Neotectonic modelling of the North German Basin and adjacent areas a tool to understand postglacial landscape evolution?

Kaiser, A.

doi:10.1127/1860-1804/2005/0156-0357

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…(i) The study area belongs to the North German Basin, which is a low-strain area that is generally considered to be seismically calm. Fault scarps are rarely developed and preserved owing to the low slip rates along the faults and the humid climate conditions (Kaiser 2005), which lead to fast erosion and the destruction of fresh fault scarps. (ii) No instrumental seismicity has been recorded so far in the study area (Leydecker & Kopera 1999;Leydecker 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fault scarps are rarely developed and preserved owing to the low slip rates along the faults and the humid climate conditions (Kaiser 2005), which lead to fast erosion and the destruction of fresh fault scarps. (i) The study area belongs to the North German Basin, which is a low-strain area that is generally considered to be seismically calm.…”

Section: Formation Of Runoff-dominated Alluvial Fans During the Middlmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate control on the evolution of Late Pleistocene alluvial‐fan and aeolian sand‐sheet systems in NW Germany

Meinsen

Winsemann

Roskosch

et al. 2013

Boreas

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J. 2014 (January): Climate control on the evolution of Late Pleistocene alluvial-fan and aeolian sand-sheet systems in NW Germany.The Late Pleistocene was characterized by rapid climate oscillations with alternation of warm and cold periods that lasted up to several thousand years. Although much work has been carried out on the palaeoclimate reconstruction, a direct correlation of ice-core, marine and terrestrial records is still difficult. Here we present new data from late Middle Pleniglacial to Lateglacial alluvial-fan and aeolian sand-sheet deposits in northwestern Germany. Records of Late Pleniglacial alluvial fans in central Europe are very rare, and OSL dating is used to determine the timing of fan aggradation. In contrast to fluvial systems that commonly show a delay between climate change and incision/aggradation, the small alluvial-fan systems of the Senne area responded rapidly to climatic changes and therefore act as important terrestrial climate archives for this time span. The onset of alluvial-fan deposition correlates with the climate change from warm to cold at the end of MIS 3 (29.3Ϯ3.2 ka). Strong fan progradation started at 24.4Ϯ2.8 ka and may be related to a period of higher humidity. The vertical stacking pattern of sedimentary facies and channel styles indicate a subsequrent overall decrease in water and sediment supply, with less sustained discharges and more sporadic runoffs from the catchment area, corresponding to an increasing aridity in central Europe during the Late Pleniglacial. Major phases of channel incision and fan aggradation may have been controlled by millennial-scale Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles. The incision of channel systems is attributed to unstable climate phases at cold-warm (dry-wet) or warm-cold (wet-dry) transitions. The alluvial-fan deposits are bounded by an erosion surface and are overlain by aeolian sand-sheets that were periodically affected by flash-floods. This unconformity might be correlated with the Beuningen Gravel Bed, which is an important marker horizon in deposits of the Late Pleniglacial resulting from deflation under polar desert conditions. The deposition of aeolian sand-sheet systems (19.6Ϯ2.1 to 13.1Ϯ1.5 ka) indicates a rapid increase in aridity at the end of the Late Pleniglacial. Intercalated flash-floods deposits and palaeosols (Finow type) point to temporarily wet conditions during the Lateglacial. The formation of an ephemeral channel network probably marks the warm-cold transition from the Allerød to the Younger Dryas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Formation Of Runoff-dominated Alluvial Fans During the Middlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate control on the evolution of Late Pleistocene alluvial‐fan and aeolian sand‐sheet systems in NW Germany

Meinsen

Winsemann

Roskosch

et al. 2013

Boreas

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“…Many reverse faults in northern Germany strike almost perpendicular to the recent maximum horizontal stress direction. In general, strain rates are low (Marotta et al, 2002) as well as the slip rates along the faults (Kaiser, 2005). Historic seismicity along the faults might be possible because GIA-induced stress perturbation overcame the friction along the faults.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intraplate seismicity in northern Central Europe is induced by the last glaciation

