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Chronology of the glaciation of the Southern Black Forest after the Late Pleistocene glaciation maximum

Subject Area Geology
Term from 2022 to 2024
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 516126018
 
Final Report Year 2025

Final Report Abstract

The aim of the projects was a comprehensive reconstruction of the last glaciation of the southern Black Forest. The key question of the projects was as follows: ‘When did the glaciation in the Black Forest reach its last maximum?’. A critical appraisal of previous mapping of moraines revealed that previous authors contradict each other with regard to the location and correlation of moraines. Some landforms referred to as moraines could not be confirmed as such. At the same time, numerous moraines were described for the first time. 69 boulders on moraines were sampled for age determination of ice-marginal positions by means of surface exposure dating. Boulders on moraines near the last glaciation maximum position yielded an average age of ~24,000 years. Due to the limited number of boulders, future work will have to confirm this preliminary age. Surface exposure dating of moraines north-east of the Feldberg yielded ages of 17,000–16,000 years for moraines associated with a phase of valley glaciation. During the subsequent phase of cirque glaciation (around 14,000 years before present), further moraines formed before the glaciers finally melted back. Age determination of lake sediments deposited on a moraine in the Feldsee cirque east of the Feldberg, the highest point of the Black Forest, revealed a minimum age of 16,470–15,230 years before 1950 AD for the moraine. Thanks to the determination of the concentration of the isotope 10Be in boulders on the exposed part of the moraine, it was possible to calculate the increase in the concentration of this isotope. Hence, this study leads to a refinement of the calculation of surface exposure ages for the mid-elevation mountains of central Europe. The second methodological study aimed to test a toolbox for calculating topographical shielding in a geographical information system. A further objective was to develop recommendations for the most precise possible determination of shielding factors using digital terrain models. Thanks to the reconstruction of the former glaciers in the southern Black Forest, the calculation of their equilibrium line altitude, and a global data set on precipitation–temperature relationships at equilibrium lines and independent temperature data, it was possible to calculate the precipitation during deglaciation. Due to uncertainties in the methodology used and the strong influence of snow drift and avalanches on the mass balances of the glaciers, the reconstructed precipitation values exhibit considerable uncertainties. Irrespective of this, the research project contributes to considerable progress in the study of glaciations in central Europe, as with a total of 65 surface exposure ages of blocks on moraines, the largest age data set on glacier fluctuations was generated for a mid-elevation mountainous region in central Europe.

Link to the final report

https://doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-10917

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