The pollen diagram “Repten CRep 89/2” (Niederlausitz, S Brandenburg, E Germany) from the legacy of Klaus Kloss

In the search for pollen diagrams from NE Germany for the study of patterns in vegetation and sedimentation during the Weichselian Lateglacial in NE Germany it was discovered that many unpublished palynological data from the period of the German Democratic Republic are preserved in archives of research institutions. In order to save these data from sinking into oblivion and to make them available to the scientific audience, part of this material was digitalised and published (see revision of old palynological data from E Germany). One of the sites studied by the late Klaus Kloss is near a Slavic Fortification near Repten in the Niederlausitz (southern Brandenburg).

The map of the study area will be added soon

The pollen diagram provides a first insight in the vegetation development of the Weichselian Lateglacial and Early Holocene of the Repten area (51°44´N; 14°03´E). Geomorphologically, the area belongs to a periglacial-fluviatile valley that is bordered by Saalian till plains. Unfortunately, there were no notes preserved among the field books of Kloss that describe the precise location, the local geomorphology or the lithological composition of the investigated core. It is, however, known that the Slavic fortification borders on a marshy meadow. This meadow was probably the subject of the palynological investigations.

In the early Lateglacial, a phase with prominent presence of Hippophaë, Helianthemum, Polygonaceae, and Artemisia is registered. The “Allerød” is only minory recorded, whereas the “Younger Dryas” shows a renewed expansion of Artemisia. The Early Holocene sequence of the pollen diagram shows an overrepresentation of Pinus pollen, due to which general changes in vegetation history are not inferable. In the local wetland vegetation during the Early Holocene ferns were markedly present.

Publication:

De Klerk, P. (2004): The pollen diagram “Repten CRep 89/2” (Niederlausitz, S Brandenburg, E Germany) from the legacy of Klaus Kloss. Archiv für Naturschutz und Landschaftsforschung 43(4): 9-17.