Environmental signals of Pliocene-Pleistocene climatic changes in Central Europe: Insights from the mineral magnetic record of the Heidelberg Basin sedimentary infill (Germany)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2020.103112Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Information on the climatic and environmental evolution of a poorly documented region is provided.

  • Rock magnetics provide detailed environmental information for fluvial sediments

  • Coincidence of the events in other climate regimes are shown.

  • Contradicting age information of Heidelberg Basin publications are shown.

Abstract

The entrance of Earth's climate into the present icehouse state during a time of rapid temperature decline in the late Pliocene was intensively investigated during the past decade. Even though it is well documented in marine archives, a detailed reconstruction of the Pliocene-Pleistocene climatic evolution of Central Europe is hampered by a general lack of data. The work presented here is based on sedimentary material from drill cores obtained at three sites within the Heidelberg Basin (Germany). The scientific relevance of this unique archive was discovered only in the last decade. The hundreds of metres thick sequences of mainly fluvial sediments record the evolution of the environment and climatic conditions during the late Pliocene and the entire Pleistocene of western Central Europe. In our present study, we implement unpublished mineral magnetic S-ratio data, and new evidence from X-ray analysis into two previously completed studies on the magnetic polarity stratigraphy, and the magnetic mineralogy of the Pliocene to Pleistocene sediments of the Heidelberg Basin. The total set of data enables distinction of environmental and climatic processes, and unveil details on the climatic conditions of continental Europe during this period.

We demonstrate the dominance of a warm climate with alternation of humid and dry periods during the Pliocene. Cyclic variations in the groundwater table in the Rhine flood plain resulted in redox fluctuations, which led to the decomposition of the primary detrital mineral assemblage. Authigenic Fe oxides, particularly haematite, formed during dry periods. A rapid transition into cooler and moister conditions occurred at the end of the Pliocene, as indicated by the persistence of Fe sulphides, especially greigite. A high groundwater table and the associated reducing conditions have largely persisted to the present day.

We show that the rapid transition from warm to cooler and moister climatic conditions in Central Europe during the final Pliocene is a regional response to the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation (iNHG). This work supplements existing knowledge of the climatic evolution of Central Europe during the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition by data from a region from which little data has been available.

A sideglance to climatic archives elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere (e.g., North Atlantic Ocean, Chinese Loess Plateau, Russian arctic) is used to show the coincidence of the iNHG events in quite different environmental regimes.

Introduction

Over the past several decades, the application of new proxy methods has improved our understanding of terrestrial environments and the evolution of climate conditions during the Pliocene-Pleistocene in Europe. It is well known that the late Pliocene climate in northwest Europe was characterised by a humid subtropical climate with mean annual temperatures well above (~ + 4 °C) those of the present day (Utescher et al., 2000). The terrestrial records that have been observed to date reveal a progressive cooling trend from the Miocene into the late Pliocene (e.g., Utescher et al., 2000; Utescher et al., 2012; Mosbrugger et al., 2005). During the Pliocene, the drop of the mean summer temperatures and mean winter temperatures point towards an increase in seasonality; palaeo-precipitation curves indicate wet summers and dry winters (Utescher et al., 2000). Evidence from pollen analyses reveal the vegetation to change from subtropical to boreal types, indicating a change from greenhouse to icehouse climatic conditions. The Quaternary climate was characterised by cyclic changes from warmer and cooler climates, as has been described by Zagwijn in his seminal papers and in several other studies (Zagwijn, 1985, Zagwijn, 1992, Raymo et al., 1992, Mudelsee and Schulz, 1997, Clark et al., 2006, Lisiecki and Raymo, 2007, Lawrence et al., 2010).

However, it must be noted that the palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental history of the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene of the south-western parts of continental Central Europe are largely unknown. One primary obstacle to producing a detailed reconstruction of the Pliocene-Pleistocene climatic evolution of Central Europe is the lack of spatially distributed records with sufficient temporal resolution and age constraints (Utescher et al., 2012). The currently available information derives primarily from sites in northern Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain (e.g., Zagwijn, 1974; West, 1980; Zagwijn, 1992; Utescher et al., 2000; Mosbrugger et al., 2005; Westerhoff, 2009; Schreve and Candy, 2010), whereas data from sites located further south are exceptionally rare in Central Europe. The Pliocene successions in Southwest Central Europe are either eroded or lack robust age constraints. In the case of the Alpine foreland, the Tertiary bedrock has been reworked and deposited in Quaternary-age glacial, fluvial, and lacustrine deposits (Ellwanger et al., 2011). The fluvioglacial “Höhere Deckenschotter” in the Swiss midlands is considered to represent the oldest preserved remnants of the glacial cycles (Graf, 1993). An age between 1.8 Ma and 2.1 Ma was determined for these deposits through the identification of the tooth of a small mammal (Bolliger et al., 1996). However, this case represents an exception in the northern Alpine realm, where the deposits are generally highly fragmented and lack robust age constraints.

To obtain new data and promote a more detailed understanding of the climate evolution of the Alps and its connection to north-western Europe, the Heidelberg Basin Drilling Project was initiated (Ellwanger et al., 2005; Gabriel et al., 2008). The geological setting of the Heidelberg Basin and its geographical location between the North Sea Basin and the Alps provide an ideal framework for several geoscientific studies that have been performed since 2004 (e.g., Hagedorn, 2004; Buness et al., 2008; Hagedorn and Boenigk, 2008; Hahne et al., 2008; Hunze and Wonik, 2008; Knipping, 2008; Rolf et al., 2008; Lauer et al., 2010, Lauer et al., 2011; Reiter et al., 2013, Reiter et al., 2015; Tatzel et al., 2017; Li et al., 2018; Hülscher et al., 2018). In this paper, we focus on conclusions regarding the climatic and environmental evolution during Pliocene-Pleistocene times. These conclusions are based on age determinations derived from magnetic polarity stratigraphy (Scheidt et al., 2015) and detailed magnetic mineral characterisations (Scheidt et al., 2017) of three drill cores from the Heidelberg Basin. To characterise the climatic history of the Heidelberg basin from its sedimentary infill, the complex nature of all of the processes involved must be considered. This requires an understanding of the origin of the sediment, the transport mechanisms, and the depositional and post-depositional processes. We combine available information from the literature with new data from mineral magnetic analyses and major element analyses. As a side benefit, this study demonstrates the potential of rock magnetic studies of fluvial sediments to reveal details of past environmental and climate conditions.

Section snippets

Geological setting

The Heidelberg Basin (Fig. 1) developed as part of the European Cenozoic Rift System and is a subordinate structure of the Upper Rhine Graben (URG). Rifting-induced subsidence began during the late Oligocene (Schumacher, 2002) and led to the accumulation of several kilometre-thick sediment packages (Bartz, 1974; Buness et al., 2008). The Oligocene-age basin infill was delivered by rivers that drained the subsiding URG to the north. Later, predecessors of the Rhine and the Rhine River itself

Sample materials

The present interpretation of the environmental and climatic evolution of the Heidelberg Basin sedimentary record is based on analyses of sample material described and discussed in previous studies. For this reason, only a brief overview of the sample materials is provided here.

The sedimentary material discussed here was taken from drill cores from the following three sites (Fig. 1):

  • (1)

    The Viernheim site is located in the geographical centre of the Heidelberg Basin, approximately 3 km north of the

The age of the deposits

Determination of the ages of the Pliocene and Pleistocene sediments of the Heidelberg Basin is a challenging task. No absolute dating method is available that covers the entire time interval represented by these deposits with sufficient accuracy, and biostratigraphic methods have limited applicability because the fossil remains within the deposit are insufficiently well preserved. Given the lack of viable alternatives, a major change in the drainage system that is expressed by the onset of

Measurement procedures

The instrumentation and measurement procedures that were used to obtain the comprehensive data set used here have previously been described in Scheidt et al. (2015) and Scheidt et al. (2017). The first article focuses on the magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the sediments of the Heidelberg Basin. Thus, this article describes the results of the alternating field (AF) and thermal demagnetisation experiments. Further, the procedures used in performing three-component IRM analyses are described.

Magnetic polarity stratigraphy

The palaeomagnetic analyses show that several reversals are present in all of the cores (Fig. 3, Fig. 4, Fig. 5). The age-depth models indicate that minimum ages of 5.235 Ma and 4.187 Ma are highly possible for the bases of the Viernheim and Heidelberg cores, respectively (Scheidt et al., 2015). A comparable determination of the minimum age of core P36 is not possible because strong drilling-induced overprinting has obscured most of the palaeodirections within the Neogene part of the core. The

Discussion

Fluvial deposits are not generally preferred for the reconstruction of past environmental and climatic conditions using rock magnetic techniques. The main reasons are related to the highly energetic depositional environments in which fluvial sediments are laid down. These environments feature a complex combination of processes that are involved in the genesis and diagenesis of fluvial sedimentary materials and produce records with superimposed signals.

