Solifluction and colluviation on the ice-pushed ridges of Uelsen, Kreis Grafschaft Bentheim, Germany

Abstract

The erosional history of the ice-pushed ridges of Uelsen is reflected in correlative slope deposits. Würmian processes lowered the gravelly summits of the hills and produced the characteristically unsorted solifluction deposits. These include remnants of an Eemian (?) soil. In contrast, Holocene erosion only affected the fine-grained soils on the flanks of the hills. It acted so slowly that well-developed humus podzols could be preserved on the eroded slopes, as well as on sites of colluvial deposition. The colluvium is strongly sorted because many small mineral grains were transported in humic aggregates of modal size.