THE CENTENNIAL SCALE LATEST PLEISTOCENE TO MID-HOLOCENE STANDARD PROFILE OF THE MID-MEDJERDA VALLEY (NORTHERN TUNISIA)

In the course of the latest Pleistocene to mid-Holocene, the Medjerda river system in Mediterranean Tunisia shows events of increased flooding and aggradation of relatively coarse overbank deposits. Active geomorphodynamics in river systems do correlate with an aridification of the climate, but not with temperature. The centennial scale latest Pleistocene to mid-Holocene standard profile of the Ghardimaou floodplain (mid-Medjerda river) indicates active fluvial dynamics during 12.4 to 11.8, 6.6 to 6.0 and as of 4.8 ka cal BP. Correlations with secondary palaeoclimatical findings imply global and regional causes of the latest Pleistocene to mid-Holocene climatic development as there are North Atlantic Deep Water formation, fluctuations in Saharan humidity (monsoonal systems) and autochthonous impacts of Mediterranean weather phenomena. Medjerda sediment-archives show a short activity (12.4 to 11.8 ka cal BP) during the Younger Dryas in comparison to other archives of the mid-latitudes.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for the financing of this project (FA 239/2-2).

References

Zielhofer, C., Faust, D., Diaz del Olmo, D. and Baena, R. (2002): Sedimentation and soil formation phases in the Ghardimaou basin (northern Tunisia) during the Holocene. Quaternary International 93-94, 109-125.

Zielhofer, C., Faust, D., Baena Escudero, R., Diaz del Olmo, F., Kadereit, A., Moldenhauer, K.-M. and Porras, A. (submitted): The centennial scale Holocene standard profile of the mid-Medjerda valley (Northern Tunisia). The Holocene