| Abstract: | A borehole programme on the floodplain of the River Mark has revealed an important fossilized fluvial system, now invisible in the present landscape. The palaeovalley meanders gently and is up to 200 m wide and 8 m deep. It is eroded in older fluvial sands, probably of Pleniglacial age, overlain by an aeolian cover of varying thickness. As indicated by several radiocarbon dates of the valley fill deposits, the erosion of the system took place in the pre-Holocene period. The filling proceeded in three phases. The morphological implications of each phase and their spatial extension are demonstrated. Most of the vertical fill consists of a sandy loam to loam. Around 9000 yr BP, the accumulation of an organic facies (mainly woodpeat) started, followed by the deposition of a weak fluvial clay. At 1400 yr BP the filling of the palaeovalley was complete. |
