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

sand drift and soil formation along an exposed north atlantic coastline 14 000 years of diverse geomorphological climatic and human impacts this paper sets out the history of aeolian deposition and soil formation over the last 14 15 000 calendar years along the exposed and gale prone atlantic coastlines of the southern isles of the outer hebrides of scotland detailed palaeoenvironmental interpretation and chronological control have been provided by field mapping soil micromorphological analyses and radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence osl dating programmes two dominant types of aeolian sands are described in this region quartzose sands are shown to originate mainly as periglacial wind blown sands derived from glacial and periglacial deposits of late devensian age which were formerly exposed on the present continental shelf this aeolian deposition did however continue into the early holocene with re working perhaps by slope wash taking place as recently as the 4th millenniumbp quartzose sands mantle valley floors and hillslopes by the end of the devensian and early holocene a variety of soil types with extensive horizonation had developed upon them including podzolic brown earths peaty gleys and peat soils radiocarbon and osl dating demonstrate that the carbonate sands of the machair sand sheets which characterize the present atlantic shorelines began to accumulate very early for a european shoreline from approximately 8700 calendar years ago on benbecula and north uist whereas further south deposition began later osl dating suggests that non sequences and diastems are common in greater part these machair sand sheets are best interpreted as a composite of separate slivers of sand reflecting small scale and local episodes of sand drift rather than distinct layers of region wide distribution which might reflect past major storms or significant palaeoclimatic fluctuations the new evidence presented here provides little support for the following explanatory geomorphic or stratigraphic models which have previously sought to explain the development of these coastal machair landscapes continuous development layer cake or step wise prograding coastal barrier qualified support is given for the explanations that emphasize i the long term spasmodic input and re cycling of sands and ii that the present smoothed landscapes and distinctive machair grassland vegetation are essentially recent in age and reflect the interactions of natural and human processes in a stormy environment characterized by re working widespread layers of thick organic materials within the carbonate sands in the study area which have previously been regarded as dune palaeosols dating to the bronze age and iron age are suggested by soil micromorphological analysis to be in significant part anthropogenic in origin they are organically enriched layers or midden soils the consequence of human activities notably the disposal of organic wastes and other forms of soil modification during times of significant settlement in these coastal sands these periods of relatively intense human activity are therefore shown to be associated at least locally with periods of soil formation and stability not universal instability and dune drift along these shorelines in general these extensive layers of midden soil do not necessarily imply periods of decreased storminess relatively widespread soil formation in these coastal dunes did however take place in the period between 400 and 100 years ago essentially within the period of increased storminess associated with the little ice age it is suggested that at some point s within the following periods of time broadly defined in calendar yearsbp notable sand drift affecting the quartzose sands the carbonate sands or both took place within the study area 13 700 13 000 11 000 10 500 9000 8300 7500 7000 6900 6400 5800 4200 one of the most notable episodes of drift in the outer hebrides as well as elsewhere on the coast of north west europe 3800 3300 1700 1300 600 200 with individual great storms being recorded in the 17th and 18th centuries and 100 present day limited drift associated with machair stratification

an approach to mapping buried prehistoric palaeosols of the atlantic seaboard in northwest europe using gpr geoarchaeology and gis and the implications for heritage management abstract widespread layers of well preserved organically and archaeologically rich palaeosols dating to the bronze age and iron age are known from across the atlantic seaboard of scotland including the western isles orkney and shetland the survival of these soils has been facilitated by an overburden of aeolian sand forming dunes above them whilst these soils display archaeological importance they are constantly under threat from erosion through storm damage due to their exposed coastal position this presents certain challenges with regard to heritage management since their extents are largely unknown normally only being identified when exposed by wind and storm erosion consequently following such damage mitigation can only be reactionary in response to archaeological deposits being uncovered and left open to threat without accurately mapping the extent of these important deposits archaeological landscape management is compromised this paper presents a case study aimed at enabling proactive management of these deposits through rapid three dimensional mapping undertaken using a combination of borehole calibrated gpr survey and gis modelling the results demonstrate how effective baseline data can be generated to highlight areas of greater or lesser risk thereby providing the potential for quantifying and predicting the effects of damage from future storm events

