Early Holocene environmental history of sunken landscapes: pollen, plant macrofossil and geochemical analyses from the Borkum Riffgrund, southern North Sea |
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Authors: | Steffen Wolters Manfred Zeiler Friederike Bungenstock |
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Institution: | (1) Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research, Viktoriastr. 26/28, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany;(2) Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, Bernhard-Nocht-Str. 78, 20359 Hamburg, Germany |
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Abstract: | A vibrocore from the sea floor of the southern North Sea provides a ~1,500-year record of early Holocene vegetation history
and mire development in a landscape now 33 m below sea-level. Pollen, plant macrofossil and geochemical analyses of an AMS
14C dated sand–peat–marine mud sequence document the paludification on Pleistocene sands ~10,700 cal BP, the subsequent development
of eutraphentic carr vegetation and the gradual inundation by the transgressing sea ~9,350 cal BP. Pinus–Corylus woodland prevailed on terrestrial grounds after hazel had immigrated ~10,700 cal BP. Salix dominated the carr vegetation throughout 1,300 years of peat formation, because Alnus did not spread in the Borkum Riffgrund area until 9,300 BP. Brackish reed vegetation with Phragmites established after inundation and siliciclastic marine sediments were being deposited. This article also examines the detection
and suitability of key horizons indicative of marine influence. XRF-Scanning provides the most detailed results in the briefest
possible time to pinpoint spectra best suitable for AMS 14C dating of classical key horizons such as start of peat formation and transgressive contact. The combined application of
botanical and geochemical methods allows determining new key horizons indicative of marine influence, namely the earliest
marine inundation and the onset of sea-level influence on coastal ground water level. |
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