A pollen diagram from the Teufelssee near Potsdam (C Brandenburg, NE 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the study of patterns in vegetation and sedimentation during the Weichselian Lateglacial it was discovered that many unpublished palynological data from the period of the German Democratic Republic are preserved in archives of research institutions.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 analysed by the late Klaus Kloss is the Teufelssee near Potsdam.

Location of the Teufelssee south of Potsdam

The Teufelssee (52°16´06´´ N, 12°58´30´´ E) is a kettle-hole in the Ravensberge forest between Potsdam and Wilhelmshorst. The area belongs to a small terminal moraine between the major Brandenburgian and Frankfurtian terminal moraines. The Teufelssee has a size of approximately 100 x 60 m. The water depth of the lake at the time of coring was around 6.5 m; the mineral subsoil was reached at 10.5 m below the water level. The palynologically analysed core “Ra 93/1” was derived from a somewhat marginal location and revealed below the sand layer a sequence of several m of aquatic sediments with some peat. A basal basin fill of gyttja is covered with brownmoss-sedge peat and fine detritus gyttja with wood remains.

Location of the Teufelssee between Potsdam and Wilhelmshorst

The pollen diagram encompasses the largest part of the Weichselian Lateglacial and the Early Holocene. The vegetation development follows mainly the general trend for central Brandenburg and Berlin but shows some interesting peculiarities, including local presence of Asteraceae during the Early Lateglacial, the registration of Open vegetation phase II (“Older Dryas”) and the open vegetation phase of the Early Holocene (“Piottino”/”Rammelbeek”/”Preboreal Oscillation”) that in general do not occur in pollen diagrams from central Brandenburg and Berlin. The lake terrestrialised during the early Holocene Corylus phase. The middle Holocene is badly represented in the pollen diagram due to slow peat accumulation, or due to one or more hiatuses. The increase in agriculture during the late Holocene is clearly recorded. Deforestation around the study area caused the deposition of a sand layer above the analysed section. Gyttja was again deposited during a period with more stable soils.

Publication:

De Klerk, P. (2006): A pollen diagram from the Teufelssee near Potsdam (C Brandenburg, NE Germany) from the legacy of Klaus Kloss. Archiv für Naturschutz und Landschaftsforschung 45(1): 23-35.