Spatial Survey of Tephra Deposits in the Middle Lahn Valley (Hesse, Germany)
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Express report E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 70, 165–169, 2021 https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-70-165-2021 © Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Spatial survey of tephra deposits in the middle Lahn valley (Hesse, Germany) Collin J. Weber, Volker M. H. Dickhardt, and Stefan Harnischmacher Department of Geography, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, 35032, Germany Correspondence: Collin J. Weber ([email protected]) Relevant dates: Received: 26 March 2021 – Revised: 11 May 2021 – Accepted: 1 June 2021 – Published: 1 July 2021 How to cite: Weber, C. J., Dickhardt, V. M. H., and Harnischmacher, S.: Spatial survey of tephra de- posits in the middle Lahn valley (Hesse, Germany), E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 70, 165–169, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-70-165-2021, 2021. 1 Introduction 2003; Lomax et al., 2018). Further well-summarized infor- mation about the situation within the Niederweimar gravel Tephra deposits and especially Laacher See tephra (LST) quarry can be found in Lomax et al. (2018) or on the website deposits resulting from the Laacher See eruption (12.9 ka) of the archaeological survey of Hesse (https://lfd.hessen.de/, are an important stratigraphic marker for the Allerød period last access: 21 March 2021). in central Europe (van den Bogaard and Schmincke, 1995). The evidence of LST in the Lahn valley, as in other valley Within the central German low mountain range (Rhenish sediments, is often limited to gravel pits (other larger excava- Massif and eastern areas) the LST was found within soils tions). These pits and their profiles offer very good insights (initial deposits, sheltered slope positions) and valleys (relo- (e.g. detailed lithostratigraphic description of profiles), but cated deposits) (Bos and Urz, 2003; Hahn and Opp, 2005). they are always limited to a comparatively small spatial sec- The Niederweimar gravel quarry, located on the lower ter- tion of the entire floodplain (gravel pit area). Therefore, the race in the middle reach of the Lahn River valley south of objective of the presented study is to provide a spatial sur- Marburg (Hesse, Germany), is known for its high-resolution vey of LST deposits in the middle Lahn valley, covering the stratigraphy of Quaternary gravel deposits and late glacial, entire floodplain cross section. The following two questions as well as Holocene, floodplain fines (Lomax et al., 2018). form the focus of the spatial survey. (1) How is the lateral This particular stratigraphy is mainly achieved by the up to and vertical extension of the LST deposits within the Lahn 2 m thick LST deposits, which consist of pure LST beds and valley floodplain? (2) Does the spatial distribution provide a multitude of fine LST bands (partly interbedded with black overarching information about the deposition dynamics of sands or interrupted by clay bands). The origin of the LST the LST? For this purpose, a transect-based survey with qual- in the floodplain is attributed to an extensive deposition (ae- itative analysis of LST grains based on density separation and olian, directly in the floodplain), as well as later fragmenta- visual identification (stereomicroscope) was applied. tion of the tephra deposits by surface erosion and renewed deposition of LST from the catchment area through chang- ing river systems (Bos and Urz, 2003; Lomax et al., 2018). 2 Methods The surroundings of the gravel quarry are also rich in archae- ological finds reaching more or less continuously from the Survey and sampling of tephra samples was conducted at Mesolithic (11.7 to 7.5 ka) to the Middle Ages (Bos and Urz, three floodplain transects (including active floodplain zone and lower terrace) in the south of Niederweimar gravel Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the Deutsche Quartärvereinigung (DEUQUA) e.V. 166 C. J. Weber et al.: Tephra deposits in the Lahn valley quarry where the floodplain shows one of its greatest trans- 3 Results and discussion verse expansions (Fig. 1). Transects cover a maximum width of 973.9 m and are at 170.9 m a.s.l. (above sea level) with a In total 56 tephra containing stratigraphically distinguishable height difference of ±1:4 m. Sampling was carried out with layers were identified and sampled. Qualitative tephra anal- the help of a hand auger (Pürckhauer, Ø 2 cm, 2 m depth) and yses within the laboratory show a positive rate of 69.6 % in pile core probing (Ø 6–8 cm, 3 m depth). Soil properties and which case tephra could be detected under the microscope stratigraphy were documented in the field according to the for the 56 samples. In 30.4 % of the layers, no tephra grains national standard soil classification scheme (KA5, Ad-hoc or