A few years ago, a new relative sea-level curve for northwest Germany was constructed for the entire German North Sea coast. It is characterised by several suspected sea-level fluctuations. To test this curve for local effects, it was broken down into five relative sea-level curves representative for five coastal sections. The relative sea-level curves were corrected for tidal effects and also, a rough first correction for compaction was applied. The five curves all differ from the original curve and from each other. Most of the suspected sea-level fluctuations in the original curve cannot be supported and are discussed as data-artefacts or local effects. Around AD 800-1000 all curves show stagnation or drop of sea-level. Thus, this signal is discussed as of over-regional stratigraphic meaning. This study is a first step (1) to show that several curves are needed to demonstrate the Holocene sea-level history of such a big area as the entire German North Sea coast and (2) to establish reliable relative sea-level curves for the German North Sea coast. Further research is necessary to apply detailed corrections especially with respect to compaction-prone data and to improve the individual curves.
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 14 C dated sand-peatmarine 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. PinusCorylus 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 14 C 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.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.