Reconstructing palaeoflood discharges of the river Rhine during the Early and Middle Holocene.

Abstract

As part of ongoing research into the flooding history of the River Rhine by Utrecht Unisversity, this MSc. research was aimed at estimating discharges of extreme floods of the River Rhine during the Early and Middle Holocene near the city of Rees (Germany). Literature and sedimentary records were used for a palaeo reconstruction of the area and for detereming palaeo stages. The Manning' s and a Chezy based formula were used to build a 1D model of the area. This model was then used to estimate palaeo discharges. It was cocluded that during the Early and Middle Holocene, no floods exceeded 18.700 m3/s, but at least exceeded 12,800 m3/s. This result is consistend with currently used estimates for flood magnitudes based on 100 years of observed flood records of the River Rhine.