Late Pleistocene to Holocene event stratigraphy of Lake Hallstatt (Salzkammergut, Austria): revealed by the Hipercorig drilling system and borehole logging

A groundbreaking sediment core from Lake Hallstatt, Austria, reveals the first high-resolution Late Pleistocene to Holocene record of an intra-mountainous lake in the Eastern Alps. The Hipercorig drilling system enabled recovery of 51 meters of undisturbed sediments, surpassing previous limits and providing a continuous archive spanning over 2,300 years. This core exposes two major lithostratigraphic units: Unit 1 (Holocene) with instantaneous deposits indicating rapid environmental changes, and Unit 2 (Late Pleistocene), likely extending back to the Allerød interstadial. The study also links borehole logging data to core-seismic correlations, offering unprecedented insights into past climate, natural hazards, human-environment interactions, and prehistoric mining activities in this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The findings highlight Lake Hallstatt as a critical archive for understanding the region's rich cultural history, including one of the oldest documented salt-mining landscapes.

Ortler, M., Brauer, A., Fabbri, S. C., Haas, J. N., Hajdas, I., Kowarik, K., Kueck, J., Reschreiter, H., & Strasser, M. (2024). Late Pleistocene to Holocene event stratigraphy of Lake Hallstatt (Salzkammergut, Austria): revealed by the Hipercorig drilling system and borehole logging. Scientific Drilling, 33(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-1-2024