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Carolinea 72
(2014): 15-39, 5 Abb.; Karlsruhe, 15.12.2014
15
Palynological research of the Vosges Mountains
(NE France): a historical overview*
P
im
de
K
lerk
Abstract
After almost 85 years of palynological research, an
impressive amount of pollen diagrams from the Vos-
ges Mountains (NE France) is available. This paper
presents an overview of these pollen diagrams and
lists their main features and literature sources within
a historical context. Furthermore, a short summary is
provided on the natural and cultural context.
Kurzfassung
Palynologische Forschung in den Vogesen
(NE Frankreich): ein historischer Überblick
Nach etwa 85 Jahren palynologischer Forschung in den
Vogesen (NO-Frankreich) liegt eine beeindruckende
Anzahl von Pollendiagrammen vor. Dieser Aufsatz gibt
einen Überblick über diese Pollendiagramme, deren
wichtigste Charakteristika und deren Literaturquellen
innerhalb eines wissenschaftsgeschichtlichen Rah-
mens. Daneben wird eine kurze Zusammenfassung
des natürlichen und kulturellen Kontextes gegeben.
Autor
P
im
de
K
lerk
, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Ab-
teilung Botanik, Erbprinzenstraße 13, D-76133 Karlsru-
he, Germany; E-Mail:
pimdeklerk@email.de1 Introduction
The area of the Vosges Mountains of northeast-
ern France (fig. 1) is one of the most intensively
palynologically studied regions worldwide. The
impressive amount of data allows a reconstruc-
tion of vegetation history and past vegetation
patterns in great detail.
For the scientific audience, however, it is diffi-
cult to obtain a clear and complete overview of
the available data, and many studies are easily
overlooked. Overviews of palynological studies
are far from complete:
V
isset
et al. (1996) con-
centrate on the central Vosges, and
F
riedmann
&
K
üster
(1998) mention only 26 studied localities
for the Vosges Mountains without displaying a
map showing their locations.
In order to provide a more accurate picture of
the available data, this paper presents an inven-
tory of the palynological studies from the Vosges
Mountains known to the present author, and
places these within a historical framework and
within the natural and cultural scenery.
In this text, pollen type names are displayed in
capitals (e.g.
F
agus
) in order to make a clear
distinction between pollen types and inferred
plant taxa (
J
oosten
& D
e
K
lerk
2002;
D
e
K
lerk
& J
oosten
2007).
2 The Vosges Mountains:
natural and cultural context
Geology and geomorphology
The development of the Vosges Mountains, its
sister the Black Forest, and the Upper Rhine
plain, has been described by
K
essler
(1914),
T
ri
-
cart
(1963),
E
ggers
(1964),
W
alter
(1992), and
S
ell
et al. (1998) (cf. fig. 2).
The cores of both mountain ranges consist of
ancient granites and gneisses. A major orogeny
seems to have occurred during the Precambrian,
and levelling by erosion of these mountains dur-
ing the Early Palaeozoic lasted until the Devo-
nian period. Partly, the area was covered by a
sea and marine sediments were deposited. The
region was subject to renewed mountain build-
ing during the Carboniferous Variscan/Hercy-
nian orogeny. After an almost complete levelling
that took place until the end of the Permian, the
area became covered with terrestrial sandstone
(“Buntsandstein”) in the early Triassic. During a
phase of tectonic subsidence that lasted from the
Muschelkalk period of the Middle Triassic to the
Malm period of the late Jurassic, a sea covered
the area and marine sediments were deposited
which – after an uplift phase – were predominant-
ly eroded during the Cretaceous and early Terti-
ary. In the Eocene and the Oligocene the sub-
sidence of the Rhine rift valley started, whereas
the Vosges Mountains and the Black Forest were
subject to uplift: both mountain ranges now be-
came separated. Whereas the mountains were
* Dedicated to Prof. Dr. C. R. “
R
oel
”
J
anssen
, the “God-
father” of the Utrecht palynological research of the
Vosges Mountains