Indicator stone counts on Elsterian and Saalian sediments from eastern Germany

Abstract

Indicator stone counts of the coarse gravel fraction and evaluation by the mean erratic source location (TGZ) method were carried out on tills and meltwater deposits in Saxony, Saxony-Anha1t and Lower Saxony. In samples from the first Elsterian till. a high proportion of stones from Dalarna are identified, with a relatively low proportion of the Aland stones. In Saxony, the first and second Elsterian tills can be distinguished by the higher proportion of the eastern Baltic stones in the second till. The glacial and glaciofluvial sediments of the Drenthian Stadial (Saalian) are characterised by many Swedish indicator stones, but with a lower proportion from the Dalarna area. In Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, the Younger Drenthian deposits are distinguished by high flint contents, while the Warthian Stadial (Saalian) is typified by the eastern Baltic provenances with high proportions of the Aland stones and the Palaeozoic dolomites and limestones. The results of the indicator stone counts illustrate a clear shift in source area from the north-west in the Elsterian to the south-east in the Saalian as well as successively from west to east in the glacial deposits investigated in Germany.