Ice shields are fundamental elements of the earth's climate system, particularly because they contain large volumes of fresh water, react very sensitively to climate changes, and control sea level rise during warming phases. Large parts of the North European Plain were covered by inland Scandinavian ice during the late Quaternary. The repeated advance and melting cycles reflect glaciation which reacted very dynamically to climate changes. Although the glaciogenic sediments along the coast of the Baltic Sea have been the focus of geoscientific investigations for many years, we still only know relatively little about the timing of the glacial processes in this region. To reconstruct the dynamics of the inland Scandinavian ice sheets during the Weichselian ice age, we intend to initially concentrate on the superbly exposed sequences of sediments on the island of Rügen in north-east Germany. The study will be based on sedimentological analysis combined with the numerical age determination of the depositional events (optically stimulated luminescence method). The findings reveal (and verify) the resonance of the largest European ice sheet with the climatic fluctuations during the earth's most recent history, and support the calibration of numerical climate models by providing indispensable long-term data.

Kenzler, M., Tsukamoto, S., Meng, S., Frechen, M., Hüneke, H. (2017): New age constraints from the SW Baltic Sea area – implications for Scandinavian Ice Sheet dynamics and palaeo-environmental conditions during MIS 3 and early MIS 2.- Boreas, 46: 34-52.

Kenzler, M., Rother, H., Hüneke, H., Frenzel, P., Strahl, J., Tsukamoto, S., Li, Yan, Meng. S., Gallas, J., Frechen, M. (2018): A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental and geochronological reconstruction of the Saalian-Eemian-Weichselian succession at Klein Klütz Höved, NE Germany.- Boreas, 47: 114-136.

Kenzler, M., Tsukamoto, S., Meng, S., Thiel, C., Frechen, M., Hüneke, H. (2015):  Luminescence dating of Weichselian interstadial sediments from the German Baltic Sea coast.- Quaternary Geochronology, 30: 251-256.