Articles | Volume 74, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-74-147-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-74-147-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Preface to the special issue “Quaternary research in times of change – inspired by INQUA Roma 2023”
Gilles Rixhon
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Laboratoire Image Ville Environnement (LIVE UMR 7362), Université de Strasbourg CNRS ENGEES, 67083 Strasbourg, France
Julia Meister
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Geoarchaeology and Quaternary Science, Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Würzburg, 97470 Würzburg, Germany
Physical Geography, Institute of Geography, University of Bamberg, 96045 Bamberg, Germany
Ingmar Unkel
Physical Geography of the Anthropocene, Institute of Geography, University of Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
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Hélène Tissoux, Magali Rizza, Claire Aupart, Gilles Rixhon, Pierre G. Valla, Manon Boulay, Philippe Lach, and Pierre Voinchet
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-182, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-182, 2025
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This study, using ESR, OSL, and LA-ICPMS trace element analyses, reveals significant relationships between quartz OSL/ESR sensitivities and bedrock characteristics. Trace element compositions appear to influence the OSL and ESR-Ti sensitivities, the last being weak in quartz extracted from metamorphic or deformed rocks. Pressure may take a part in OSL/ESR-Ti sensitivities variability while ESR Al intensities could be linked to initial fluid composition and crystallization conditions
Melanie Bartz, Mathieu Duval, María Jesús Alonso Escarza, and Gilles Rixhon
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 73, 139–144, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-139-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-139-2024, 2024
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The chronostratigraphy of the Rhine’s main terrace along the Middle Rhine Valley (MRV) is poorly constrained. This study fills this gap by using electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of quartz grains collected from the famous Kärlich site. Consistent ESR results date this terrace to ~1.5 Ma and have far-reaching implications as they numerically constrain, for the first time, the aggradation time of key terrace deposits along the MRV, providing new insights into the Rhine’s Quaternary evolution.
Hélène Tissoux, Magali Rizza, Claire Aupart, Gilles Rixhon, Pierre G. Valla, Manon Boulay, Philippe Lach, and Pierre Voinchet
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-182, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-182, 2025
Short summary
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This study, using ESR, OSL, and LA-ICPMS trace element analyses, reveals significant relationships between quartz OSL/ESR sensitivities and bedrock characteristics. Trace element compositions appear to influence the OSL and ESR-Ti sensitivities, the last being weak in quartz extracted from metamorphic or deformed rocks. Pressure may take a part in OSL/ESR-Ti sensitivities variability while ESR Al intensities could be linked to initial fluid composition and crystallization conditions
Fernando Leceta, Christoph Binder, Christian Mader, Bertil Mächtle, Erik Marsh, Laura Dietrich, Markus Reindel, Bernhard Eitel, and Julia Meister
SOIL, 10, 727–761, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-727-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-727-2024, 2024
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This study explores pre-Hispanic terrace agriculture in the southern Peruvian Andes, focusing on soil development and agricultural impacts. It examines soil types and properties, as well as agricultural practices, and traces the region's agricultural development over four phases, highlighting the resilience of ancient communities. The abandonment of terraces was not due to soil degradation, emphasizing the sustainability of pre-Hispanic practices and the adaptation to environmental change.
Melanie Bartz, Mathieu Duval, María Jesús Alonso Escarza, and Gilles Rixhon
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 73, 139–144, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-139-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-139-2024, 2024
Short summary
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The chronostratigraphy of the Rhine’s main terrace along the Middle Rhine Valley (MRV) is poorly constrained. This study fills this gap by using electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of quartz grains collected from the famous Kärlich site. Consistent ESR results date this terrace to ~1.5 Ma and have far-reaching implications as they numerically constrain, for the first time, the aggradation time of key terrace deposits along the MRV, providing new insights into the Rhine’s Quaternary evolution.
Philipp Garbe, Amr Abd El-Raouf, Ashraf Es-Senussi, Eva Lange-Athinodorou, and Julia Meister
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 73, 95–99, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-95-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-95-2024, 2024
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Geoarchaeological research in ancient Bubastis has concentrated on the western and central parts of the city. Although the “Temple of Hermes” was investigated and roughly located in eastern Bubastis during exploratory excavations in the 19th century, no traces of the temple can be seen on the surface today. Geomorphological surveys carried out in 2023 to determine the possible location of the temple revealed a central area of elevated sandy deposits, providing a suitable area for the building.
Julia Meister, Hans von Suchodoletz, and Christian Zeeden
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 72, 185–187, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-72-185-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-72-185-2023, 2023
Tobias Ullmann, Eric Möller, Roland Baumhauer, Eva Lange-Athinodorou, and Julia Meister
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 71, 243–247, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-71-243-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-71-243-2022, 2022
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In this contribution we highlight as an example the application of a freely available tool for the Google Earth Engine. The software allows cloud-free satellite images to be processed. We show processing examples for the Nile Delta (Egypt) and how the remote sensing images are used to find hints of buried landforms, such as former river branches of the Nile.
André Kirchner, Nico Herrmann, Paul Matras, Iris Müller, Julia Meister, and Thomas G. Schattner
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 71, 123–143, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-71-123-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-71-123-2022, 2022
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Our results indicate that the soils around Munigua currently have the potential for at least limited agricultural use in larger areas and would certainly allow the production of basic agricultural goods, not only today but most likely also in Roman times. Multi-layered colluvial deposits. as well as an excavated Roman hortic Anthrosol, indicate a long-term agrarian utilization of the area. Based on these results we can conclude that the city's economy was by no means focused solely on mining.
Julia Meister, Eva Lange-Athinodorou, and Tobias Ullmann
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 70, 187–190, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-70-187-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-70-187-2021, 2021
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This is the preface to the special issue "Geoarchaeology of the Nile Delta: Current Research and Future Prospects", which brings together geoarchaeological case studies from different regions of the Nile Delta.
Sascha Scherer, Benjamin Höpfer, Katleen Deckers, Elske Fischer, Markus Fuchs, Ellen Kandeler, Jutta Lechterbeck, Eva Lehndorff, Johanna Lomax, Sven Marhan, Elena Marinova, Julia Meister, Christian Poll, Humay Rahimova, Manfred Rösch, Kristen Wroth, Julia Zastrow, Thomas Knopf, Thomas Scholten, and Peter Kühn
SOIL, 7, 269–304, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-269-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-269-2021, 2021
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This paper aims to reconstruct Middle Bronze Age (MBA) land use practices in the northwestern Alpine foreland (SW Germany, Hegau). We used a multi-proxy approach including biogeochemical proxies from colluvial deposits in the surroundings of a MBA settlement, on-site archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data and off-site pollen data. From our data we infer land use practices such as plowing, cereal growth, forest farming and use of fire that marked the beginning of major colluvial deposition.
Tobias Ullmann, Leon Nill, Robert Schiestl, Julian Trappe, Eva Lange-Athinodorou, Roland Baumhauer, and Julia Meister
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 69, 225–245, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-69-225-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-69-225-2020, 2020
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The contribution highlights the use of Landsat archive data (1985–2019) for the detection of surface anomalies potentially related to buried near-surface paleogeomorphological deposits in the Nile Delta (Egypt). The analyses of selected spectral-temporal metrics showed several anomalies in the immediate surroundings of Pleistocene sand hills (geziras) and settlement mounds (tells) of the eastern Delta, which allowed mapping of the potential near-surface continuation.
Joana Seguin, Pavlos Avramidis, Annette Haug, Torben Kessler, Arndt Schimmelmann, and Ingmar Unkel
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 69, 165–186, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-69-165-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-69-165-2020, 2020
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We present two new palaeolake archives of Pheneos and Kaisari, Peloponnese, and compare them with records from Stymphalia and Asea by applying the same set of analyses to all sites. We focus on different spatial scales to estimate the validity range of the proxy signals. Geochemical ratios depict hydrological variation and environmental changes over the last 5000 years. They indicate drier phases, but timing and duration vary, which may be explained by site-specific ecosystem responses.