Brandes

Steffen

et al. 2015

Geology

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There is growing evidence that climate-induced melting of large ice sheets has been able to trigger fault reactivation and earthquakes around the migrating ice limit. Even today, the stress due to glacial isostatic adjustment can continue to induce seismicity within the onceglaciated region. Northern Central Europe lies outside the former ice margin and is regarded as a low-seismicity area. However, several historic earthquakes with intensities of up to VII occurred in this region during the past 1200 years. Here we show with numerical simulations that the seismicity can potentially be explained by the decay of the Scandinavian ice sheet after the Weichselian glaciation. Combination of historic earthquake epicenters with fault maps relates historic seismicity to major reverse faults of Late Cretaceous age. Mesozoic normal faults remained inactive in historic times. We suggest that many faults in northern Central Europe are active during postglacial times. This is a novelty that sheds new light on the distribution of postglacial faulting and seismicity. In addition, we present the first consistent model that can explain both the occurrence of deglaciation seismicity and the historic earthquakes in northern Central Europe.

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“…The analysis of the neotectonic activity of northern Germany is challenging, because fault scarps that could point to past seismic events are rarely developed due to the low slip rates and climate conditions (Kaiser 2005). In general, this region is commonly regarded as a low seismicity area (Leydecker and Kopera 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural style and neotectonic activity along the Harz Boundary Fault, northern Germany: a multimethod approach integrating geophysics, outcrop data and numerical simulations

Müller

Polom

Winsemann

et al. 2020

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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We present new evidence for neotectonic activity along the Harz Boundary Fault, a Cretaceous reverse fault that represents a key structure in northern Germany. For the fault analysis, we use a multimethod approach, integrating outcrop data, luminescene dating, shear wave seismics, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and numerical simulations. A recent sinkhole at the SSW-ward dipping and WNW-ESE striking Harz Boundary Fault exposes a NNE-ward dipping and WNW-ESE striking planar fault surface that cuts through unconsolidated debris-flow deposits thus pointing to young Lateglacial tectonic activity. The fault shows a polyphase evolution with initial normal fault movement and a later reactivation as an oblique fault with reverse and strike-slip components. A shear wave seismic profile was acquired to analyse the geometry of the fault and show that the Harz Boundary Fault is steeply dipping and likely has branches. Partly, these branches propagate into overlying alluvial-fan deposits that are probably Pleniglacial to Lateglacial in age. The outcrop data in combination with the seismic data give evidence for a splay fault system with steep back-thrusts. One of these back-thrusts is most likely the NNE-ward dipping fault that is exposed in the sinkhole. The lateral extent of the fault was mapped with electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) profiles. The timing of fault movement was estimated based on optically stimulated luminescence dating of the faulted debris-flow deposits using both quartz and feldspar minerals. Consistent feldspar and quartz ages indicate a good bleaching of the sediment prior to deposition. The results imply fault movements post-dating ~ 15 ka. Numerical simulations of glacio isostatic adjustment (GIA)-related changes in the Coulomb failure stress regime at the Harz Boundary Fault underpin the assumption that the fault was reactivated during the Lateglacial due to stress changes induced by the decay of the Late Pleistocene (Weichselian) Fennoscandian ice sheet.

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Neotectonic modelling of the North German Basin and adjacent areas a tool to understand postglacial landscape evolution?

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Climate control on the evolution of Late Pleistocene alluvial‐fan and aeolian sand‐sheet systems in NW Germany

Climate control on the evolution of Late Pleistocene alluvial‐fan and aeolian sand‐sheet systems in NW Germany

Intraplate seismicity in northern Central Europe is induced by the last glaciation

Structural style and neotectonic activity along the Harz Boundary Fault, northern Germany: a multimethod approach integrating geophysics, outcrop data and numerical simulations

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