 4 m thick sequence of alternating peat and colluvial layers thirty osl ages and 13 radiocarbon ages are used to reconstruct phases of soil erosion potentially human induced soil erosion which is corroborated by local archaeological and palynological data can be traced back to the last c 4000 years the oldest colluvial deposits date back to the late bronze age most datings however cluster within the last 600 years with a peak in the last 200 years ascribing the main phase of local soil erosion to the recent past thus although numerous archaeological finds are detected in the catchment since the neolithic considerable agricultural soil erosion does not occur before the last millennium a compilation of osl chronologies based on colluvial sediments from other regions in central europe shows a more complex erosion history there with a pronounced two or three phased distribution of ages primarily dating into the last c 4000 5000 years this study underlines that in northeastern central europe human impact on landscapes was effective apparently at a later stage as compared to some adjacent regions

alpine evidence for atmospheric circulation patterns in europe during the last glacial maximum the configuration of alpine accumulation areas during the last glacial maximum lgm has been reconstructed using glacial geological mapping the results indicate that the lgm ice surface consisted of at least three major ice domes all located south of the principal weather divide of the alps this implies that the buildup of the main alpine ice cover during oxygen isotope stage ois 2 was related to precipitation by dominant southerly atmospheric circulation in contrast to today s prevalent westerly airflow such a reorganization of the atmospheric circulation is consistent with a southward displacement of the oceanic polar front in the north atlantic and of the associated storm track to the south of the alps these results combined with additional paleoclimate records from western and southern europe allow an interpretation of the asynchronous evolution of the different european ice caps during the last glaciation 18o stages ois 4 and 3 were characterized by location of the polar front north of 46 n gulf of biscay this affected prevailing westerly circulation and thus ice buildup in western scandinavia the pyrenees vosges and northern alps at the lgm however the polar front lay at 44 n causing dominating southerly circulation and reduced precipitation in central and northern europe

handaxes and the pick chopper industry of pleistocene china the presence of handaxes bifaces large cutting tools in paleolithic industries in china and elsewhere in east asia and their relationship with western acheulian bifaces have been discussed and debated for a long time most researchers concur that handaxes occur in some paleolithic industries in certain regions of central and south china however chinese handaxes exhibit some unique characteristics compared with their western acheulian counterparts either in terms of their quantity in lithic assemblages or based upon their specific technological and morphological features analyses indicate that most chinese handaxes are variants of picks a type of large digging tool found in pick chopper industries over a vast region complementary to choppers which are a kind of large cutting tool produced and used in the region for a long period of time raw material impact adaptation to certain habitat close ties with the pebble tool tradition and the relative isolation of local populations may all have contributed to the uniqueness and diversity of this type of lithic artifact in the region such stone tools may have played very important roles in human survival and adaptation in the intermontane basins and woodlands in tropical and subtropical environments in central and south china throughout the pleistocene

the timing of the weichselian pomeranian ice marginal position south of the baltic sea a critical review of morphological and geochronological results abstract the pomeranian phase of the weichselian glaciation in northern middle europe has been the object of investigation in various studies aiming to derive numerical ages for this specific phase apart from traditional 14 c chronologies surface exposure dating with in situ produced terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides and optically stimulated luminescence dating have been applied by different authors the ages derived are so far not consistent generally cosmogenic exposure dating results in younger ages 15 ka and luminescence dating results in older ages 20 ka for the formation of the pomeranian phase the apparent age gap has been subject to discussions from both methodological and geomorphological viewpoints we recalculated compiled exposure ages with a recent calibration data set which reflects very recent progress in cosmogenic nuclide dating and received results that differ significantly from the originally published ages the newly calculated ages deviate 9 15 from the original ages from the source studies towards the older age range thus reducing the offset between the different dating methods and supporting the theory that the onset of the pomeranian phase was earlier in the marine isotope stage 2 in one example from northeast germany good agreement between both methods results from the recalculations corroborated also by the local geomorphology nevertheless postdepositional movement of glacial boulders as well as erosion and shielding effects are hard to quantify and most probably cause an underestimation of exposure ages the study aims to contribute to a critical evaluation of existent chronologies for the southern margin of the scandinavian ice sheet

