Chronology of Weichselian main ice marginal positions in north-eastern Germany

Abstract

The chronology of the Weichselian Pleniglacial in north-eastern Germany was so far mainly based on morphostratigraphy and radiocarbon ages of organic sediments underlying glacigenic deposits. Throughout the last years direct dating approaches, i.e. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of glacioflucial deposits and surface exposure dating (SED) of erratic boulders, have been applied in a number of studies. We summarise and reassess the results of these studies following a process based interpretation model and propose a new chronology for the main ice marginal positions in north-eastern Germany. The available data give evidence for a twofold last glaciation with the Brandenburg phase representing an ice advance which occurred in late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 to early MIS 2, and the Pomeranian phase representing an ice advance reaching its maximum extent at ∼20 ka. The final stabilisation of the land surface after initial deglaciation was highly dependent on active landscape transformation during phases characterised by periglacial conditions. First numerical ages point towards the occurrence of such an activity phase at about ∼15 ka. Copyright: