• OVERVIEW

    The sedimentary infills of glacially overdeepened valleys are, together with glacial geomorphology, the best preserved but poorly investigated direct archives of extents and ages of past glaciations in and around mountain ranges. DOVE intends to recover sediment cores from glacially overdeepened structures at several complementing locations within the Alps and their foreland. Divided into two phases (Phase 1: Northern and Eastern Alps, Phase 2: Southern and Western Alps), the drilling of locations distributed over six alpine countries are planned. The project focuses on several aspects of environmental dynamics during the Quaternary, especially on the glaciation, vegetation, and landscape history. By a combined effort of scientists from across the whole Alps and even beyond, DOVE will apply interdisciplinary state-of-the-art concepts and methods, to decipher the spatio-temporal impact of the numerous glaciations on the Alps.

    Scientific objectives
    • dynamics of Quaternary glaciations of the Alps
    • the impact of atmospheric circulation patterns on ice build-up along and across the Alps
    • how mountain ranges and their foreland have been shaped by repetitive glaciations
    • the impact of multiple glaciations on Alpine ecosystems.
    Approaches
    • geophysical surveys to describe the geometry of overdeepenings
    • downhole logging, sedimentological, and geochemical analyses to characterize the deposits
    • combination of different approaches to establish the chronological framework
    • correlation of all analysis across the entire DOVE sites to obtain the panalpine comparison
    • thermochronometry for quantifying the rates and timing of mountain topographic development
    • biological proxies to reconstruct the history of climate and mountain life in the Alps
    Applied aspects
    • the potential of overdeepened structures as groundwater resources
    • seismic hazard and site effects in Quaternary valleys
    • potential of the Quaternary valley fills for shallow geothermal applications
    • improving the interpretation of geophysical data from overdeepened valleys
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    Phase 1 and 2

    The DOVE program is designed to be executed in two phases. DOVE Phase 1 comprises boreholes along the Northern and Eastern Alpine front. This will be followed by DOVE Phase 2 that targets the Western and Southern margins of the Alps. This will allow a completion of the transalpine datasets.

    Drill sites of phase 1

    Two of the main DOVE Phase 1 sites are in the overdeepened distal part of the Rhine Glacier lobe (5068_1 [TANN], 5068_2 [BASA]). These two new drill cores will be complemented by the analysis of three legacy cores previously drilled into overdeepenings of the Isar-Loisach Glacier (5068_3 [SCHA]), the Salzach Glacier (5068_4 [FREIL]), and the Traun Glacier (5068_5 [BADA]).

    New additional drill site of phase 1: 5068_6 (GAIS)

    Both the DOVE science team and ICDP have agreed on accepting core GAIS as a new primary site of ICDP DOVE -> 5068_6. In addition to GAIS (Gaisbeuren) also a new bonus site was added with LICH (Lichtenegg). GAIS and LICH, which have already been acquired, provide the opportunity to study and sample detailed, high-resolution records presumably extending into the Early Pleistocene.

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