Aeolian sands and buried soils in the Mecklenburg Lake District, NE Germany: Holocene land-use history and pedo-geomorphic response

• Sedimentation of Holocene aeolian sands in NE Germany is linked to human impact.
• Drift sand areas show complex sedimentation patterns and stratigraphy.

The present study is a pedo-geomorphic approach to reconstructing Holocene aeolian sand dynamics in the Mecklenburg Lake District (NE Germany). Stratigraphical, sedimentological and soil research supplemented by morphogenetic interpretations of the genesis of dunes and aeolian sands are discussed. A complex Late Holocene aeolian stratigraphy within a drift sand area was developed at the shore of Lake Müritz. The results were confirmed using palynological records, archaeological data and regional history. Accelerated aeolian activity was triggered by the intensification of settlement and land-use activities during the 13th and in the 15th to 16th century AD. After a period of stability beginning with population decline during the ‘Thirty Years War’ and continuing through the 18th century, a final aeolian phase due to the establishment of glassworks was identified during the 19th century AD. We assume a direct link between Holocene aeolian dynamics and human activities. Prehistoric Holocene drift sands on terrestrial sites have not been documented in the Mecklenburg Lake District so far. This might be explained either by erosion and incorporation of older aeolian sediments during younger aeolian phases and/or a lower regional land-use intensity in older periods of the Holocene. The investigated drift sands are stratigraphically and sedimentologically characterised by a high degree of heterogeneity, reflecting the spatial and temporal variability of Holocene human impact.