ice dammed lakes and rerouting of the drainage of northern eurasia during the last glaciation during the quaternary period ice sheets centred over the barents and kara seas expanded several times onto mainland russia and blocked northflowing rivers such as the yenissei ob pechora and mezen large ice dammed lakes with reversed outlets e g toward the caspian sea formed south of these ice sheets some lakes are reconstructed from shorelines and lacustrine sediments others mainly from ice sheet configuration ice dammed lakes considerably larger than any lake on earth today are reconstructed for the periods 90 80 and 60 50 ka the ages are based on numerous optically stimulated luminescence osl dates during the global last glacial maximum lgm about 20 ka the barents kara ice sheet was too small to block these eastern rivers although in contrast to the 90 80 and 60 50 ka maxima the scandinavian ice sheet grew large enough to divert rivers and meltwater across the drainage divide from the baltic basin to the river volga and that way to the caspian sea climate modelling shows that the lakes caused lower summer temperatures on the continent and on the lower parts of the ice sheet the final drainage of the best mapped lake is modelled and it is concluded that it probably emptied within few months we predict that this catastrophic outburst had considerable impact on sea ice formation in the arctic ocean and on the climate of a much larger area c 2003 elsevier ltd all rights reserved less

paleosol classification problems and solutions abstract paleosols are soils that formed on landscapes of the geologic past three kinds exist buried exhumed and relict to help reconstruct paleoenvironments and for ease of comparison we suggest a property based classification system linked to genetic processes we use enduring properties because alteration of paleosols following burial is common morphological properties such as horizonation soil fabric root and worm casts and redoximorphic features are resistant to alteration and thus are valuable as criteria field observable and micromorphological properties degree of weathering and proportion of resistant minerals are also useful as criteria for paleosol orders total chemical analysis provides a proxy measure for base saturation and clay mineralogy we use proxy criteria to help classify paleosols that have changed markedly or have been lithified during or after burial to an earlier version of the system we add two new orders and include buried relict lithified and exhumed units at the suborder level our system clearly separates paleosol taxon names from those of all ground soils we use the prescript paleo at the order level and kryptic to designate the buried enduric to designate the relict lithic to designate the lithified and emergent to designate the exhumed paleosol suborders we use prescript modifiers to describe the physical characteristics of the paleosols and postscripts for parent material origin and the extensiveness of the paleosol landscape we present data and classify a number of paleosols as examples of the system

the bronze age landscape of the bjare peninsula southern sweden and its relationship to burial mounds palaeoecological analyses from a small fen deposit combined with pollen analysis from buried soil profiles under prehistoric burial mounds have been used to investigate the timing and vegetation change associated with the holocene development of a cultural landscape in southern sweden traditional pollen analysis is complemented with plant macrofossil analysis and soil pollen analysis from within and in close proximity to the burial mounds in the coastal bjare peninsula well known for its high density of well preserved bronze age monuments the vegetation development is linked to the construction of the burial mounds a marked increase of cultural impact on the landscape is recorded during the neolithic bronze age transition and estimates of landscape openness suggest that by the onset of the bronze age forest cover was only 20 40 falling to 10 in the immediate vicinity of the burial mounds themselves the coastal strip appears to have been affected by human activity to a greater extent and at an earlier date than sites from further inland in southern sweden and the bronze age burial mounds were most likely designed to be visible in a largely deforested landscape