The primary compositions of the magnetic

Conclusion

The data obtained from the Heidelberg Basin succession represent the first (semi-)continuous documentation of the evolution of environmental and climate conditions from the late Pliocene to the present day in the southern part of Central Europe. We use data from two completed studies on magnetic polarity stratigraphy and magnetomineralogy to trace the environmental development of the region. The climatic conditions of the late Pliocene were likely warm and humid and alternated with dry periods.

Data availability

Datasets related to this article is provided at PANGAEA, an open access library for data from earth system research: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.901170, https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.901371, and https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.901920.

Declaration of Competing Interest

None.

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG; RO2170/8-1, RO2170/8-2, HA2193/10-1 and HA2193/10-2). Q.H. was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41625010 and 41888101). We would like to thank Frank Korte for carrying out the WD-XRF analyses in the laboratory in Hannover. Further, we wish to thank the students and technical staff for their efforts in the laboratories. Without their help, the large amount of sample material employed in the prior studies

References (135)

  • G. Gabriel et al.

    The Heidelberg Basin, upper rhine graben (Germany): a unique archive of Quaternary sediments in Central Europe

    Quat. Int.

    (2013)
  • M. Ghinassi et al.

    Arid climate 2.5 Ma in the Plio-Pleistocene Valdarno Basin (Northern Apennines, Italy)

    Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol.

    (2004)
  • L. Giosan et al.

    Paleoceanographic significance of sediment color on western North Atlantic drifts: II. Late Pliocene–Pleistocene sedimentation

    Mar. Geol.

    (2002)
  • Z. Guo

    Late Miocene–Pliocene development of Asian aridification as recorded in the Red-Earth Formation in northern China

    Global Planet. Change

    (2004)
  • J. Hülscher et al.

    New geochemical results indicate a non-alpine provenance for the Alpine Spectrum (epidote, garnet, hornblende) in quaternary Upper Rhine sediment

    Sediment. Geol.

    (2018)
  • R. Jiménez-Espinosa et al.

    Calcrete development in Mediterranean colluvial carbonate systems from SE Spain

    J. Arid Environ.

    (2003)
  • S.-J. Kao et al.

    Carbon–sulfur–iron relationships in sedimentary rocks from southwestern Taiwan: influence of geochemical environment on greigite and pyrrhotite formation

    Chem. Geol.

    (2004)
  • M.J. Kraus

    Paleosols in clastic sedimentary rocks: their geologic applications

    Earth Sci. Rev.

    (1999)
  • D.C. Lang

    The transition on North America from the warm humid Pliocene to the glaciated Quaternary traced by eolian dust deposition at a benchmark North Atlantic Ocean drill site

    Quat. Sci. Rev.

    (2014)
  • J.C. Larrasoana et al.

    A new proxy for bottom-water ventilation in the eastern Mediterranean based on diagenetically controlled magnetic properties of sapropel-bearing sediments

    Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol.

    (2003)
  • T. Lauer et al.

    Fluvial aggradation phases in the Upper Rhine Graben—new insights by quartz OSL dating

    Proc. Geol. Assoc.

    (2010)
  • K. Lawrence et al.

    North Atlantic climate evolution through the Plio-Pleistocene climate transitions

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (2010)
  • L.E. Lisiecki et al.

    Plio–Pleistocene climate evolution: trends and transitions in glacial cycle dynamics

    Quat. Sci. Rev.

    (2007)
  • B.A. Maher

    Palaeoclimatic records of the loess/palaeosol sequences of the Chinese Loess Plateau

    Quat. Sci. Rev.

    (2016)
  • M. Maslin et al.

    The contribution of orbital forcing to the progressive intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation

    Quat. Sci. Rev.

    (1998)
  • M. Mudelsee et al.

    The Mid-Pleistocene climate transition: onset of 100 ka cycle lags ice volume build-up by 280 ka

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (1997)
  • S.-M. Popescu

    Pliocene and lower Pleistocene vegetation and climate changes at the European scale: long pollen records and climatostratigraphy

    Quat. Int.