larger fragments could be found even if the Greasing ef- AG Boden, 2005). Tephra-containing layers were identified fect occurred in the field. The applied method is therefore visually (visible tephra grains) or by smeary consistence (ow- suitable for qualitative detection, is fast and inexpensive, and ing to higher contents of allophane) (Jahn et al., 2006), pro- can be extended by other methods such as mineral analy- portion documented (percentage of tephra grains estimated sis and dating. Tephra grains occur usually entire with grey- by area according to KA5), and extracted for further analy- brown to greenish colours, clear holes and glassy surface sis. structure (Fig. 2). The length to width ratio of the grains from Samples for method validation and as comparison mate- a random sample of 30 grains comprises an average length rial (reference samples) were taken from a recently exca- of 782.7 (±288:4) µm and width of 557.12 (±179:5) µm. vated profile (32U 480710 5621590) in the Niederweimar Grain surface and average and maximum length (1565.9 µm) gravel quarry, which was excavated during archaeological correspond clearly to the reference samples (same colour, work. The profile consists of Holocene floodplain loams (silt holes and glassy structure) with an average length of 724.3 to sandy loam) above four LST layers (sandy loam, partwise (±245:6) µm. alternating with black sands and ripple) and flood loam (late Tephra layers come up at average depths of 68.6 cm below Pleistocene) at the base (Fig. 2). Three samples were taken surface and end at average depths of 166.5 cm (±46:3 cm). from the upper (LST bands mixed with sandy loam), mid- Tephra layers have thicknesses from 6.0 up to 132.0 cm with dle (thick LST bands, between black sands) and lower (LST an average thickness of 52.0 cm (Figs. 1b and 2). Grain size bands interrupted by black sands with ripple shapes) parts of analyses of tephra-containing layers has a mean distribution the LST layer (Fig. 2). of 30.2 % clay, 46.8 % silt and 23.1 % sand. However, the Reference samples and samples from the transects were share of sand is ranging between 2.7 % and 57.9 %, resulting dried at 100 ◦C (drying chamber) under weight loss con- in the samples comprising the grain size classes clay, silty trol, subsequently carefully ground, and sieved to < 2 mm clay, silty clay loam to silt loam (outliers within loam and (stainless steel sieve, Retsch, Haan, Germany). Subsample sandy loam), and they are thus very heterogeneous. material (20g per sample) was then mixed with 150 mL Stratigraphic classification of tephra layers corresponds saturated NaCl solution (density adjusted, ρ D 1:2 g cm−3) to the findings of our reference profile and other profiles within glass beakers, stirred (1 min, magnetic stirrer) and al- within the Niederweimar quarry (e.g. Lomax et al., 2018): lowed to sediment for 20 min. This allows the tephra grains The tephra layers are covered by Holocene floodplain sedi- to be separated from other mineral components (sand to ments (floodplain loams, silty loams) and rarely with single clay grains), despite the heavy minerals contained (Lomax et clay layers or isolated gravel deposits. The lowermost tephra al., 2018), because the grains float in the dry state due to their layers, partly with the same pattern of banding (LST bands many cavities (volcanic origin). The floating tephra grains and black sands) (Fig. 2), however, are only poorly visible were then sieved to > 50 µm (Atechnik, Leinburg, Germany) within the drill sample in contrast to quarry profiles. Below to separate clay and/or silt particles and filtered by vacuum the tephra, a thin band (approx. 5 cm) of sand with gravel filtration (cellulose filter, LLG-Labware, Meckenheim, Ger- occurs, followed by a thick layer of clay (dark and rich in or- many) to rinse out remaining salts. Dried filters were visu- ganic matter), before the gravel deposits of the lower terrace ally examined using a stereomicroscope (Motic SMZ-161 begin. TL, Motic, Hong Kong). From the reference samples, 30 ran- Regarding the vertical and lateral spatial distribution of domly selected tephra grains were extracted and measured tephra layers it can be stated that it is present nearly all over (Moticam, Motic, Hong Kong). Samples from the transects the floodplain area of the middle Lahn valley. The interpola- were inspected according to the presented method, and the tion of the upper and lower tephra boundaries (Fig. 1b) shows presence of tephra grains or their fragments was considered that it is independent of the terrain surface today. This indi- a positive finding. In addition, 19 samples containing proven cates that the tephra follows the morphology of Pleistocene LST were selected, and the particle size distribution was de- gravel and flood loam deposits, as observed within the quarry termined according to DIN ISO 11277 (2002) and the inte- (reference profile).