landscape history and man induced landscape changes in the young morainic area of the north european plain a case study from the bake valley berlin abstract the bake creek valley is part of the young morainic area in berlin its origin is related to meltwater flow and dead ice persistence resulting in a valley with a lake creek system during the late glacial the slopes of the valley were affected by solifluction a holocene brown soil developed in this material whereas parts of the lakes were filled with limnic telmatic sediments the excavation site at goerzallee revealed bronze age and iron age burial places at the upper part of the slope as well as a fireplace further downslope but the slope itself remained stable only german settlements in the 12th and 13th centuries changed the processes in the creek lake system the construction of water mills created a retention system with higher ground water levels in the surrounding areas on the other hand deforestation on the till plain and on the slope triggered erosion therefore in medieval time interfingering organic sediments and sand layers were deposited in the lower part of the slope on top of the holocene soil the new soil which formed on top of these sediments was transformed by ploughing until the 19th century in 1905 06 the lower part of the slope was reshaped by the construction of the teltow canal following the valley of the former bake creek finally the whole area was levelled by infill after world war ii

potential of cone penetrating testing for mapping deeply buried palaeolandscapes in the context of archaeological surveys in polder areas geoarchaeological mapping of wetlands conventionally involves extensive coring especially in wetlands marked by a deep palaeosurface 3 m deep this can be very difficult and time consuming in this paper we therefore present an alternative approach based on cone penetration testing cpt for structured rapid and cost effective evaluation of buried palaeolandscapes both estuarine and river floodplain environments were investigated including the water land transition zone marsh the efficiency reliability and repeatability of the cpt method was tested through the comparison with ground truth core data the cpt data generally allowed highly accurate mapping of the palaeotopography of the prehistoric surfaces and the overlying peat sequences thin organic rich clay intercalations within the peat layers could often still be identified additional pore pressure conductivity and seismic velocity data from cpt u cpt c and s cpt did not add much crucial information and their main use seems to lie in the added value for near surface geophysical measurements the results of this research clearly illustrate the importance of cpt information for mapping of palaeolandscapes in archaeology

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

variability of lake michigan water level during the past 1000 years reconstructed through optical dating of a coastal strandplain post nipissing phase strandplains of the great lakes reflect late holocene water levels that are linked to climate variability glacial isostasy and changes in basin hydrology this study examines a strandplain sequence at bailey s harbor door county wisconsin along lake michigan which contains a record of water level variations during the past 1000 years following the separation of the lake michigan huron basin from the lake superior basin vibracores are used to define the current elevation of the foreshore facies in 25 preserved beach ridges optical ages for five individual beach ridges are compared with radiocarbon ages on basal peats from nine swales collected in a previous study the optical chronology yields a ridge formation preservation rate of 30 2 yr ridge similar to that of previous assessments this study further demonstrates the efficacy of optical dating for deciphering late holocene beach ridge sequences providing multidecadal resolution lake level meets or exceeds by at least 0 5 m historic metrics at c ad 1125 1225 the maximum water level after c ad 1225 is comparable with that recorded by the instrumental data there is a noticeable high lake level from c ad 1560 to 1725 dating of additional sites along lake michigan is required to establish local rates of glacio isostatic adjustment identify possible erosion of the outlets and to resolve lake level records for individual lakes following the separation of the upper great lakes currently constrained to have occurred c 2400 to 1200 years ago

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

adding information about soils and paleosols to geological maps through the application of the pedostratigraphic level concept abstract paleosols are rarely reported on geological maps however their mapping and study can add a great deal of information useful to the understanding of quaternary geological and geomorphological processes this study was aimed at developing a methodology that uses soil surveys and paleopedological studies to create a detailed map of quaternary cover suitable for integration with a standard geological map of similar scale this study was conducted in the montagnola senese area of central italy landscapes there included a small ridge made up of carbonate free metamorphic rocks and calcareous deposits quaternary paleosols formed on slope and alluvial deposits derived from this bedrock were particularly abundant the map of quaternary cover was developed from the pedostratigraphic map as a function of thickness of the regolith and age of the oldest pedostratigraphic level a pedostratigraphic level was defined as a characteristic assemblage of soil genetic horizons formed in materials having a certain degree of weathering and the age that was estimated by means of correlation to benchmark soils pedostratigraphic levels were generated from a soil information system where digital soil maps and soil attributes were stored soil attributes derived from routine surveys as well as from specific investigations and analyses performed in order to determine the pedogenetic processes active in the montagnola senese during the pleistocene the information coming from the map of quaternary cover was used to generate a new geological map of the area where quaternary deposits were divided according to their estimated age early middle and late pleistocene and holocene thickness and morphological position

