Research literature: Germania Magna

On this page, you will find a collection of links to scientific publications that are relevant to this project or that can contribute to a deeper exemplary understanding of the processes and circumstances that may be related to the Reinterpretation of Germania Magna presented here. These publications span different research areas.

The collection includes:

• Primary literature: Scientific publications presenting the results of new research.
• Secondary literature: Scientific publications summarizing, analyzing, or interpreting primary literature.
• Comparative literature: Publications that exemplify similar processes and circumstances in other contexts.
• Additional resources: Links to websites, databases, and other resources that may be relevant to the reinterpretation

The following publications are intended to help answer specific questions exemplarily, which may be related to the necessary processes and events required for extensive landscape transformation. These include considerations of tectonic fracture events and rift systems, with corresponding effects on maritime landslide events and the formation of new sedimentation basins.

Abrupt Holocene ice loss due to thinning and ungrounding in the Weddell Sea Embayment

19. August 20241. April 2024 by Sven Mildner

DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01375-8 Abstract The extent of grounded ice and buttressing by the Ronne Ice Shelf, which provides resistance to the outflow of ice streams, moderate West Antarctic Ice Sheet stability. During the Last Glacial Maximum, the ice sheet advanced and was grounded near the Weddell Sea continental shelf break. The timing of subsequent ice sheet retreat and the relative roles of ice shelf buttressing and grounding line changes remain unresolved. Here we use an ice core record from grounded ice at Skytrain Ice Rise to constrain the timing and speed of early Holocene ice sheet retreat. Measured δ18O and total air content suggest that the surface elevation of Skytrain Ice Rise decreased by about 450 m between 8.2 and 8.0 kyr before 1950 CE (±0.13 kyr). We attribute this elevation change to dynamic thinning due to flow changes induced by the ungrounding of ice in the area. Ice core sodium concentrations suggest that the ice front … Read moreAbrupt Holocene ice loss due to thinning and ungrounding in the Weddell Sea Embayment

One Thousand Centuries of Climatic Record from Camp Century on the Greenland Ice Sheet

19. August 20241. April 2024 by Sven Mildner

DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.166.3903.377 Abstract A correlation of time with depth has been evaluated for the Camp Century, Greenland, 1390 meter deep ice core. Oxygen isotopes in approximately 1600 samples throughout the core have been analyzed. Long-term variations in the isotopic composition of the ice reflect the climatic changes during the past nearly 100,000 years. Climatic oscillations with periods of 120, 940, and 13,000 years are observed. W. Dansgaard et al. ,One Thousand Centuries of Climatic Record from Camp Century on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Science166, 377-381 (1969). DOI: 10.1126/science.166.3903.377

The catastrophic final flooding of Doggerland by the Storegga Slide tsunami

19. August 20241. April 2024 by Sven Mildner

DOI https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.35.1 Abstract Around 8200 calBP, large parts of the now submerged North Sea continental shelf (‘Doggerland’) were catastrophically flooded by the Storegga Slide tsunami, one of the largest tsunamis known for the Holocene, which was generated on the Norwegian coastal margin by a submarine landslide. In the present paper, we derive a precise calendric date for the Storegga Slide tsunami, use this date for reconstruction of contemporary coastlines in the North Sea in relation to rapidly rising sea-levels, and discuss the potential effects of the tsunami on the contemporaneous Mesolithic population. One main result of this study is an unexpectedly high tsunami impact assigned to the western regions of Jutland. Weninger, B., Schulting, R., Bradtmöller, M., Clare, L., Collard, M., Edinborough, K., Hilpert, J., Jöris, O., Niekus, M., Rohling, E. J., & Wagner, B. (2008). The catastrophic final flooding of Doggerland by the Storegga Slide tsunami. Documenta Praehistorica, 35, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.35.1

