Chronology of the last glaciation of low mountainous areas in Central Europe

• Applicant: Dr. Felix Martin Hofmann
• Subject Area: Physical Geography ; Palaeontology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 534739108

Smaller ice caps and glaciers are particularly suited for the reconstruction of climatic and environmental conditions, as they react sensitively to climatic variations on short timescales. Chronological data from moraines and erratic boulders indicate that the Jura, the Vosges, the Southern Black Forest, the Bavarian Forest, the Bohemian Forest, and the Giant Mountains were temporarily covered by comparably small ice masses during marine isotope stage (MIS) 2 (29,000 – 14,000 years before present). The Northern Black Forest and the Harz might have been glaciated during this period, but this hypothesis has hitherto not been validated with chronological data. Previous studies conclude that some glaciers of the Alps reached their last maximum extent 26,000 to 24,000 years before present and were fed by humidity from the Mediterranean Sea. The determination of the age of the last glaciation maximum in the Northern Black Forest and in the Harz would allow for validating this hypothesis, as the ice masses in these regions were probably situated in a leeward position with respect to the Alps. Other terrestrial archives, such as lake deposits, rarely occur in low mountainous regions and often do not go back far enough in time, so their potential for reconstructing environmental conditions at that time must be considered limited. With the moraine sequences, valuable archives are available that, after the application of modern techniques for age determinations, provide insights into climate history and atmospheric circulation patterns. The project aims to clarify whether the Harz and the Northern Black Forest were glaciated during the Late Pleistocene. In addition, this project aims to answer the question whether the last glaciations of these low mountain regions reached their last maximum extent simultaneously with the glaciers of the Alps. Another aim of the project is to reconstruct glacier fluctuations during the subsequent deglaciation of the Harz and the northern Black Forest. The findings of this project will be discussed with regard to their significance for climatic conditions and atmospheric circulation patterns. High-resolution digital terrain models will be used for the first time to systematically map glacial landforms in the study areas. The preliminary results will be verified during field campaigns. In the Harz, the sediments of a former moraine-dammed lake will be sedimentologically investigated. Age determinations of the sediments will be based on luminescence dating. For dating of moraines, surface exposure dating with the terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide 10Be will be applied. The reconstruction of glacier surfaces based on the geomorphological findings will enable the calculation of equilibrium line altitudes of former glaciers, which will then be used to quantify precipitation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants