Rinikerfeld Palaeolake (Northern Switzerland) – a sedimentary archive of landscape and climate change during the penultimate glacial cycle

Gegg, Lukas; Anselmetti, Flavio S; Deplazes, Gaudenz; Knipping, Maria; Madritsch, Herfried; Mueller, Daniela; Preusser, Frank; Vogel, Hendrik; Buechi, Marius W (2022). Rinikerfeld Palaeolake (Northern Switzerland) – a sedimentary archive of landscape and climate change during the penultimate glacial cycle. Journal of quaternary science JQS, 38(2), pp. 174-185. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 10.1002/jqs.3471

[img]
Preview
Text
GeggJQS.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial (CC-BY-NC).

Download (6MB) | Preview

While timing and ice extent of the last glacial maximum are generally well known, the courses of earlier glaciations have remained poorly constrained, with one of the main reasons being the scarcity of sedimentary archives. This study introduces a new palaeolake record from a Mid‐Pleistocene glaciofluvial channel system in the Lower Aare Valley (Northern Switzerland). The record of Rinikerfeld comprises a >40 m long succession of Quaternary deposits that are targeted by multi‐method sedimentological analysis. Sedimentary facies together with geochemical and geotechnical parameters, pollen content, as well as luminescence ages allow the reconstruction of the establishment, evolution and infilling of the early Marine Isotope Stage 6‐aged Rinikerfeld Palaeolake. A drastic change in lake sediment composition and structure indicates cessation of the initial glacially derived input, which is explained by landscape modification and drainage rerouting during the Penultimate (Beringen) Glaciation. Geochemical and palynological data further reveal cold, initially periglacial but slightly ameliorating, climate conditions, while the lake was progressively filled up by local runoff, before being buried by periglacial colluvial diamicts, and potentially overridden by ice. It is therefore concluded that the onset of the Beringen Glaciation was an environmentally as well as geomorphically dynamic time period in the Northern Alpine Foreland.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geological Sciences
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geological Sciences > Quaternary Geology

UniBE Contributor:

Gegg, Lukas, Anselmetti, Flavio, Vogel, Hendrik, Büchi, Marius

Subjects:

500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology

ISSN:

0267-8179

Publisher:

John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Language:

English

Submitter:

Flavio Anselmetti

Date Deposited:

19 Aug 2022 16:05

Last Modified:

26 Jan 2024 20:04

Publisher DOI:

10.1002/jqs.3471

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/172184

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/172184

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback