Aeolian activity in Schleswig-Holstein (Germany): Landscape response to Late Glacial climate change and Holocene human impact

摘要

Inland dune fields in Schleswig-Holstein were formed in Late Glacial time and stabilised by soils and vegetation in the early Holocene. Sometime later in the Holocene new Soils were formed which were repeatedly covered by sand sheets. This renewed aeolian activity, may have been provoked by climate change. Reworking events were the result of human activity. However, optical ages of samples from two dune sites in Schleswig Holstein suggest that reworking and deposition occurred during three different time intervals in the late Holocene: in the late Roman time (similar to 360 AD), in medieval time (similar to 1,300 AD) and in modern time (similar to 1,800 AD). During Roman and medieval period a new podzol developed in apparent continuity above the early Holocene podzol, whereas in modern time soil formation was frequently interrupted by new sand deposition. During each of these intervals the landscape had woodland-free areas, which were affected by deflation or deposition of sand. These areas expanded significantly during modern times. It is therefore likely, that landscape change recognised here on the base of aeolian activity and soil formation is of anthropogenic origin and is not a climatically driven environmental change, although there is no unequivocal evidence.