Stratigraphy and paleoecology of the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene in the open-cast mine Hambach (Lower Rhine Basin)

Abstract

More than 400 samples for paleobotanical and sedimentological investigations were collected from Late Pliocene and earliest Pleistocene beds in the open-cast lignite mine Hambach. They were analysed to obtain information about the paleoecology and paleoclimate of this time interval. The sedimentation type changed from a high-energy meandering fluvial system to floodplain, swamp and oxbow lake sedimentation. The typical Tertiary floral elements decreased with the onset of increasingly cooler climatic conditions and disappeared at the beginning of the Pleistocene to be substituted by a impoverished and cold-adapted flora. These combined litho- and biostratigraphic investigations led to an improved and reproducible separation of Late Pliocene from Early Pleistocene deposits.