Grüger, Eberhard (2020): The pollen and macrofossil content of silt, sand and peat layers from gravel pits near Northeim, Lower Saxony, Germany [dataset bundled publication]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925261
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Abstract:
The data sets presented in this report are the result of an extensive pollen analytical and macrofossil study of the sediment of former oxbows exposed in gravel pits about 2 km northwest of the city of Northeim, Lower Saxony, Germany. Here where the river Rhume discharges into the river Leine vast exploitable gravel deposits were accumulated. When the author and Dr. E. Brunotte (Geographical Department, University of Göttingen, later Cologne) visited the site in the years 1984 and 1985 the area south of the "Großer See" (Great Lake) was a gravel plain with abandoned gravel pits and relicts of long quarry walls, an area almost completely devoid of the former about 2 m thick alluvial clay cover with its two young soils. The clay had been removed to allow gravel mining. The area is now flooded and part of the Great Lake. The water table of the lake lies 112 m above NN. The adjacent dry land is a few meters higher only. The study was stimulated by professor Dr. Brunk Meyer (Pedological Department, University of Göttingen) who - when visiting the Northeim gravel pit area - found hazel nuts falling out of a former quarry wall.
In the quarry walls numerous cross sections of former channels cut into the gravel and filled up with fine limnic mineral material - at one place even with some peat on top - could be observed. The channels document former oxbows of the river Rhume. Many fillings were truncated, often eroded to a few decimetres of limnic sediment overlain by gravel or sand. Visible hiatus are numerous in the sedimentary record; more are likely to be detected - especially in the silty layers - by a careful investigation of the profiles. Apparently the meandering river Rhume did often change its bed in the past, leaving oxbows which were filled up.
The stratification of a great number of sections accessible in the walls of the gravel pits and along an altogether more than 600 m long pit wall was studied. This report deals with profiles taken from the walls of gravel pits A and B, from a long quarry wall (C) and with sample E taken from a silt layer next to a well preserved oak trunk found in the gravel during the excavations (see the map).
As expected only samples from limnic and peaty layers were suitable for pollen and macrofossil analyses. Of the 120 samples prepared for pollen analysis only 84 contained pollen in quantities sufficient for a reliable interpretation (see the tables).
Thanks to the excellent state of knowledge of the postglacial development of the vegetation in the nearby Harz Mountains and their foreland (Beug 2017) most of the pollen samples can be assigned to one of the established pollen zones. The samples date from different phases of the Holocene, the oldest from Younger Dryas times, the youngest from a period with arable farming as the pollen grains of anthropogenic indicators like Triticum type, Cerealia type, Secale, Linum usitatissimum, Plantago lanceolata and Centaurea cyanus prove. No profile representing the complete Holocene was found.
One bulk sample of fen peat and three pieces of wood from Pit A could be radiocarbon dated. The results are presented below the pollen content tables both as BP ages and as calBC ages (calendar years, calibrated with CalPal_2007_HUL). The radiocarbon ages - especially that of the fen peat - differ to some degree from the ages suggested by the pollen content, most likely due to erosion and redistribution not only of silt and sand, but also of organic material like pollen grains and pieces of wood at times of flooding, a phenomenon which must have occurred often in the special environment of the Rhume-Leine floodplain. Thus pieces of "old" wood might be found in "young" sediment and reworked (i.e. older) pollen might obscure the age of the pollen spectra. Reworked pollen cannot be distinguished from autochthonous pollen. Therefore single samples or short sequences might not be datable. Reliable dating of oxbow sediment samples is possible - despite the presence of reworked pollen - if the pollen spectra reflect characteristic changes of the vegetation like the spreading of Fagus or if stated pollen association is specific for a certain period. Pollen analysis can hardly contribute much to vegetation history.
Related to:
Beug, Hans-Jürgen (2016): Die spät- und nacheiszeitliche Vegetationsentwicklung am Nordrand der niedersächsischen und hessischen Mittelgebirge (Harz bis Weser). Dr. F. Pfeil Verlag, München. ISBN 978-3-89937-213-7, 123 pp
Further details:
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 51.718375 * Median Longitude: 9.968192 * South-bound Latitude: 51.717344 * West-bound Longitude: 9.963164 * North-bound Latitude: 51.720111 * East-bound Longitude: 9.971728
Date/Time Start: 1984-06-01T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 1985-06-29T00:00:00
Comment:
Sequences of bricklike blocks (about 0,07 x 0,07 x 0,15 m) were cut out of the oxbow fillings exposed in the quarry walls. The samples for pollen analysis (about 1 cm³ taken in the laboratory from the bricks) were treated in the usual way (HCl, HF, if necessary KOH, acetolysis). No sample contained carbonate. The sediment blocks of several profiles were soaked in water (a few peaty samples also in KOH), washed and sieved for macrofossil (fruits, seeds etc.) analyses.
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)
Size:
18 datasets
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Datasets listed in this bundled publication
- Grüger, E (2020): Macroremain content of profile No 84/3 of gravel pit Northeim_PitA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925283
- Grüger, E (2020): Pollen content of profile No 84/3 of gravel pit Northeim_PitA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925271
- Grüger, E (2020): Pollen content of profile No 84/5 of gravel pit Northeim_PitA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925266
- Grüger, E (2020): Pollen content of profile No 84/41 of gravel pit Northeim_PitA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925269
- Grüger, E (2020): Pollen content of profile No 84/52 of gravel pit Northeim_PitA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925267
- Grüger, E (2020): Lithology of gravel pit Northeim_PitA profiles. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925256
- Grüger, E (2020): Macroremain content of profile No 85/1 of gravel pit Northeim_PitB. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925288
- Grüger, E (2020): Pollen content of profile No 85/1 of gravel pit Northeim_PitB. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925284
- Grüger, E (2020): Macroremain content of profile No 85/2 of gravel pit Northeim_PitB. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925286
- Grüger, E (2020): Pollen content of profile No 85/2 of gravel pit Northeim_PitB. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925285
- Grüger, E (2020): Lithology of gravel pit Northeim_PitB profiles. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925257
- Grüger, E (2020): Macroremain content of profile No 85/3 of gravel pit Northeim_SiteC. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925348
- Grüger, E (2020): Pollen content of profile No 85/3 of gravel pit Northeim_SiteC. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925341
- Grüger, E (2020): Macroremain content of profile No No85/NM 1-3 of gravel pit Northeim_SiteC. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925349
- Grüger, E (2020): Pollen content of profile No 85/NM 1-3 of gravel pit Northeim_SiteC. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925344
- Grüger, E (2020): Lithology of gravel pit Northeim_SiteC profiles. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925258
- Grüger, E (2020): Macroremain content of gravel pit Northeim_SiteE. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925351
- Grüger, E (2020): Macroremain content of gravel pit Northeim_SiteE. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.925352