    (2010)
  • S.W. Poulton et al.

    A revised scheme for the reactivity of iron (oxyhydr) oxide minerals towards dissolved sulfide

    Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta

    (2004)
  • A.P. Roberts

    Magnetic mineral diagenesis

    Earth Sci. Rev.

    (2015)
  • S. Scheidt et al.

    A consistent magnetic polarity stratigraphy of late Neogene to Quaternary fluvial sediments from the Heidelberg Basin (Germany): a new time frame for the Plio–Pleistocene palaeoclimatic evolution of the Rhine Basin

    Global Planet. Change

    (2015)
  • A. Andreev

    Late Pliocene and early Pleistocene vegetation history of northeastern Russian Arctic inferred from the Lake El’gygytgyn pollen record

    Clim. Past

    (2014)
  • G. Balco et al.

    Absolute chronology for major Pleistocene advances of the Laurentide Ice Sheet

    Geology

    (2010)
  • S.K. Banerjee

    On the transition of Magnetite to Haematite and its implications to Rockmagnetism

    J. Geomag. Geoelec.

    (1965)
  • J. Bartz

    Revision des Bohr-Profils der Heidelberger Radium-Sol-Therme

    Jahresber. Mitt. Oberrhein Geol. Ver.

    (1953)
  • J. Bartz

    Die Mächtigkeit des Quartärs im Oberrheingraben

  • R.A. Berner

    Sedimentary pyrite formation

    Am. J. Sci.

    (1970)
  • J. Bloemendal et al.

    Rock magnetism of Late Neogene and Pleistocene deep-sea sediments: relationship to sediment source, diagenetic processes, and sediment lithology

    J. Geophys. Res.

    (1992)
  • L. Boersma et al.

    Soil morphology and water table relations: I. annual water table fluctuations

    Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.

    (1972)
  • T. Bolliger et al.

    Vorläufige Mitteilung über Funde von pliozänen Kleinsäugern aus den höheren Deckenschottern des Irchels (Kt. Zürich)

    Eclogae Geol. Helv.

    (1996)
  • J. Brigham-Grette

    Pliocene warmth, polar amplification, and stepped pleistocene cooling recorded in NE Arctic Russia

    Science

    (2013)
  • H. Buness et al.

    The heidelberg basin drilling project: geophysical pre-site surveys

    E & G (Quat. Sci. J)

    (2008)
  • D.E. Canfield et al.

    The reactivity of sedimentary iron minerals toward sulfide

    Am. J. Sci.

    (1992)
  • S. De Schepper

    Northern hemisphere glaciation during the globally warm early late Pliocene

    PLoS One

    (2013)
  • Z. Ding et al.

    Preliminary magnetostratigraphy of a thick eolian red clay‐loess sequence at Lingtai, the Chinese Loess Plateau

    Geophys. Res. Lett.

    (1998)
  • D. Ellwanger et al.

    The heidelberg drilling project (Upper Rhine Graben, Germany)

    Quaternaire

    (2005)
  • D. Ellwanger et al.

    Mannheim-formation, litholex (Online Database)

  • R. Dubiel et al.

    Criteria for interpreting paleoclimate from red beds - a tool for Pangean reconstructions

  • D. Ellwanger

    Iffezheim-formation, Litholex (online database)

  • D. Ellwanger et al.

    Fotodokumentation und Schichtenverzeichnis der Forschungsbohrungen Heidelberg UniNord I und II

    LGRB-Informationen

    (2012)
  • D. Ellwanger et al.

    The quaternary of the southwest German alpine foreland (bodensee-oberschwaben, Baden-Württemberg, Southwest Germany)

    E & G (Quat. Sci. J.)

    (2011)
  • Cited by (2)

    • Faunal renewals during the Early Pleistocene on the northern Italian Peninsula: Climate and environment reconstructions inferred from the Rivoli Veronese small mammal assemblage (Adige River valley, Verona, Italy)

      2022, Quaternary International
      Citation Excerpt :

      During the transition between the Late Pliocene and the Early Pleistocene, the beginning of the Glacial/Interglacial cycles and the onset of cooler, unstable, and highly seasonal climates drove crucial environmental changes, both globally and regionally (Lisiecki and Raymo, 2007; Pisareva et al., 2019; Scheidt et al., 2020 among others).

    View full text