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Climate-driven fluvial development and valley abandonment at the last glacial-interglacial transition (Oude IJssel-Rhine, Germany)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2014

M.M. Janssens ,
C. Kasse ,
S.J.P. Bohncke ,
H. Greaves ,
K.M. Cohen ,
J. Wallinga  and
W.Z. Hoek
M.M. Janssens*
Affiliation:
Department of Climate Change and Landscape Dynamics, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands
C. Kasse
Affiliation:
Department of Climate Change and Landscape Dynamics, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands
S.J.P. Bohncke
Affiliation:
Department of Climate Change and Landscape Dynamics, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands
H. Greaves
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Postbus 80.115, 3508 TC, Utrecht, the Netherlands
K.M. Cohen
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Postbus 80.115, 3508 TC, Utrecht, the Netherlands Department of Applied Geology and Geophysics, Division BGS, Deltares, P.O. Box 85.467, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands
J. Wallinga
Affiliation:
Netherlands Centre for Luminescence dating, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Mekelweg 15, 2629 JB Delft, the Netherlands
W.Z. Hoek
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Postbus 80.115, 3508 TC, Utrecht, the Netherlands
*
Email: m.m.janssens@vu.nl.
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Abstract

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In the Weichselian, the Lower Rhine in the Dutch-German border region has used three courses, dissecting ice-marginal topography inherited from the Saalian. In the Late Weichselian, the three courses functioned simultaneously, with the central one gaining importance and the outer ones abandoning. This study aims to reconstruct the fluvial development and forcings that culminated in abandonment of the northern branch ‘Oude IJssel-Rhine’, at the time of the Lateglacial to Holocene transition. The fluvial architecture is studied using a cored transect over the full width of the valley, detailed cross-sections over palaeochannels and geomorphological analysis using digital elevation and borehole data. Biostratigraphy, radiocarbon dating and OSL dating provide a timeframe to reconstruct the temporal fluvial development. In its phase of abandonment, the fluvial evolution of the Oude IJssel-Rhine course is controlled by the ameliorating climate and related vegetation and discharge changes, besides by intrinsic (autogenic) fluvial behaviour such as the competition for discharge with the winning central branch and the vicinity of the Lippe tributary confluence. The rapid climate warming at the start of the Late Glacial resulted in flow contraction as the initial response. Other fluvial geomorphic adjustments followed, with some delay. An aggrading braided or transitional system persisted until the start of the Allerød, when channel patterns finally changed to meandering. Floodplain incision occurred at the Allerød - Younger Dryas transition and a multi-channel system developed fed by Rhine discharge. At the start of the Holocene, this system transformed into a small-scale, local meandering system, which was abandoned shortly after the start of the Holocene.

The final abandonment of the Oude IJssel-Rhine and Niers-Rhine courses can be attributed to deep incision of the Central Rhine course in the earliest Holocene and is considered to be controlled by flow contraction induced by climate and related vegetation and discharge changes.

Keywords

fluvial geomorphologyLateglacialLower Rhineriver pattern changevegetation developmentcomplex response
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 91 , Issue 1-2 , September 2012 , pp. 37 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2012

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