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

palaeosols in saharan and sahelian dunes of chad archives of holocene north african climate changes limnic sediments and palaeosols are frequently present in dunes of the sahara and sahel deserts of chad this study focused on genesis and degree of development of the palaeosols and the timing of soil formation the soils are cambic arenosols formed by precipitation induced silicate weathering and leaching the upper parts of the cambic arenosols are indurated due to accumulation of salt and amorphous silica during a drier climate following soil formation the optical age data reveal the occurrence of one or two distinct short lived humid climate intervals shortly after 5 ka and before 2 5 ka and the formation of local desert lakes shortly after 5 ka the study further suggests that rapid climate changes occurred mainly in the mid holocene whereas the early holocene humid period lasted longer

pleistocene paleosols in norway implications for past climate and glacial erosion abstract as recently as 7 years ago quaternary geologists believed that there were no pleistocene paleosols represented by non peaty soil horizons a b etc in norway however several buried soils of this type have recently been reported and studied by stratigraphic magnetic and chemical methods magnetic susceptibility is a useful method for identifying and correlating paleosols even in areas of complex glacial stratigraphy such as the nordic countries at sargejohka in finnmark up to seven different buried pedocomplexes are separated by tills and glaciotectonic deformation structures they represent different periods of land surface stability and with two possible exceptions are not pseudosoils formed by a fluctuating groundwater table the most important from stratigraphic and paleoclimatic points of view is a well developed red yellow paleosol numbered p3 counting down from the top it is thought to be a podzol of the last interglacial later cryoturbation of pre mid weichselian age has greatly altered its upper part indicating a dramatic change in climate after development of the soil at lillehammer in southeastern norway remains of the oxidised zone of a buried paleosol also thought to have formed mainly in the last interglacial occur in an inferred saalian till the presence of buried pleistocene paleosols in the interior of norway central part of the fennoscandian glaciations indicates that glacial erosion was locally less during several glacial cycles than previously thought

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

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

relationships between colour and diagenesis in the aragonite calcite speleothems in basajaun etxea cave spain abstract basajaun etxea cave north spain contains a wide morphological and colour variety of speleothems most of them are composed of aragonite but calcite speleothems are also found their most common colour is white but there are also pink green and turquoise speleothems in different areas of the cave mg rich dissolution waters from the cave s crystalline dolostone and magnesite host rock favour aragonite precipitation and drive important diagenetic changes in this paper we will discuss how diagenesis modifies speleothem texture mineralogy and geochemistry causing significant changes in the colour we also discuss how speleothems that have undergone diagenesis may also be useful indictors of paleoclimatic conditions our work shows that diagenesis changes the colour of the speleothems because of the mobility of the chromophore elements during this process along with this elemental alteration comes the loss of the primary isotopic signals of speleothems detailed petrological studies of speleothems should precede their analysis for palaeoclimatic reconstruction so that influence of areas affected by diagenesis can be eliminated in addition diagenetic signals also contain valuable information on the changes of the waters within the cave and the overall evolution of speleothems and the cave itself

