Journal article
Exploring possible links between Quaternary aggradation in the Upper Rhine Graben and the glaciation history of northern Switzerland
Frank Preusser, Matthias Buschelberger, Hans Axel Kemna, Johannes Miocic, Daniela Mueller, Jan-Hendrik May
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES | SPRINGER | Published : 2021
Abstract
The Quaternary filling of the Upper Rhine Graben is an excellent archive to reconstruct sediment dynamics in response to climate change, in particular related to past glaciations of the Swiss Alpine Foreland. Here, a sediment sequence recovered by drilling for exploration purposes near Kronau is investigated, using a combination of sedimentological logging, provenance studies (heavy minerals and clast petrography), and luminescence dating. Several phases of coarse sediment aggradation are identified that possibly correlate to Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 12 (478–424 ka), 10 (374–337 ka), 8 (300–243 ka), 6 (191–130 ka) and/or 4 (71–57 ka), and 2 (29–14 ka). Several of these phases have previou..
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Funding Acknowledgements
Gamma spectrometric measurements were carried out by Sonke Szidat at the University of Bern. The contributions by HAK and DM to this study were carried out while both were funded through grants by the Swiss National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (NAGRA). We thank Frank Kiesewetter for providing us access to the core and hospitality. Michael Weidenfeller generously made his original logging protocol of the Ludwigshafen P34 core available. Philipp Stojakowits is thanked for his feedback regarding the interpretation of pollen data. We especially thank Ulrike Wieland-Schuster for her critical comments on several earlier drafts of the manuscript, in particular with regard to the regional Quaternary geology. The manuscript benefited from constructive reviews by Giovanni Monegato and an anonymous reviewer.