Recent core drillings, carried out during water-economic exploration in the area of Mannheim/Ludwigshafen/Schifferstadt (Rhine-Neckar region, Germany), have produced a more differentiated stratigraphic division of the Pleistocene sediments of the northern Upper Rhine Graben. Pollen analytical investigations as well as malacological, heavy mineral, palaeomagnetic and lithological research have led to a stratigraphic reinterpretation of the gravel layers and intermediate horizons. Based on the results of the pollen analyses, the Mannheim interglacial period in the upper intermediate horizon (Oberer Zwischenhorizont, OZH) cannot be assigned to the Eemian as stated earlier. The occurrence of Fagus, Celtis and Azolla, along with the results of malacological analyses, indicate a Cromerian age for the Mannheim Interglacial. In addition, a pollen sequence from a different interglacial in the core sediments from Schifferstadt could also be assigned to the Cromerian. The Schifferstadt Interglacial is divided into a lower optimum phase with high values of Ulmus, Quercus and Corylus while Carpinus is completely absent, and an upper optimum phase with low values of Carpinus. Fagus is absent in the whole sequence. The OZH comprises not only the two interglacial pollen sequences described above but also parts of at least four Middle Pleistocene Interglacials. In the lower part of the drillings in Schifferstadt and Ludwigshafen, which are assigned to the Early Pleistocene, pollen assemblages with Fagus are likely to correlate with parts of the Tiglian A substage. There is a clear change to a Tertiary type of pollen flora at 91 m at Schifferstadt and at 186 m in Ludwigshafen.

This paper summarizes results of magnetostratigraphic and rock magnetic investigations performed on fluvial sediments from the Ludwigshafen-Parkinsel drilling project (Upper Rhine Graben (URG) Germany). The drilling penetrated into Pleistocene gravel, sand, silt and clay, and unconsolidated Pliocene deposits. Its primary objective was the exploration of groundwater resources in the area of Ludwigshafen. Our rock magnetic investigations together with results of heavy mineral analyses (see Hagedorn & Boenigk, 2008) show a clearly structured sediment profile. It was possible to identify the change from mainly locally controlled sedimentation from the Graben margins to a more distinct Alpine controlled sedimentation at a depth of 177 m by magnetic data. Based on lithostratigraphic correlation with other sedimentary records from the URG and also based on palynological evidence, this event happened at the end of Late Pliocene during a time of normal polarity of the Earth's magnetic field (Gauss Chron?). The well-documented characteristic change in magneto-mineralogy from goethite to greigite almost at the same stratigraphic level, we interpret solely as a climatic signal which can be correlated with the global climate change at ∼2.5 Ma that is well documented in a wide range of sedimentary environments (e.g. deep-sea sediments, loess).