Eine 'Mensch-gemachte Landschaft' : diachrone, geochemische und sedimentologische Untersuchungen an anthropogen beeinflussten Sedimenten und Böden der Niederrheinischen Lössbörde

The present work deals with the colluvial deposits of the Lower Rhine in North Rhine Westphalias. The presented results are from excavations in advance of the Rhenish lignite mines Garzweiler and Inden. In Quaternary sciences colluvial deposits are as archives for many years in research focus. As a product of direct human intervention in their environment their story begins in the Rhineland already in the Neolithic period and can be traced diachronically to modern times. So far colluvial sediments were usually taken for dating or sediment budgeting approach in the geosciences. In archeology, they learned little attention because they and their archaeological materials were considered as not in superposition. By using interdisciplinary methods, consisting of sedimentological, geochemical and archaeological methods it was able to reconstruct a detailed land use history. To clarify the origin of the colluvial deposits a loess-sequence also has been studied geochemical and was compared with loess- and loess-like deposits from adjacent areas, such as the North Eifel or the Middle Rhine. The results clearly show that only the combination of methods of natural sciences and the humanities allow optimal processing of these complex findings genus. The methods used for this purpose had been optimized and modified in the preparation technique and its measurement application. For the analysis of particle size analysis by laser diffraction a new evaluation method has even developed in this work, which is based on the differences between the optical models of Fraunhofer and Mie

Eine 'Mensch-gemachte Landschaft' : diachrone, geochemische und sedimentologische Untersuchungen an anthropogen beeinflussten Sedimenten und Böden der Niederrheinischen Lössbörde

The present work deals with the colluvial deposits of the Lower Rhine in North Rhine Westphalias. The presented results are from excavations in advance of the Rhenish lignite mines Garzweiler and Inden. In Quaternary sciences colluvial deposits are as archives for many years in research focus. As a product of direct human intervention in their environment their story begins in the Rhineland already in the Neolithic period and can be traced diachronically to modern times. So far colluvial sediments were usually taken for dating or sediment budgeting approach in the geosciences. In archeology, they learned little attention because they and their archaeological materials were considered as not in superposition. By using interdisciplinary methods, consisting of sedimentological, geochemical and archaeological methods it was able to reconstruct a detailed land use history. To clarify the origin of the colluvial deposits a loess-sequence also has been studied geochemical and was compared with loess- and loess-like deposits from adjacent areas, such as the North Eifel or the Middle Rhine. The results clearly show that only the combination of methods of natural sciences and the humanities allow optimal processing of these complex findings genus. The methods used for this purpose had been optimized and modified in the preparation technique and its measurement application. For the analysis of particle size analysis by laser diffraction a new evaluation method has even developed in this work, which is based on the differences between the optical models of Fraunhofer and Mie

Timing and spatial distribution of loess and loess-like sediments in the mountain areas of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Most studies on landscape evolution on the Tibetan Plateau during the late Quaternary have mainly focused on using lacustrine records. However, mantles of sandy silt and paleosols also provide valuable archives for reconstructing Holocene paleoenvironmental change. Yet little is known about the distribution and timing of these late Quaternary aeolian sediments. To enhance understanding and knowledge of aeolian sediments in Tibet and to help reconstruct the nature of Late Glacial through mid-Holocene landscape development, a loess-paleosol sequence, the Suohuduo section, located at the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau at about 4000 m above sea level is examined using sedimentological, geochemical and geochronological methods. A chronostratigraphy is established using nine optically stimulated luminescence and one radiocarbon ages. Sedimentation increased during the Late Glacial and the early Holocene with an upwards fining of sediments in the lower part of the section. Two mid Holocene paleosols that date to about 8.5 ka to 7 ka and -5.5 ka to 4 ka reflect more humid climate conditions during the mid-Holocene than earlier times. The upper part of the section is mainly silt, which reflects a more open landscape with higher aridity since 4 to 3 ka this time. These data support evidence for similar climate/paleoenvironmental change in adjacent regions on the Tibetan Plateau. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Formation and Geochronology of Last Interglacial to Lower Weichselian loess/palaeosol sequences – case studies from the Lower Rhine Embayment, Germany

Anhand zweier Profile aus dem Niederrheingebiet wird die Komplexität der Genese und Chronologie letztinterglazialer bis früh-weichselzeitlicher Löss-Paläoboden-Sequenzen diskutiert. Die untersuchten Profile wurden in den Braunkohletagebauen Inden und Garzweiler aufgenommen und sind mit mittelpaläolithischen Fundkomplexen verknüpft. Erstmalig werden dabei Multi-Element-Analysen neben Lumineszenz-Datierungen an Quarzen (ITL, OSL) aus niederrheinischen Lössprofilen vorgestellt und diskutiert. Die Ergebnisse offenbaren große Unsicherheiten hinsichtlich einer stratigraphischen und paläoklimatischen Interpretation von polygenetisch uüberprägten Sediment- und Paläobodensequenzen. Eine bedeutende Rolle nimmt dabei auch die Reliefposition in Verbindung mit der Morphogenese des Paläoreliefs ein, die in höherem Maße als bisher berücksichtigt werden sollte