Environmental inferences and chironomid-based temperature reconstructions from fragmentary records of the Weichselian Early Glacial and Pleniglacial periods in the Niederlausitz area (eastern Germany)

Engels, Stefan and Bohncke, S.J.P. and Bos, J.A.A. and Heiri, O. and Vandenberghe, J. and Wallinga, J. (2008) Environmental inferences and chironomid-based temperature reconstructions from fragmentary records of the Weichselian Early Glacial and Pleniglacial periods in the Niederlausitz area (eastern Germany). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 260 (3-4), pp. 405-416. ISSN 0031-0182.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.12.005

Abstract

We inferred past climate conditions from lacustrine sediments intercalated in Weichselian Early Glacial and Early Pleniglacial fluvial and aeolian sediments, exposed in two opencast lignite mines from the Niederlausitz area (eastern Germany). A chronology was established using radiocarbon and luminescence dating methods. Both lithology and chironomid fauna indicate that the former shallow lakes were situated on a floodplain. Palaeotemperature estimates calculated from the fossil chironomid-assemblages of the Early Glacial lacustrine deposit indicate mean July air temperatures of ca. 15 °C, which is in line with results derived in earlier studies from the Niederlausitz area and from northwestern Europe. The Early Pleniglacial lacustrine deposits consist of an organic-rich gyttja, intercalated with sand and silt lenses. The chironomid-assemblages show that a shallow meso- to eutrophic lake was present at the study site, and chironomid-inferred palaeotemperature estimates indicate an abrupt decline in July air temperatures from 15–16 °C to ca. 13 °C. In combination with other proxies from the same record, this suggests a Dansgaard/Oeschger like climate event.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
School:	Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Stefan Engels
Date Deposited:	13 Jan 2021 15:36
Last Modified:	02 Aug 2023 18:05
URI:	https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/41751

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