Joana Seguin, Pavlos Avramidis, Walter Dörfler, Alexandros Emmanouilidis, and Ingmar Unkel
E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 69, 139–160, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-69-139-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-69-139-2020, 2020
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This paper reconstructs climatic changes during the last 2600 years in southern Greece based on a sediment core from Lake Trichonida. We provide an age-depth model and continuous geochemical data. Carbonate-rich material is linked to drier/warmer conditions, while terrigenous sediment input was stronger during wetter/colder conditions. Wetter phases coincide with a more negative North Atlantic Oscillation index, suggesting that this is a major driver for precipitation variability in the region.
Cited articles
Appel, E., Becker, T., Wilken, D., Fischer, P., Willershäuser, T., Obrocki, L., Schäfer, H., Scholz, M., Bubenzer, O., Mächtle, B., and Vött, A.: The Holocene evolution of the fluvial system of the southern Hessische Ried (Upper Rhine Graben, Germany) and its role for the use of the river Landgraben as a waterway during Roman times, E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 73, 179–202, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-179-2024, 2024.
Bartz, M., Duval, M., Alonso Escarza, M. J., and Rixhon, G.: Older than expected: fluvial aggradation of the Rhine's main terrace at Kärlich dated around 1.5 Ma by electron spin resonance, E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 73, 139–144, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-139-2024, 2024.
Firoze Quamar, M.: XXIst INQUA Congress 2023: Time for change, J. Geol. Soc. India, 100, 1067, https://doi.org/10.17491/jgsi/2024/173950, 2024.
Garbe, P., El-Raouf, A. A., Es-Senussi, A., Lange-Athinodorou, E., and Meister, J.: Lost and potentially found: the location of the “Temple of Hermes” at ancient Bubastis in the Nile Delta, E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 73, 95–99, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-95-2024, 2024.
Gegg, L., Griebling, F. A., Jentz, N., and Wielandt-Schuster, U.: Towards a quantitative lithostratigraphy of Pleistocene glaciofluvial deposits in the southern Upper Rhine Graben, E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 73, 239–249, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-239-2024, 2024.
Hofmann, F. M.: Geometry, chronology and dynamics of the last Pleistocene glaciation of the Black Forest, E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 72, 235–237, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-72-235-2023, 2023.
Losaberidze, L., Kirkitadze, G., Akhalaia, M., Lobjanidze, M., Zimmerman, M., and Elashvili, M.: New insights into complex social organization in the southern Caucasus – Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age settlement patterns in the Shiraki Plain (southeast Georgia), E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 73, 145–158, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-145-2024, 2024.
Monegato, G.: INQUA – International Union for Quaternary, Activities' Report – Year 2023, 2024.
Reiß, A., Hadler, H., Wilken, D., Majchczack, B. S., Blankenfeldt, R., Bäumler, S., Ickerodt, U., Klooß, S., Willershäuser, T., Rabbel, W., and Vött, A.: The Trendermarsch sunken in the Wadden Sea (North Frisia, Germany) – reconstructing a drowned medieval cultural landscape with geoarchaeological and geophysical investigations, E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 74, 37–57, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-74-37-2025, 2025.
Reitner, J. M. and Menzies, J.: Subglacial deformation and till formation in a stratigraphic complex Late Pleistocene sequence (Einödgraben/Aurach, Kitzbühel Alps, Austria), E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 73, 101–116, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-73-101-2024, 2024.
Tinapp, C., Gumnior, M., Heinrich, S., Herbig, C., Kretschmer, S., Schneider, B., Stäuble, H., and Stobbe, A.: Holocene vegetation dynamics and sedimentation processes in a small depression on a Pleistocene plain – a multi-proxy approach for the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of a Neolithic settlement area near Leipzig, Saxony, E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 74, 79–99, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-74-79-2025, 2025.
Short summary
This article is the preface of the special issue "Quaternary research in times of change – inspired by INQUA Roma 2023". It is a result of the XXI INQUA Congress held in Rome in July 2023. It briefly presents the nine contributions published in this volume.
This article is the preface of the special issue "Quaternary research in times of change –...