Eemian landscape response to climatic shifts and evidence for northerly Neanderthal occupation at a palaeolake margin in northern Germany

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

  • Michael Hein
  • Brigitte Urban
  • David Colin Tanner
  • Anton Hermann Buness
  • Mario Tucci
  • Philipp Hoelzmann
  • Sabine Dietel
  • Marie Kaniecki
  • Jonathan Schultz
  • Thomas Kasper
  • Hans Suchodoletz
  • Antje Schwalb
  • Marcel Weiss
  • Tobias Lauer
The prevailing view suggests that the Eemian interglacial on the European Plain was characterized by largely negligible geomorphic activity beyond the coastal areas. However, systematic geomorphological studies are sparse. Here we present a detailed reconstruction of Eemian to Early Weichselian landscape evolution in the vicinity of a small fingerlake on the northern margin of the Salzwedel Palaeolake in Lower Saxony (Germany). We apply a combination of seismics, sediment coring, pollen analysis and luminescence dating on a complex sequence of colluvial, paludal and lacustrine sediments. Results suggest two pronounced phases of geomorphic activity, directly before the onset and at the end of the Eemian period, with an intermediate period of pronounced landscape stability. The dynamic phases were largely driven by incomplete vegetation cover, but likely accentuated by fluvial incision in the neighbouring Elbe Valley. Furthermore, we discovered Neanderthal occupation at the lakeshore during Eemian pollen zone (PZ) E IV, which is chronologically in line with other known Eemian sites of central Europe. Our highly-resolved spatio-temporal data substantially contribute to the understanding of climate-induced geomorphic processes throughout and directly after the last interglacial period. It helps unraveling the landscape dynamics between the coastal areas to the north and the loess belt to the south.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftEarth Surface Processes and Landforms
Jahrgang46
Ausgabenummer14
Seiten (von - bis)2884-2901
Anzahl der Seiten18
ISSN0197-9337
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 01.11.2021

Bibliographische Notiz

Funding Information:
The authors thank the State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology of Lower‐Saxony (LBEG) for use of their drilling rig, and Robert Broschinski and Thomas Jelinski for operating the machine. The authors also thank Jan Bergmann‐Barrocas and Jan Bayerle who carried out the seismic survey. The authors owe their gratitude to families Dreier, Kusserow and Kohrs‐Lichte for granting access to their land and to Nicolas Bourgon for supporting fieldwork and improving the manuscript. The authors thank Steffi Hesse and Victoria Krippner, who kindly conducted luminescence sample preparation at the MPI EVA. The authors thankfully acknowledge the work done by the ESPL editors and two anonymous reviewers who helped to improve the manuscript. M.H. thanks Jean‐Jacques Hublin and the Max Planck society (Max‐Planck‐Gesellschaft) for funding this study as part of his PhD.

Funding Information:
The authors thank the State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology of Lower-Saxony (LBEG) for use of their drilling rig, and Robert Broschinski and Thomas Jelinski for operating the machine. The authors also thank Jan Bergmann-Barrocas and Jan Bayerle who carried out the seismic survey. The authors owe their gratitude to families Dreier, Kusserow and Kohrs-Lichte for granting access to their land and to Nicolas Bourgon for supporting fieldwork and improving the manuscript. The authors thank Steffi Hesse and Victoria Krippner, who kindly conducted luminescence sample preparation at the MPI EVA. The authors thankfully acknowledge the work done by the ESPL editors and two anonymous reviewers who helped to improve the manuscript. M.H. thanks Jean-Jacques Hublin and the Max Planck society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) for funding this study as part of his PhD.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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