Holstein interglacial

The Holstein or Holsteinian interglacial, also called the Mindel-Riss interglacial in the Alpine region, is the third to last major interglacial in Europe before the Holocene, the present warm period. It followed directly after the Elster glaciation and came before the Saale glaciation, during the Middle Pleistocene. The more precise timing was historically controversial since Holstein was commonly correlated to two different marine isotope stages, MIS 11 and MIS 9. Recent scholarship has supported a MIS 11 date, spanning approximately 421-395,000 years ago.

Definition

The Holstein interglacial is defined by marine sedimentation. On the stratigraphic record at the natural monument of :de:Sievertsche Tongrube in Hamburg-Hummelsbüttel, its development is traced from the Elster ice age through the start of the warm period to its flooding by the Holstein Sea.

Literature

Hallik, R. : Die Vegetationsentwicklung der Holstein-Warmzeit in Nordwestdeutschland und die Altersstellung der Kieselgurlager der südlichen Lüneburger Heide. – Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft 112: 326–333.