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

mechanisms of mid to outer shelf transport of shoreline released tracers abstracttransport of shoreline released tracer from the surfzone across the shelf can be affected by a variety of physical processes from wind driven to submesoscale with implications for shorelin

environmental changes of a shallow kettle lake catchment in a young glacial landscape sumowskie lake catchment north central poland abstract on the basis of detailed analysis sedimentological palynological macroremains geochemical and gis analysis the development of the sumowskie paleolake was reconstructed obtained results led to distinguish three main stages of the evolution of the basin and its catchment during the late glacial and the holocene the lacustrine stage the lake overgrowth stage and the post lacustrine stage study site is located in the western part of the brodnica lakeland north eastern poland within the former sumowskie lake bottom multidisciplinary research was conducted for two cores sedimentological palynological plant macroremains sum a 149 cm and sum c 51 cm and the soil profile sum 3 sedimentological geochemical gis analyses land cover and water level changes were carried out for the nowadays sumowskie lakes catchment it was confirmed that climate was the most important factor influencing the evolution of the lake and its surrounding although the role of this factor decreased in the neo holocene period in favor of rapidly growing human impact changes of the water level were much more abrupt and lasted longer e g 9500 5000 bp hiatus caused by the water level decrease than in other described basins of the region due to the specific geomorphologic situation shallow kettle basins could alternately act as lakes and wetlands as they are well spread in the young glacial area the strong influence of this abrupt and long term events should be reconsidered

long term stabilization of deep soil carbon by fire and burial during early holocene climate change the brady soil body was buried by loess deposits as a result of early holocene climate change geochemical analyses suggest that large amounts of organic carbon were trapped in this soil as a result of fire activity and slow decomposition resulting from rapid burial

late quaternary landscape development at the margin of the pomeranian phase mis 2 near lake wygonin northern poland abstract in central europe late quaternary landscapes experienced multiple phases of geomorphologic activity in this study we used a combined geomorphological pedological sedimentological and palynological approach to characterize landscape development after the last glacial maximum lgm near lake wygonin in northern poland the pedostratigraphical findings from soil pits and drillings were extrapolated using ground penetrating radar gpr and electric resistivity tomography ert during the pomeranian phase glacial and fluvioglacial processes dominated the landscape near lake wygonin at the end of the glacial period periglacial processes became relevant and caused the formation of ventifacts and coversands containing coated sand grains at approximately 15 290 14 800 cal yr bp a small pond formed in a kettle hole profile bwi 2 the lacustrine sediments lack eolian sand components and therefore indicate the decline of eolian processes during that time the increase of juniperus and rock rose helianthemum in the pollen diagram is a prominent marker of the younger dryas at the end of the younger dryas a partial reshaping of the landscape is indicated by abundant charcoal fragments in disturbed lake sediments no geomorphologic activity since the beginning of the holocene is documented in the terrestrial and wetland archives the anthropogenic impact is reflected in the pollen diagram by the occurrence of rye pollen grains secale cereale and translocated soil sediments dated to 1560 1410 cal yr bp proving agricultural use of the immediate vicinity with the onset of land use gully incision and the accumulation of colluvial fans reshaped the landscape locally since 540 460 cal yr bp further gully incision in the steep forest tracks has been associated with the intensification of forestry outside of the gully catchments the weakly podzolized rubic brunic arenosols show no features of holocene soil erosion

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

problems and potential of osl dating weichselian and holocene sediments in sweden recent osl dating of various late quaternary deposits in sweden has resulted in several sets of ages that appear inconsistent with geological interpretation they usually overestimate the expected age we explore the problems and potential of osl dating in sweden by analysing quartz osl ages from several known age sites in sweden and by investigating their luminescence properties two difficulties in obtaining accurate and precise ages are incomplete bleaching and low sensitivity quartz incomplete bleaching can give rise to age overestimation but the importance of this effect can be minimised by selecting suitable sediment facies although for some settings unexplained overestimates still remain low quartz osl sensitivity leads to practical problems in measurements and larger uncertainties in dose estimates but not necessarily to systematic age overestimation sites that contain dala sandstone clasts and or sediments that may have had extensive reworking during the quaternary seem to provide high sensitivity quartz we consider such sites to show the most potential for accurate and precise osl dating in sweden

