Timing of fluvial sedimentation in the Upper Rhine Graben since the Middle Pleistocene: constraints from quartz and feldspar luminescence dating

AbstractThe Quaternary filling of the Upper Rhine Graben is an excellent archive to reconstruct sediment dynamics in response to climate change, in particular related to past glaciations of the Swiss Alpine Foreland. Here, a sediment sequence recovered by drilling for exploration purposes near Kronau is investigated, using a combination of sedimentological logging, provenance studies (heavy minerals and clast petrography), and luminescence dating. Several phases of coarse sediment aggradation are identified that possibly correlate to Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 12 (478–424 ka), 10 (374–337 ka), 8 (300–243 ka), 6 (191–130 ka) and/or 4 (71–57 ka), and 2 (29–14 ka). Several of these phases have previously also been reported from cores recovered in the major Quaternary depo-centre near Heidelberg. This suggests that the observed coarse aggradation in the Upper Rhine Graben can be assigned to various glaciations in northern Switzerland: Möhlin (MIS 12), Habsburg (MIS 10 or 8), Beringen (MIS 6), an unnamed glacial advance during MIS 4, and Birrfeld (MIS 2). However, due to the limited data available, this hypothesis and the suggested correlations require further confirmation by applying the approach presented here to further cores from the Upper Rhine Graben.

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The Rhine - a major fluvial record

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences – Geologie en Mijnbouw ◽

10.1017/s0016774600023994 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 87 (1) ◽

pp. 3-5 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

W.E. Westerhoff

Keyword(s):

Late Glacial ◽

Swiss Alps ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Upper Rhine Graben ◽

River Rhine ◽

Rhine Graben ◽

The Impact ◽

Upper Rhine ◽

Lower Rhine Embayment ◽

Lower Rhine

AbstractThis special issue contains the papers presented during the 2004 DEUQUA meeting. The papers provide an overview of recently carried out Quaternary geological studies on different aspects of the river Rhine system. The introductory paper follows the pathway of the Rhine downstream from its source in the Swiss Alps to the delta in the Netherlands. Along this route geological and geographical factors determine the regional subdivisions of the river: the Alps, the Upper Rhine Graben, the Rhenish Massif, and the Lower Rhine Embayment as part of the southern North Sea Basin. Each of these regions can be typified by a characteristic geological evolution.New evidence from heavy-mineral analyses provides an improved lithostratigraphy and insight in the Quaternary evolution of the Rhine in the Upper Rhine Graben. The Plio-Pleistocene transition is determined by a palaeomagnetic study. The same paper emphasis on the impact of climate change on the composition of the magneto-mineralogy. Pollen analytical results show a complex interrelationship of a number of Middle Pleistocene interglacial periods in the northern part the Upper Rhine Graben. In the same area geomorphological analysis demonstrates a clear influence of tectonics on the preservation of fluvial terrace accumulations. A detailed pollen analytical study on the Late Glacial and Holocene development of the Rhine in the northern Upper Rhine Graben discusses the relation between vegetation cover and river behaviour. Finally, two papers from the Lower Rhine Embayment discuss a revised provenance based lithostratigraphy and its implications for understanding the fluvial history.

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Early and Middle Pleistocene pollen assemblages of deep core drillings in the northern Upper Rhine Graben, Germany

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences – Geologie en Mijnbouw ◽

10.1017/s0016774600024045 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 87 (1) ◽

pp. 51-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

M. Knipping

Keyword(s):

Early Pleistocene ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Interglacial Period ◽

Upper Rhine Graben ◽

The Core ◽

Rhine Graben ◽

Stratigraphic Division ◽

Upper Rhine ◽

Clear Change ◽

Pollen Analyses

AbstractRecent core drillings, carried out during water-economic exploration in the area of Mannheim/Ludwigshafen/Schifferstadt (Rhine-Neckar region, Germany), have produced a more differentiated stratigraphic division of the Pleistocene sediments of the northern Upper Rhine Graben. Pollen analytical investigations as well as malacological, heavy mineral, palaeomagnetic and lithological research have led to a stratigraphic reinterpretation of the gravel layers and intermediate horizons. Based on the results of the pollen analyses, the Mannheim interglacial period in the upper intermediate horizon (Oberer Zwischenhorizont, OZH) cannot be assigned to the Eemian as stated earlier. The occurrence ofFagus, CeltisandAzolla,along with the results of malacological analyses, indicate a Cromerian age for the Mannheim Interglacial. In addition, a pollen sequence from a different interglacial in the core sediments from Schifferstadt could also be assigned to the Cromerian. The Schifferstadt Interglacial is divided into a lower optimum phase with high values ofUlmus, QuercusandCoryluswhileCarpinusis completely absent, and an upper optimum phase with low values ofCarpinus.Fagusis absent in the whole sequence. The OZH comprises not only the two interglacial pollen sequences described above but also parts of at least four Middle Pleistocene Interglacials. In the lower part of the drillings in Schifferstadt and Ludwigshafen, which are assigned to the Early Pleistocene, pollen assemblages withFagusare likely to correlate with parts of the Tiglian A substage. There is a clear change to a Tertiary type of pollen flora at 91 m at Schifferstadt and at 186 m in Ludwigshafen.

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