1,- 1Physical geography, Institute for Geography, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- 2Soil Science and Geomorphology, Department of Geography, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany
- *A full list of authors appears at the end of the abstract
Understanding long-term interactions between humans and their environment requires integrative approaches that combine natural sciences with historical and social perspectives. Floodplains constitute particularly rich archives in this regard, as they record the long-term interplay between human activities and natural ecosystems. This study presents an interdisciplinary framework combining geophysics, geomorphology, paleoenvironmental analysis and biogeochemical proxis, land-use studies, archaeology and historical sources to reconstruct the Eger River floodplain evolution from the Holocene multi-channel anastomosing system to the recent, extensively straightened, highly regulated urban riverscape.
This study is grounded in development-led geoarchaeological excavations in the vicinity of the medieval hub of Nördlingen, southern Germany. Strategically selected key sites along the river corridor upstream and downstream of the medieval town allow comparative analyses, with a focus on how the town and its associated activities and urban crafts influenced floodplain dynamics.
Our methodology adopts an interdisciplinary, multi-proxy approach. Old maps and archival data inform the spatial reconstruction of water use; together with geophysical surveys, these guide targeted coring campaigns. Sediment cores are analysed by a comprehensive suite of laboratory analyses (sediment texture, stationary X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, CNS analysis, carbonate content and pH measurements, Urease activity, soil microbial biomass and stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N)) and geochronological analyses (radiocarbon dating, luminescence dating). All findings are subsequently contextualised with the robust archeological and paleoenvironmental datasets.
The development and integration of our multi-proxy framework has yielded a high-resolution biogeochemical and chronostratigraphical model of its floodplain which is essential for gaining comprehensive insights into the history of Eger River water management. Our reference model identifies three major sediment units of fluvial origin, together with anthropogenically driven higher concentrations of heavy metals in the topsoil. Our study effectively reconstructs the spatial and temporal progress of human related landscape, land-use and environmental changes in a characteristic mid-European floodplain.
Birgit Schneider (Physical geography, Institute for Geography, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany); Ella Quante (Institute of Geosciences, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany; Department of Archeology, Max-Planck-Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany); Iris Nießen (Department of Medieval Archaeology, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany); Sara Saeidi g. a. (State Office for Mining, Energy, and Geology, Geozentrum Hannover, Hanover, Germany); Tobias Lauer (Geographical and Environmental Research Centre (GUZ), Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany); Kathryn E. Fitzsimmons (School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Australia); Johannes Rabiger-Völlmer (Department of Monitoring and Exploration Technologies, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany); Marco Pohle (Department of Monitoring and Exploration Technologies, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany); Sven Marhan (Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Soil Biology Department, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany); Ellen Kandeler (Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Soil Biology Department, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany); Christian Poll (Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Soil Biology Department, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany); Yvonne Oelmann (Geoecology Group, Institute of Geography, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany); Harald Neidhardt (Geoecology Group, Institute of Geography, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany); Susanne Lindauer (Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie, Mannheim, Germany); Gerrit J. Schenk (Institute of History, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany); Lukas Werther (German Archaeological Institute - DAI, Romano-Germanic Commission, Frankfurt am Main, Germany); Ulrike Werban (Department of Monitoring and Exploration Technologies, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany); Peter Frenzel (Institute of Geosciences, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany); Peter Kühn (Soil Science and Geomorphology, Department of Geography, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany); Christoph Zielhofer (Physical geography, Institute for Geography, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany)
How to cite: Zvara, E. and Pejdanović, S. and the Authors: Reconstructing Eger floodplain development (Nördlingen, southern Germany): An interdisciplinary approach to land use change, paleoenvironment, and pollution history, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-10388, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-10388, 2026.