holocene climate variability although the dramatic climate disruptions of the last glacial period have received considerable attention relatively little has been directed toward climate variability in the holocene 11 500 cal yr b p to the present examination of similar to50 globally distributed paleoclimate records reveals as many as six periods of significant rapid climate change during the time periods 9000 8000 6000 5000 4200 3800 3500 2500 1200 1000 and 600 150 cal yr b p most of the climate change events in these globally distributed records are characterized by polar cooling tropical aridity and major atmospheric circulation changes although in the most recent interval 600 150 cal yr b p polar cooling was accompanied by increased moisture in some parts of the tropics several intervals coincide with major disruptions of civilization illustrating the human significance of holocene climate variability c 2004 university of washington all rights reserved

settlement and environmental history of a multilayered settlement mound in niederroblingen central germany a multi proxy approach a multi disciplinary palaeoecological approach on a sequence of dated archaeosediments was accomplished the sediments derive from a multilayered prehistoric settlement mound in central germany representing the remnants of a prehistoric village based on the analysis of biological remains and geochemical physical analysis of the settlement layers its environment was reconstructed there is a trend to increasing anthropogenic activities and impact on the environment represented through a rise of indicators for productive surplus from the early neolithic 5300 4900 bc until the roman times 400 ad during the early neolithic shifting flat settlements were situated in a locally opened landscape the immediate surrounding of the floodplain was used by the settlers for their economic requirements e g wood from the riparian forest after a hiatus of ca 1900 years a multilayered settlement mount rose from late neolithic times 3000 bc to roman times since the middle bronze age approximately 1500 bc the riparian forest was obviously replaced by agricultural fields and meadows and henceforward the hinterland used by the settlers probably grew in size the continuing demand of wood was maintained by the acquisition of more distant sources the onset of house constructions substituting wood by loam wattle and daub might be a possible societal response to this shortfall this is reflected in the growing thickness and composition of the settlement layers as well as in the archaeological record e g tumbled wattle and daub house walls the rising of the groundwater table and the start of severe floods of the adjacent river helme during pre roman iron age approx 800 100 bc might reflect a geomorphological response to the increased land use intensity at a regional scale

symmagmatic folding of the base of the bergell pluton central alps abstract evidence for magmatic submagmatic and solid state deformation in tonalite granodiorite and country rocks found at the deep seated floor 22 26 km of the bergell pluton demonstrates that final emplacement and crystallization occurred during regional deformation of the pluton and the underlying country rocks after northward emplacement over the country rocks but before complete crystallization the floor of the pluton was folded during simultaneous n s shortening and e w stretching this is evidenced by synmagmatic folds with e w striking nearly vertical axial planes and by regional east plunging stretching lineations in the country rocks which are parallel to the regional scale fold axes and the magmatic mineral lineations in the pluton opposite senses of shear from the well foliated occasionally mylonitic contact suggest that deformation was mostly accomplished by pure shear synmagmatic deformation is related to late stage n s shortening of the alpine orogen and shows that the still partially molten pluton responded to low differential stress very much like the country rocks deformed in the solid state at high temperatures post emplacement tilting associated with backthrusting along the insubric mylonites led to the exposure of the pluton s floor at its present day western margin

