The Kaiserstuhl loess at the Atlantic-Mediterranean climate system interface: chronology, climate, environment and terrestrial system responses

• Applicant: Dr. Mathias Vinnepand
• Subject Area: Physical Geography
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 578862308

Loess-Palaeosol-Sequences (LPS) are widespread dust based archives of climate and environmental change connecting climate systems across continents. Comparing records from different regions, thus, allows for comprehending the propagation of climate change including the interaction of climate sub-systems and terrestrial system response. In Europe, few studies are available that deal with such processes at the interface of the Atlantic and Mediterranean systems and the existing do not predate the Last Interglacial. A better understanding of the interaction of the Atlantic and Mediterranean systems converging along the Rhône-Rhine axis may be achieved, if LPS from the Upper Rhine Graben that are most likely to comprise much of the last million years are integrated. Thick LPS of the Kaiserstuhl area in the southernmost Upper Rhine Graben are best suited to hinge LPS along the Rhine River (dominated by Atlantic climate: marine-temperate) with those found along the Saône-Rhône axis (rather Mediterranean influence). Glacial records in the region, i.e. from Switzerland, the Black Forest and the Vosges, do not record glacial-interglacial cycles. Likewise, lacustrine sites do not reach far beyond the Last Interglacial in this region. This and the nature of LPS as important archives of terrestrial system response clearly calls for detailed investigation of LPS at the Kaiserstuhl. Apart from two pilot studies, so far few data for key records such as the 35 m thick Riegel LPS exist for the Kaiserstuhl region. This site is most likely to cover much of the last million years, considering the available stratigraphic description, thermoluminescence ages and palaeomagnetic data (PMAG). However, either the applied techniques do not represent modern standards or they have not been documented in a way (PMAG) that would allow for an unequivocally robust interpretation. In addition, the site has not been investigated at high-resolution. The project proposed here aims at contributing chronological analyses (14C dating of earthworm calcite granules, luminescence as well as electron spin resonance (ESR) dating, and PMAG) for the Riegel LPS. In addition, high-resolution sedimentological (grainsize, colour), mineralogical, geochemical, and magnetic property data will be produced. This will allow for quantifying climatic conditions (stable C and O isotope composition of earthworm calcite granules) and corresponding environmental changes throughout most of the last million years. Overall, the project aims at establishing the so far missing reference site at the Kaiserstuhl to hinge to other LPS along the N-S axis Rhine and Rhône. This will facilitates a detailed understanding of terrestrial system responses at the interface of the Atlantic- and Mediterranean climate-subsystems.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants