Drilling the Eemian

During construction work by the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), drill cores were recovered from the Lower Inn Valley; one core traversed several meters of fine-grained, organic‑rich sediments. Initial palynological (pollen‑analytical) results indicate that the core may extend beyond the last interglacial (Eemian, ~126,000 years BP). This gives it particular significance for reconstructing intra‑Alpine Quaternary dynamics. We will construct a detailed age–depth model for the glacial and interglacial sediment successions using an IRSL‑based multi‑signal dating approach on polymineral fine grains, investigate sedimentary microstructures via a micromorphological approach, and integrate these data with ongoing OSL and IRSL dating of ice‑marginal sediments from the wider Inn Valley.

This work is conducted in collaboration with Daniela Festi and Jürgen Reitner (Geosphere Austria) and Christian Ohneiser (University of Vienna).

Duration: 2026–2028.