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Lake-Level Fluctuations and Allochthonous Lignite Deposition in the Eocene Pull-Apart Basin “Prinz von Hessen” (Hesse, Germany) – A Palynological Study

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Limnogeology: Progress, Challenges and Opportunities

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Abstract

High-resolution palynological analysis of 52 core samples from a distinct part of the lacustrine filling of the Eocene pull-apart basin “Grube Prinz von Hessen” in Southwest Germany has been applied to recognize driving factors responsible for changes in vegetation and environment. The 15 m studied interval is characterized by a specific alternation of lignite beds and mudstones which were deposited when the lake had reached its smallest extent. The diverse and well-preserved palynoflora shows that the shoreline and the marginal swamp around the lake were dominated by herbaceous and woody swamp communities, whereas the forest association in the hinterland was mainly dominated by Juglandaceae and Fagaceae. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and Q- and R-mode cluster analyses of the microflora reveal strong differences between the palynomorph assemblages of lignite and mudstone beds. The situation in the vicinity of the lake was influenced by tectonic activity, such as earthquake tremor, resulting in the redeposition of lignite and mudstone. Nevertheless, the same subordinate trend in the vegetation is obvious in the microflora of both lithologies. Slight qualitative changes may be explained by slightly decreasing temperature and precipitation during the deposition of the studied section. Therefore, changes in the paleoenvironment and the ecosystems were mainly controlled by tectonic activity, but some influence of climate change may also be noted.

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Acknowledgements and Funding

Our research has been carried out as a project funded by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) under the grant 110207-54900347 including the PhD appointment of the first author. This generous support is gratefully acknowledged. The help of Karin Schmidt, Paleobotanical Section, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, in sampling and sample preparation is also acknowledged. Core photographs of FIS/HLUG from the core B/97-BK9 were kindly supplied by the Department for Messel Research and Mammalogy, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt. Finally, we thank Robert A. Gastaldo and Carlos Jaramillo for their constructive comments and suggestions, which greatly helped to improve the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institute of Applied Geosciences, Applied Sedimentology, Darmstadt, Germany

    Maryam Moshayedi, Olaf K. Lenz & Matthias Hinderer

  2. Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, General Directorate, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Olaf K. Lenz

  3. Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Sektion Paläobotanik, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Volker Wilde

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  1. Maryam Moshayedi
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  2. Olaf K. Lenz
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  3. Volker Wilde
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Correspondence to Maryam Moshayedi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. United States Geological Survey California Water Science Center, Carson City, NV, USA

    Michael R. Rosen

  2. Department of Geosciences, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY, USA

    David B. Finkelstein

  3. Department of Geosciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Lisa Park Boush

  4. Department of Didactics of Experimental Sciences Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Sila Pla-Pueyo

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Moshayedi, M., Lenz, O.K., Wilde, V., Hinderer, M. (2021). Lake-Level Fluctuations and Allochthonous Lignite Deposition in the Eocene Pull-Apart Basin “Prinz von Hessen” (Hesse, Germany) – A Palynological Study. In: Rosen, M.R., Finkelstein, D.B., Park Boush, L., Pla-Pueyo, S. (eds) Limnogeology: Progress, Challenges and Opportunities . Syntheses in Limnogeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66576-0_3

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