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Medieval Overexploitation of Peat Triggered Large-Scale Drowning and Permanent Land Loss in Coastal North Frisia (Wadden Sea Region, Germany)

Along the southern North Sea coast from the Netherlands to Denmark, human cultivation efforts have created a unique cultural landscape. Since the Middle Ages, these interactions between humans and natural forces have induced major coastal changes. In North Frisia (Germany), storm floods in 1362 AD and 1634 AD turned wide areas of embanked cultural land into tidal flats. Systematic geoarchaeological investigations between Nordstrand and Hallig Südfall comprise coring, trenching, sedimentary, geochemical and microfaunal palaeoenvironmental parameter analyses and radiocarbon dating. Together with geophysical prospection results and archaeological surveys, they give insights into the landscape’s development and causes for land losses. Results reveal that fens and bogs dominated from c. 800 BC to 1000 AD but are mostly missing in the stratigraphy. Instead, we found 12th to 14th cent. AD settlement remains directly on top of a pre-800 BC fossil marsh. This hiatus of c. 2000 years combined with local ‘Hufen’ settlements implies an extensive removal of peat during cultivation eventually resulting in the use of underlying marshland for agricultural purposes. Fifteenth cent. AD tidal flat deposits on top of the cultivated marsh prove that human impact lowered the ground surface below the mean high water of that time, clearly increasing the coastal vulnerability. We consider these intensive human–environment interactions as a decisive trigger for the massive loss of land and establishment of the tidal flats in North Frisia that are currently part of the UNESCO World Heritage “Wadden Sea”.

Ketersediaan
#
Perpustakaan BIG (Eksternal Harddisk) 550
361
Tersedia
Informasi Detail
Judul Seri
Geosciences
No. Panggil
550
Penerbit
Switzerland : MPDI.,
Deskripsi Fisik
20 hlm PDF, 2.256 KB
Bahasa
Inggris
ISBN/ISSN
2076-3263
Klasifikasi
550
Tipe Isi
text
Tipe Media
-
Tipe Pembawa
online resource
Edisi
Vol.15, Issue 1, January 2025
Subjek
North Frisia
Wadden Sea
medieval land reclamation
land losses
Info Detail Spesifik
Geosciences
Pernyataan Tanggungjawab
Versi lain/terkait

Tidak tersedia versi lain

Lampiran Berkas
  • Medieval Overexploitation of Peat Triggered Large-Scale Drowning and Permanent Land Loss in Coastal North Frisia (Wadden Sea Region, Germany)
    Along the southern North Sea coast from the Netherlands to Denmark, human cultivation efforts have created a unique cultural landscape. Since the Middle Ages, these interactions between humans and natural forces have induced major coastal changes. In North Frisia (Germany), storm floods in 1362 AD and 1634 AD turned wide areas of embanked cultural land into tidal flats. Systematic geoarchaeological investigations between Nordstrand and Hallig Südfall comprise coring, trenching, sedimentary, geochemical and microfaunal palaeoenvironmental parameter analyses and radiocarbon dating. Together with geophysical prospection results and archaeological surveys, they give insights into the landscape’s development and causes for land losses. Results reveal that fens and bogs dominated from c. 800 BC to 1000 AD but are mostly missing in the stratigraphy. Instead, we found 12th to 14th cent. AD settlement remains directly on top of a pre-800 BC fossil marsh. This hiatus of c. 2000 years combined with local ‘Hufen’ settlements implies an extensive removal of peat during cultivation eventually resulting in the use of underlying marshland for agricultural purposes. Fifteenth cent. AD tidal flat deposits on top of the cultivated marsh prove that human impact lowered the ground surface below the mean high water of that time, clearly increasing the coastal vulnerability. We consider these intensive human–environment interactions as a decisive trigger for the massive loss of land and establishment of the tidal flats in North Frisia that are currently part of the UNESCO World Heritage “Wadden Sea”.
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