the record of hydroclimatic changes in the sediments of a kettle hole in a young glacial landscape north central poland abstract multidisciplinary research on the bottom sediments of a kettle hole at the retno site the brodnica lake district north central poland provided some information about changes in hydroclimatic conditions in the late glacial and the holocene detailed analysis sedimentological palynological macroremains geochemical and radiocarbon dating helped to identify 6 stages in the development of the depression in the village of gaj near retno lake with 11 phases of hydroclimatic conditions sediments of the retno profile with a total thickness of 6 72 m reflected individual natural stages in the development of the depression from a lake to a peat bog most of the environmental changes were gradual a sequence of late glacial and early holocene lacustrine sediments mainly gyttja occurred in the floor of the profile the upper 4 10 m consisted of paludal deposits peat of transitional and raised bogs divided at a depth of 1 56 1 54 m b g l by a thin layer of clay dated late subboreal early subatlantic the presence of this layer indicates a sudden change in the environmental conditions associated with a water level rise at that time denudation processes started within the drainage basin probably induced by human activity the important effects related to contemporary anthropopressure included desiccation of the peat bog muck formation in the uppermost 10 cm layer and elevated trophic conditions resulting in a change of the vegetation cover

temporal behavior of deep seated gravitational slope deformations a review abstract deep seated gravitational slope deformations dsgsds are slow moving hillslope scale mass movements featuring characteristic landforms such as double crested ridges and upslope facing scarps that occur in diverse landscapes throughout the world although these deformations have been studied since the 1960s significant insights to the rates of dsgsds have only been gained within the last two decades owing to progress in geochronology remote sensing and instrumental monitoring absolute age and monitoring data indicate that dsgsd movements are observable over long term 102 years and short term future research directions include constraining the lifespan of dsgsds with absolute age dating and precise high resolution monitoring of spatio temporal displacement across dsgsd bodies it is of great importance to include absolute time scales in the numerical models of dsgsds furthermore combining remote sensing techniques such as synthetic aperture radar interferometry with high resolution lidar scanning and near surface geophysics offers a promising toolkit for collecting very detailed and accurate data on the short term deformation rates of dsgsds

modelling soil landscape genesis a time split approach for hummocky agricultural landscapes abstract here we present a scheme for modelling soil landscape development in hummocky agricultural landscapes of formerly glaciated terrains soil landscape development is regarded as discontinuous over time long term progressive soil development during the holocene was replaced abruptly by an intense period of regressive pedogenesis during the last 50 years which is deduced from published 137 cs data and catchment scale mass balances consequently our primary working hypothesis is that the recent soil pattern is mainly a result of human influence during the last 50 years the paradigm behind our approach is that we have to couple geological historical information with recent dynamics of relevant processes to understand soil landscape development spatially distributed erosion and sedimentation are the most important processes during that period the intensity and extent of these processes is however also a function of the spatial pattern of soils erodibility which evolved in the progressive period therefore we developed a time split modelling approach for the progressive period relevant pedogenic processes de carbonatization silicate weathering clay translocation have to be quantified by a spatially distributed coupled water flow and solute transport model based on reconstructed initial and upper boundary conditions geomorphic units climate history relevant outputs e g topsoil textural properties are used as a spatially distributed input for the model of the regressive period for the latter we use a modified version of the dynamic physically based erosion 3d model schmidt j von werner m michael a 1996 erosion 2d 3d a computer model to simulate water erosion in german sachsische landesanstalt fur landwirtschaft dresden which allows spatially distributed modelling of water related soil erosion and deposition relevant topsoil properties are iteratively adapted to the rates of spatially distributed erosion and deposition preliminary results suggest that a coupling with tillage erosion plays an important role in our landscapes explicit analyses of the soil pattern using digital soil mapping techniques will be applied for model validation

the history of soil erosion and fluvial deposits in small catchments of central europe deciphering the long term interaction between humans and the environment a review abstract during the last few decades many case studies focused on the dynamics of fluvial systems in response to hillslope erosion land use impact and climate changes this paper will review the current state of knowledge of the dynamics of past soil erosion and gullying in small catchments

