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Late Glacial sediments of the Stará Jímka paleolake and the first finding of Laacher See Tephra in the Czech Republic

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Abstract

The Late Glacial sedimentary sequence of the Stará Jímka paleolake (Bohemian Forest, Czech Republic) is characterized by the prevalence of detrital minerals with an elevated proportion of organic matter and abundant diatom valves in relatively warm periods. The mineral debris originated mainly from local migmatites and mica-schists (or glacial and deluvial deposits derived from the same material). Low background contents of CaO (< 0.20 wt%) and Na2O (< 0.50 wt%) reflect chemical weathering. Correlation analysis of trace elements shows that the mineral debris concentrates Rb, Cs, Ga, Cr, Zr, Hf, light rare earth elements, Th, U, Pb, Ba, Sr and weakly Zn, whereas Mo, Co, Se, As, Ni, Cu, Br and weakly Au are allocated predominantly to sulphides and organic matter. The sequence contains a continuous horizon with the Laacher See Tephra (LST), causing contrasting maxima of Na, Ca, Cl and Nb in bulk composition. While the phonolitic tephra corresponds to the lower part of the middle LST unit it also contains phosphorus-rich relicts of older sediments with small euhedral (air-transported) volcanic crystals. Such sediments may have occurred in depressions at an older volcano prior to the major Laacher See eruption (~ 12,880 cal. BP).

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Notes

  1. Plagioclase basicity (mol% of the anorthite component).

  2. The locality in Erzgebirge shown by Riede et al. (2011) and Riede (2016) has not been confirmed (F. Riede, pers.commun.)

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the Czech Science Foundation within the project 17-05935S, by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within the projects LK21303 (Návrat), LM2015056 (CANAM—Center of Accelerators and Nuclear Analytical Methods), and LM2015074 (Nuclear Research Reactors LVR-15 and LR-0), and by the long-term conceptual development research organization RVO 67985831. We also thank to J. Trubač and L. Strnad for analysis of PGE, and B. Diekmann and an anonymous reviewer for constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrogeology, Engineering Geology and Applied Geophysics, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Václav Procházka & Günther Kletetschka

  2. Nuclear Physics Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Hlavní 130, 250 68, Husinec-Řež, Czech Republic

    Jiří Mizera

  3. Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, Czech Academy of Sciences, V Holešovičkách 41, 182 09, Prague 8, Czech Republic

    Jiří Mizera

  4. Institute of Geology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Rozvojová 269, 165 00, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Günther Kletetschka

  5. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 903 N Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Günther Kletetschka

  6. Institute for Environmental Studies, Charles University, Benátská 2, 128 01, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Daniel Vondrák

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  1. Václav Procházka
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  2. Jiří Mizera
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  3. Günther Kletetschka
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Correspondence to Václav Procházka.

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Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 14 KB)

531_2018_1658_MOESM2_ESM.xlsx

Supplementary material 2 Tab. A2 Proportion of dry mass, and content of elements in the dry mass (in ppm unless stated otherwise) of all subsamples collected from the SJG B core (XLSX 28 KB)

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Microphotograph of a thin-section of the bright varve (core SJI I). Note the gradual decrease in grain size followed by an abrupt increase consistent with a clastic varve morphology (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10
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a Image from scanner, b transmitted plane-polarized light

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Procházka, V., Mizera, J., Kletetschka, G. et al. Late Glacial sediments of the Stará Jímka paleolake and the first finding of Laacher See Tephra in the Czech Republic. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 108, 357–378 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-018-1658-y

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