A 450 year record of spring‐summer flood layers in annually laminated sediments from Lake Ammersee (southern Germany)

Abstract

[1] A 450 year spring-summer flood layer time series at seasonal resolution has been established from the varved sediment record of Lake Ammersee (southern Germany), applying a novel methodological approach. The main results are (1) the attainment of a precise chronology by microscopic varve counting, (2) the identification of detrital layers representing flood-triggered fluxes of catchment material into the lake, and (3) the recognition of the seasonality of these flood layers from their microstratigraphic position within a varve. Tracing flood layers in a proximal and a distal core and correlating them by application of the precise chronology provided information on the depositional processes. Comparing the seasonal flood layer record with daily runoff data of the inflowing River Ammer for the period from 1926 to 1999 allowed the definition of an approximate threshold in flood magnitude above which the formation of flood layers becomes very likely. Moreover, it was possible for the first time to estimate the "completeness" of the flood layer time series and to recognize that mainly floods in spring and summer, representing the main flood seasons in this region, are well preserved in the sediment archive. Their frequency distribution over the entire 450 year time series is not stationary but reveals maxima for colder periods of the Little Ice Age when solar activity was reduced. The observed spring-summer flood layer frequency further shows trends similar to those of the occurrence of flood-prone weather regimes since A.D. 1881, probably suggesting a causal link between solar variability and changes in midlatitude atmospheric circulation patterns.Citation: Czymzik, M., P. Dulski, B. Plessen, U. von Grafenstein, R. Naumann, and A. Brauer (2010), A 450 year record of spring-summer flood layers in annually laminated sediments from Lake Ammersee (southern Germany), Water Resour. Res., 46, W11528,

Laminated lake sediments in northeast Poland: distribution, preconditions for formation and potential for paleoenvironmental investigation

“…Despite numerous studies of lake sediment cores from other Polish lakes, only short laminated sections were occasionally found and are related to early stages of lake development (Więckowski 1978). Recently, an intermittently laminated core was reported from Lake Miłkowskie in the Land of Great Masurian Lakes (Wacnik 2009), and (Petterson 1996, Zillén et al 2003; 2 Finish lakes (Ojala et al 2000); 3 Tougjärv (Veski et al 2004); 4 Loch Ness (Cooper and O'Sullivan 1998); 5 Loe Pool (Simola et al 1981); 6 Lake Diss Mere (Peglar et al 1984); 7 Belauer See (Dörfler et al 2012); 8 Hämelsee (Merkt and Müller 1999); 9 Woseriner See (Dreibrodt et al 2002); 10 Sacrower See (Lüder et al 2006); 11 Lake Goscią _ z (Ralska-Jasiewiczowa et al 1998); 12 Meerfelder Maar (Brauer et al 1999); 13 Holzmaar (Zolitschka et al 2000); 14 Frickenhauser See (Enters et al 2006); 15 Steisslinger See (Eusterhues et al 2002); 16 Ammersee (Czymzik et al 2010); 17 Baldeggersee (Lotter et al 1997); 18 Soppensee (Lotter 1989); 19 Lac Pavin (Stebich et al 2005); 20 Lac Bramant (Guyard et al 2007); 21 Lac D'Annecy (Brauer and Casanova 2001); 22 Seebergsee (Hausmann et al 2002); 23 Silvaplana See (Leemann and Niessen 1994); 24 Mondsee (Wolff et al 2006); 25 Längsee (Schmidt et al 2002); 26 Lake Butrint (Ariztegui et al 2010); 27 Lake Montcortés (Corella et al 2011); 28 Lake La Cruz (Romero-Viana et al 2008); 29 Lake Zoñar (Martín-Puertas et al 2009) conditions for deposition of laminated sediments in meromictic Lake Suminko in the Kashubian Lakeland were investigated by Tylmann et al (2012).…”

Patterns of extreme weather associated with observed and proxy River Ammer flood records

“…Ludwig et al (2013) and Petrow and Merz (2009). Here we examine the observed daily discharge of River Ammer during summer 105 (June, July, August), the main flood season in the Ammer region (Czymzik et al, 2010). We combine the discharge data with the 5500-year flood layer record from varved Lake Ammersee sediments, a proxy for River Ammer flood frequency in spring and summer (Czymzik et al, 2010).…”

“…Therefore, we combine instrumental River Ammer discharge data back to 1926 with the seasonally resolved flood layer time-series from varved sediments of the downstream Lake Ammersee covering the last 5500 years. Detecting such features can improve the interpretation of flood layer records from Lake Ammersee sediments (Czymzik et al, 2010), in terms of extreme weather and climate variations. Previous studies connected varying stable oxygen 85 isotope contents in central Greenland ice cores (Rimbu et al, 2016a) as well as tree ring variability from Scandinavia (Peng et al, 2016) with temperature extremes over Europe during instrumental and pre-instrumental period.…”

“…Here we examine the observed daily discharge of River Ammer during summer 105 (June, July, August), the main flood season in the Ammer region (Czymzik et al, 2010). We combine the discharge data with the 5500-year flood layer record from varved Lake Ammersee sediments, a proxy for River Ammer flood frequency in spring and summer (Czymzik et al, 2010). A daily River Ammer discharge of >125m 3 /s is defined as a flood day, since above that threshold the deposition of a flood layer in Lake Ammersee sediments becomes very likely 110 (Czymzik et al, 2010).…”

“…We combine the discharge data with the 5500-year flood layer record from varved Lake Ammersee sediments, a proxy for River Ammer flood frequency in spring and summer (Czymzik et al, 2010). A daily River Ammer discharge of >125m 3 /s is defined as a flood day, since above that threshold the deposition of a flood layer in Lake Ammersee sediments becomes very likely 110 (Czymzik et al, 2010). The main goal of this paper is to relate River Ammer flood frequency variability from the discharge and sedimentological records to extreme climate anomaly patterns.…”