OVERBANK SEDIMENT PROFILES - EVIDENCE OF EARLY MINING AND SMELTING ACTIVITIES IN THE HARZ MOUNTAINS, GERMANY

Two overbank sediment cores to a depth of 5.6 m and 2.3 m respectively from the Uferbach catchment on the western foothills of the Hart moun tains, Lower Saxony, Germany, revealed two anomalies of Pb, Zn, and Cu at 30-130 cm and at 204 cm, a Pb-Zn-anomaly at 280 cm and a Pb-anomal y at 410 cm-evidence of four phases of mining and smelting activities in the catchment. The geochemical (major, minor, and trace elements) a nd mineralogical investigations (microscopy and microprobe analysis of matrix and slag particles) allowed for a broad interpretation of the element behavior (e.g., landuse) and the source region of the processe d ore (hydrothermal deposits of the Upper Hart). A simple calculation model, based on C-14-data, helped to estimate the time frame for the a nomalies. The most likely interpretation requires an increase of the s edimentation rates over time (from 1 to 4 mm a(-1)) and suggests medie val (1140-1345 A.D.), karolingian (825-890 AD), roman-germanic (425-50 0 A.D.) and early historic (825-625 B.C.) phases of smelting activitie s. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.