the absence of acheulean qiliting mode 1 site and the mode 1 occupations in southeast china abstract qiliting is an early to middle pleistocene open air site sealed within vermiculated laterite and xiashu loess in zhejiang province southeast china based on palaeomagnetic work at this site and stratigraphic comparisons the position of the artifacts in the xiashu loess indicates that human activities occurred in an upper cultural layer ca 0 30 0 12 ma a lower cultural layer in the vermiculated laterite is dated palaeomagentically by the kamikatsura event above this horizon in comparative section and the santa rosa event below it which estimated its age to 0 94 0 886 ma bp the flaking and tool modification strategies in the qiliting assemblages are those of a typical mode 1 industry which includes simple flakes and cores with limited modification of the modified tools scrapers and picks these features are also characteristic of the other regional sites as well as of many other early sites in south china no core preparation occurs nor any extensively retouched specimens the stone working is represented by a system of debitage sensu stricto and not by a compound system of debitage and shaping as occurs in mode 2 industry

palaeosols and their cover sediments of a glacial landscape in northern central europe spatial distribution pedostratigraphy and evidence on landscape evolution abstract knowledge of the distribution types and properties of buried soils i e palaeosols is essential in understanding how lowlands in northern central europe have changed over past millennia this is an indispensable requirement for evaluating long term human impact including soil erosion and land cover dynamics in the serrahn area 62 km2 a young glacial landscape representative for northeastern germany and part of the muritz national park 26 pedosedimentary sections were documented and analysed to this end a multiproxy approach was applied using pedology micromorphology geochronology and palaeoecology statistical and spatial analyses of c 5200 soil profiles of which 10 contain palaeosols show that buried soils cover an area of 5 7 km2 i e 9 of the area studied most palaeosols are cambisols arenosols and gleysols palaeosols are mainly covered by aeolian and colluvial sands as well as by lacustrine sands and peat radiocarbon and luminescence dating together with palynological and anthracological data reveal that former land surfaces were dominantly buried through erosion triggered by human activity in the late holocene in addition but to a clearly smaller extent lateglacial early holocene palaeosols and cover sediments occur following medieval clear cutting and intensive land use the study area is today again widely forested the high share of buried land surfaces detected here is expected to be representative for the hilly glacial landscapes even in the wider region i e in northern central europe and should be considered in soil mapping soil carbon budgeting and assessments of past human impact

past and present interaction between the catchment and the valley floor upper osoblaha basin ne sudetes slope and foreland abstract the osoblaha basin includes the north eastern slope of the zlatohorska vrchovina ridge and the north eastern foreland area of the undulating glubczyce plateau rainfall ranges from 1000 mm year in the highlands to 650 700 mm year on the glubczyce plateau the mountain part of the osoblaha basin was already penetrated by humans in prehistoric times miners extracted gold from the alluvia and later from the slope covers their activities have left traces such as extant pits in sediments iron and other ores were mined and processed there from the early middle ages onwards in the 12th or 13th century at the latest settlements and towns were founded for mining e g janov zlate hory and by farmers who tilled the land at the foot of the valley slopes this exploitation of the mountainous part of the basin caused significant clearance of beech forests as the wood was used to manufacture charcoal the deforestation of the valley slopes or the introduction of spruce forests in lieu of the beech forests changed the circulation of rain and thaw water exposed slope covers were prone to erosion or liquefaction and transfer towards the mountain valleys flood episodes caused the sedimentation of clayey overbank deposits which cover the valley floor the considerable cohesion of these sediments was conducive to the formation of meandering or anastomosing channels which were a typical feature of the osoblaha valley floor in the area around the confluence of the zlaty potok prudnik in the second half of the 18th century and in the 19th century the glubczyce plateau is a 30 40 km wide area consisting of undulating plateaux ranging from 320 to 240 m a s l these are dissected by dry valleys and descend gently towards the north fertile soils the abundance of local streams and a climate conducive to farming led to this area being settled by farming and herding communities as early as the neolithic period around 7000 bp this initiated the deforestation process and increased soil erosion shown by the colluvia accumulated in the valley heads of dry valleys and by alluvial fan sediments close to their mouths where they entered the main valleys the last stage of farming colonisation of this part of the osoblaha basin initiated by slavs had already led to the development of a dense network of settlements and considerable deforestation in the mediaeval period

