Rieden tephra layers in the Dottinger Maar lake sediments: Implications for the dating of the Holsteinian interglacial and Elsterian glacial

Abstract

This study reconstructs the tephrochronology of the infilled Dottinger Maar lake (Eifel, Germany) by analysing the mineralogical composition of tephra layers in lake sediments from the Middle Pleistocene. Three sediment cores document deposits from the Rieden Volcanic Complex. Four distinct tephra layers were identified as the Rieden-leucite-phonolite tuff 1, 3, and 4, and the Weibern-leucite-phonolite tuff 1, which were previously dated by 40Ar/39Ar and indicate a volcanic active phase between 390 and 440 ka before present. In addition, the cores reveal an interglacial section with a typical Holsteinian vegetation succession superimposing Elsterian dust deposits. Annual layer counts, tephrochronology, and high-resolution Corg(chlorins) data were used to align the Dottinger Maar sediments to the EPICA ice core stratigraphy and to link it to Marine Isotope Stages 11 and 12. A comparison of clastic (aeolian) sediments in the Dottinger Maar lake record with the Antarctic EPICA dust stack displays thicker annual layer deposits during higher dust accumulation rates. Based on these lines of evidence, the Dottinger lake sediments date back to 385–457 ka before present.