the role of melting dead ice on landscape transformation in the early holocene in tuchola pinewoods north poland abstract on the basis of macrofossil and pollen analyses ams 14 c dating and geomorphological investigations we reconstructed the development of hydrological changes during the lateglacial to early holocene transition in tuchola pinewoods bory tucholskie in northern poland in this region the wda river flows in polygenetic valleys typical for the young glacial landscape of the northern central european lowlands the middle section of this river provides a suitable setting to demonstrate the environmental and hydrological changes in the late glacial and early holocene because 1 it is a small and well defined area and 2 the existence of a morphologically preserved river valley from late glacial period in this study we focused on a short terrestrial sediment core 48 cm that represents four phases of landscape evolution during the early holocene telmatic lacustrine lacustrine fluvial and alluvial abrupt changes in lithology and sediment structures exhibit rapid changes and threshold processes in environmental conditions the ams 14 c dating of terrestrial plant remains revealed an age for the basal sediments of 11 223 23 cal bp and thus falls within the preboreal biozone plant macrofossil indicators provide evidence of water level and edaphic changes in the basin the results of our study demonstrate a strong influence of melting buried ice blocks on the geomorphological development hydrological changes in the catchment and the biotic environment in the early holocene

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

impact of human land use on soils and landforms in cultural landscapes on aeolian sandy substrates maashorst se netherlands pollen analysis soil micromorphology and radiocarbon dating have been the main scientific tools to unlock palaeoecological information from palaeosols during the past decades in recent years the application of optically stimulated luminescence osl dating on polycyclic driftsand profiles and plaggic deposits has been shown to be of great added value to understand the geochronology of the evolution of soils and landforms on sandy substrates this paper presents the reconstruction of the evolution of cultural soils and landforms in the study area maashorst southern netherlands which is part of an extensive region in northwestern europe underlain by predominantly late glacial aeolian coversand deposits deforestation and soils acidification related to human land use started before 1750 bc based on radiocarbon dating sedentary agriculture already started around 1000 bc but osl dates indicate that the accumulation of plaggic deposits did not start before the late middle ages the reconstructed evolution of cultural soils and landforms is based on information of scattered palaeosols interpolated and extrapolated to a sequence of palaeo soil maps palaeopedological information is not included in regular soil maps because soil classifications are based on the diagnostic properties of actual soils and normally neglect relicts of preliminary steps in soil development this is convenient for agricultural applications but such soil maps are less useful for the presentation of long term soil development or as abiotical base for designs for restoration ecology the results of this study include interpretive maps produced in a geographical information system of the soil patterns around 1500 ad and 2000 bc based on the present soil map and the reconstruction of palaeoecological development during the late holocene the time sequence of these historical interpretive soil maps reflects the impact of human land use on soils and landforms

lateglacial soil paleocatena in inland dune area of the torun basin northern poland abstract the buried toposequence of soils paleocatena dated to the allerod interstadial has been researched in this work studies were carried at the katarzynka site located in the inland dune area of the torun basin northern poland paleosols developed on the slope dividing two glaciofluvial terraces and were buried under dune sands during the younger dryas ca 11100 bp uncal the paleocatena consists of weakly developed podzolic usselo soil at the upper slope gley podzolic soil at the lower slope and humus enriched gleysol at the bottom of the sequence in some parts the paleosol also has the morphology of the bwb horizon typical for the so called finow soil in the uppermost topographical position the buried soil mantle is eroded by wind activity and shows disturbances typical for periglacial conditions usselo and finow soils are usually considered to be marker stratigraphical horizons for lateglacial aeolian landscapes of western and central europe although their genesis and paleoenvironmental significance are still controversial the occurrence in paleocatena pattern and morphological chemical and micromorphological features indicate their pedogenic nature the podzolic usselo soil gley podzolic soil and gleysol show clear effects of soil forming and diagenetic processes varying along the buried slope the origin of bwb finow soil horizon seems to be a post burial process similar to illuvial lamellae formation masking the effects of former pedogenic features in all probability this process was preceded by alterations of soil morphology caused by permafrost development at the onset of the younger dryas immediately before burial the variety of soils forming the paleocatena is clear evidence of landscape diversity during the allerod