Rieden tephra layers in the Dottinger Maar lake sediments: Implications for the dating of the Holsteinian interglacial and Elsterian glacial

This study reconstructs the tephrochronology of the infilled Dottinger Maar lake (Eifel, Germany) by analysing the mineralogical composition of tephra layers in lake sediments from the Middle Pleistocene. Three sediment cores document deposits from the Rieden Volcanic Complex. Four distinct tephra layers were identified as the Rieden-leucite-phonolite tuff 1, 3, and 4, and the Weibern-leucite-phonolite tuff 1, which were previously dated by 40Ar/39Ar and indicate a volcanic active phase between 390 and 440 ka before present. In addition, the cores reveal an interglacial section with a typical Holsteinian vegetation succession superimposing Elsterian dust deposits.