three dimensional geometry and tectonostratigraphy of the pennine zone central alps switzerland and northern italy abstract continental collision during alpine orogenesis entailed a polyphase deformation history d1 d5 in the pennine zone of the central alps the regional tectonostratigraphy was basically developed during d1 and d2 characterised by isoclinal typically north closing recumbent anticlines separated by pinched in synclines on the scale of tens of kilometres later deformation phases d3 and d4 warped the stack into wavy to open folds exhumation of this zone resulted locally in later vertical shortening and folding of already steep fabrics d5 three dimensional models of the nappe pile were constructed based on geostatistical assessment of the regional foliation field and considering the abundant structural field data these models indicate the existence of five principal tectonostratigraphic levels developed during d1 and thus equivalent to nappe units s str the gotthard the leventina antigorio the maggia simano and probably the monte leone as well as the composite lepontine series lebendun soja and adula cima lunga levels all these tectonic units formed part of the passive continental margin of europe prior to the onset of the alpine orogenesis individual isoclinal post nappe folds reflect relative displacements on the order of 40 km or more the most prominent d2 post nappe structure is the wandfluhhorn fold structurally equivalent to the northern closure of the leventina lucomagno antiform the lebendun and monte leone folds are of similar magnitudes and also affect the whole nappe pile whereas the smaller mogno and molare synforms only refold the maggia simano nappe internally principal d3 and d4 structures are the tight mergoscia synform directly north of the insubric fault between bellinzona and locarno southern steep belt the maggia steep zone forming the steep western limb of the campo tencia synform and subdividing the lepontine dome into the simplon and ticino subdomes the chiera synform steepening the dominant foliation in the north northern steep belt and the vanzone and claro antiforms steepening the dominant foliation in the south southern steep belt the current geometry of the northern and southern steep belts reflects an interplay between d4 and d3 involving both fold interference and reactivation tightening

a late acheulean culture on the chinese loess plateau the techno economic behavior of the dingcun lithic industry abstract the chinese loess plateau is the largest loess area in the world and covers 400 000 km2 with a loess palaeosol sequence that is comparable with marine isotope stages mis as a quaternary terrestrial timescale of climatostratigraphy and chronology the dingcun lithic industry was recovered in 1954 in the loess plateau and has been known for its large flake acheulean tools technological analysis based on the concept of chaine operatoire was applied in this paper to update our knowledge of the techno economic behaviours at this site and in the loess plateau area the results show that there are two chaine operatoires 1 one focused on the production of large flake blanks faconnage for making large cutting tools lcts and 2 a small to medium debitage to obtain flakes for light duty tools experiments were applied to check the knapping technique the results confirmed the probability that hard hammers were used to produce large flakes on hornfels blanks and soft hammer techniques were not used when compared with the acheulian lcts of other sites in china dingcun is different from the acheulian culture of south china danjiangkou reservoir region drr and the bose basin and more similar to the luonan acheulian industry therefore it seems that a large flake acheulean was developed the loess plateau area in the late middle pleistocene

frost and soils implications for paleosols paleoclimates and stratigraphy abstract frost is a pedogenetic agent this paper describes the use of frost features in soil for paleoclimatic and stratigraphic interpretation it is possible to differentiate periods of frost activity from those of temperate pedogenesis by macroscopic and microscopic criteria and to distinguish between soils with pre syn and epigenetic frost effects an experimental approach is necessary to determine initial frost effects because they are usually difficult to observe at natural active sites work with ecologists also clarifies the evolution of frost affected soils under climatic and vegetational constraints vegetation has important effects on the thermal and hydraulic regimes of soils and on erosion susceptibility the recognition of fossil cryosoils often allows the reconstruction of sequences of paleoclimatic events in periods or environments with little or no micropaleontological evidence the interrelations between frost and other pedogenetic processes allow a better understanding of climatic evolution and deterioration throughout the neogene and especially during the quaternary and the holocene most of the inherited frost features in european soils are younger than 480 ka bp the differentiation between frost and tectonic perturbations is very important for calculation of soil erosional budgets