Rapid Quaternary subsidence in the northwestern German North Sea

19. August 20241. April 2024 by Sven Mildner

DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-29638-6 Abstract 3D and 2D seismic data reveal the base-reflection of the Quaternary in the northwestern German North Sea locally at depths of more than 1000 m. This indicates extremely fast subsidence, with a rate of up to 480 m/Ma during the Quaternary, resulting in a NNW-SSE oriented sedimentary depocentre. Distinct iceberg scour marks, identified in 3D seismic data are used to calibrate quantitative subsidence analysis and to document shallow marine conditions during the Quaternary interglacials. Previously, a number of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the Quaternary subsidence. Here we show that compaction and load-induced subsidence alone explain about 75% of the observed Quaternary subsidence. However, a certain portion of the subsidence needs additional processes to be invoked. The extensive seismic dataset interpreted here makes it possible to exclude a phase of renewed tectonic activity as the origin of the subsidence anomaly. From the orientation and extent of the depocentre, … Read moreRapid Quaternary subsidence in the northwestern German North Sea

The Thor suture zone: From subduction to intraplate basin setting

19. August 20241. April 2024 by Sven Mildner

DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G37958.1 Abstract The crustal seismic velocity structure of northwestern Europe shows a low P-wave velocity zone (LVZ) in the lower crust along the Caledonian Thor suture zone (TSZ) that cannot be easily attributed to Avalonia or Baltica plates abutting the TSZ. The LVZ appears to correspond to a hitherto unrecognized crustal segment (accretionary complex) that separates Avalonia from Baltica, explaining well the absence of Avalonia further east. Consequently, the northern boundary of Avalonia is shifted ∼150 km southward. Our interpretation, based on analysis of deep seismic profiles, places the LVZ in a consistent crustal domain interpretation. A comparison with present-day examples of the Kuril and Cascadia subduction zones suggests that the LVZ separating Avalonia from Baltica is composed of remnants of the Caledonian accretionary complex. If so, the present-day geometry probably originates from pre-Variscan extension and eduction during Devonian–Carboniferous backarc extension. The reinterpretation of deep crustal zonation provides a … Read moreThe Thor suture zone: From subduction to intraplate basin setting

Fault system evolution in the Baltic Sea area west of Rügen, NE Germany

19. August 20241. April 2024 by Sven Mildner

DOI https://doi.org/10.1144/sp469.24 Abstract Based on reprocessed offshore seismic lines acquired during oil and gas exploration in the 1980s, we reconstruct the formation and reactivation of major fault systems in the southern Baltic Sea area since the late Paleozoic. The geological evolution of different crustal blocks from the Caledonian Avalonia-Baltica collision until the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene inversion tectonics is also examined. The detected fault systems occur in the northern part of the Trans-European Suture Zone (TESZ) and belong either to the late Paleozoic Tornquist Fan or to the complex Western Pomeranian Fault System (WPFS) generated during Mesozoic extensional movements. While the NW- SE-trending deep Wiek Fault separates the Arkona High from the Middle Rügen Block, the NNW-SSE-trending Agricola Fault demarcates the Middle Rügen Block to the Falster Block in the west. Together with the Plantagenet Fault and numerous younger faults in the Mesozoic cover, it forms the Agricola Fault System. Furthermore, structural … Read moreFault system evolution in the Baltic Sea area west of Rügen, NE Germany

The Reinterpretation of Claudius Ptolemy’s Germania Magna by Sven Mildner

DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-5907 Sven Mildner https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8248-4866 In his draft on “The Reinterpretation of Claudius Ptolemy’s Germania Magna – with the help of computer-aided image distortion of a medieval map representation of Donnus Nicolaus Germanus – and considerations on the postglacial geodynamics of Europe”, the author describes his assumption that Germania Magna was subject to a more comprehensive landscape transformation than previously assumed, due to the postglacial land uplift in the late Holocene, or due to a possible reactivation of the Caledonian Deformation Front (CDF) in the course of a late activity phase of the Alpine orogeny and the associated tectonic activities in the upper earth crust.*) These are possibly connected with hitherto unassigned or incorrectly dated fracture events of larger scale, which could also have led to stronger earthquakes in Europe and which may even have been handed down to us from the Middle Ages[1]. According to the interpretation, the area … Read moreThe Reinterpretation of Claudius Ptolemy’s Germania Magna by Sven Mildner