Coastal development and human activities in NW Germany

Abstract

Abstract The flat coastal region of NW Germany is constructed of siliciclastic and organic sediments which were deposited during the Holocene sea level rise. By 7500 bp the marine transgression had reached the present coastal area which is proved by brackish-marine sediments. Nearly coinciding with this there was an evident deceleration of the sea-level rise. A reconstruction of the coast-line for the last 2000 years on the basis of the sediment and settlement distribution shows that the coast remained more or less in the same position during this period of time. However this does not apply to certain regions. Thus, bays which existed around the time 0 ad , gradually became mainland. In other areas late Medieval and early Modern storm floods were responsible for great losses of mainland, such as the Jade Bay. These losses of mainland are especially noteworthy, because these area had been protected with dykes. Until the beginning of dyke building the settlers of the flat coastal region raised their dwelling areas artificially and built dwelling mounds (so-called Wurten) in order to be protected against flooding. By doing this men reacted to the influences of their environment, but by building dykes they started to shape their environment actively.