Sabine Nolte

Environmental change and fluvial activity during the Younger Dryas in central Germany

Abstract Late Pleistocene climatically induced environmental changes are reconstructed by applying a multidisciplinary approach on floodplain sediments of small- to medium-sized catchments in central Germany. Radiocarbon dating, pollen analysis and the presence of an accurately dated tephra layer allow the establishment of a reliable chronology. The beginning of the Younger Dryas is marked by a change in fluvial activity that lasts for several hundred years. During this period gravels and sands were deposited by a braided river system. Fluvial systems at this time were predominantly controlled by the climatic conditions of the surrounding uplands, where the climatic deterioration led to a lowering of the forest limit and enhanced periglacial slope processes. An open pine forest prevailed in the basin areas and no evidence of slope wash and solifluction was found. The second part of the Younger Dryas is characterised by a meandering fluvial system and the deposition of overbank fines. The rapid transition from Younger Dryas to Preboreal coincides with an increase in organic deposition.