Genesis and dating of Late Pleistocene-Holocene soil sediment sequences from the Lüneburg Heath, Northern Germany

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The stratigraphy and settlement history of the loess-areas in Central Europe is well known for the glacial periods and the Holocene. In contrast there are no recent investigations in the sandy loess areas of the so called "Altmoränengebiet"in northern Germany on the age of the sediments, timing of soil formation and settlement history. In this study two soil profiles in the Lüneburg Heath are investigated. The soils have been studied by means of sedimentology, pedology and palynology. Dating was done by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon. The results give the first evidence from the Altmoränengebiet for human impact on soil development as early as the late Neolithic. In the soil profiles, periods of erosion and accumulation with enrichment in organic rich material are indicated.

Translated title of the contributionGenese und Datierung spätpleistozän-holozäner Paläobodensequenzen in der Lüneburger Heide, Norddeutschland
Original languageEnglish
JournalE&G Quaternary Science Journal
Volume60
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)6-26
Number of pages21
ISSN0424-7116
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 03.06.2011

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Christiane Hilmer, Suderburg for valuable help with laboratory treatment of the samples and soil analyses and Katrin Becker for her assistance with the palynological work. We are very thankful to Mario Tucci, Suderburg who helped draft graphs and figures. We finally like to thank Professor Peter Kershaw, Monash University, Australia for correcting the English manuscript and the two reviewers for their valuable advice.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2011 Brigitte Urban et al.

    Research areas

  • Environmental planning - loess, palaeosols, luminescence dating, pollen analysis, palaeoenvironment, human impact

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