A multi‐proxy palaeoenvironmental and geochronological reconstruction of the Saalian‐Eemian‐Weichselian succession at Klein Klütz Höved, NE Germany

Abstract

Here we present a multi-proxy investigation of the Klein Kl€ utz H€ oved (KKH) coastal cliff section in northeastern Germany, involving lithofacies analysis, micromorphology, micropalaeontology, palynology and luminescence dating of quartz and feldspar. We subdivide the local stratigraphy into three depositional phases. (i) Following a Saalian advance (MIS 6) of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet, the penultimate deglaciation (Termination II) at the site occurred between c. 139 and 134 ka, leading to the establishment of abraided river system and lacustrine basins under arctic-subarctic climate conditions. (ii) In the initial phase of the Eemian interglacial lacustrine deposits were formed, containing warm-water ostracods and a pollen spectrum indicating gradual expansion of woodlands eventually containing thermophile deciduous forest elements. A correlation of the local pollen assemblages with Eemian reference records from central Europe suggests that fewer than 750 years of the last interglacial period are preserved at KKH. The occurrence of brackish ostracods dates the onset of the Eemian marine transgression at the section at c. 300-750 years after the beginning of the last interglacial period. (iii) Directly above the Eemian record a~10-mthick sedimentary succession of MIS 2 age was deposited, implying a significant hiatus of c. 90 ka encompassing the time from middle and upper MIS 5e to late MIS 3. During the Late Weichselian, KKH featured a depositional shift from (glacio-)lacustrine to subglacial to recessional terminoglacial facies, with the first documented Weichselian ice advance post-dating 20AE2 ka. Overall, the KKH section represents an exceptional sedimentary archive for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, covering the period from the Saalian glaciation and subsequent Termination II to the early Eemian and Late Weichselian. The results refine the existing palaeogeographical and geochronological models of the late Quaternary history in the southwestern Baltic Sea area and allow correlations with other reference records in a wider area.

The Quaternary sequence of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: areas of specific interest and ongoing investigations

“…We still only have limited knowledge about the depositional environments and processes, the oscillation of the SIS during the LGM and early Late Glacial, and especially the deglaciation sequence of NE Germany between 25 and 14 ka, which has only been locally dated. The first unequivocal evidence of a Weichselian ice advance reaching MWP has been dated at about 25-20 ka (Kenzler et al, 2015(Kenzler et al, , 2017(Kenzler et al, , 2018Pisarska-Jamroży et al, 2018). This time roughly coincides with the palaeo-geographical reconstructions of the SIS extent in the southwestern Baltic Sea area by Hughes et al (2016).…”

“…At several locations in MWP, Eemian sequences are preserved. For example, the transition from the Saalian deglaciation into the early Eemian (including the initial Eemian marine transgression) is documented in a sequence at the cliff of Klein Klütz Höved west of Wismar (Strahl et al, 1994;Menzel-Harloff and Meng, 2015;Kenzler et al, 2018). Furthermore, a lacustrine sequence comprising the complete transition from the Eemian into the Early Weichselian is well-documented at the outcrop "Hinterste Mühle" in Neubrandenburg Börner et al, 2018), and the Eemian profiles of Banzin and Beckentin in the southwest of Mecklenburg have recently been investigated, yielding new palaeoecological and U-Th data (Börner et al, 2015;.…”

“…Hence, the number of sites with proven lacustrine Eemian deposits has increased markedly during recent years. Marine deposits of Eemian age are largely restricted to the present coastal areas (Menzel-Harloff and Meng, 2015;Börner et al, 2018;Kenzler et al, 2018). Therefore, the palaeogeography of the Eemian Sea differs significantly from that of the Holsteinian Sea, and it closely resembles the recent land-sea distribution (Müller, 2004a).…”

“…Hermsdorf and Strahl, 2008). The existence of an Early to Middle Weichselian ice advance (Warnow advance, Müller, 2004a, b;Obst et al, 2017) reaching MWP has so far not been incontestably confirmed (Kenzler et al, 2018). A possible correlation of this Warnow advance with the Danish Ristinge advance (56-46 ka) has been proposed by Houmark-Nielsen (2010).…”

Sea cliff at Glowe: stratigraphy and absolute age chronology of the Jasmund Pleistocene sedimentary record

“…Lüthgens et al, 2011;Hardt, 2017). Furthermore, interstadial deposits of Weichselian age intercalated between till units have yielded reliable luminescence ages (Kenzler et al, 2015(Kenzler et al, , 2017(Kenzler et al, , 2018Pisarska-Jamroży et al, 2018). Luminescence dating is based on the principle that the energy of the ionising radiation flux from the surrounding sediments (U / Th series nuclides, K and Rb -alpha, beta, and gamma radiation) and of cosmic radiation is stored within the crystal lattice of quartz and feldspar minerals, due to impurities and lattice defects (Aitken, 1985).…”