Research

Our present core activity is the FluVAlps-plus Project (Sensitivity of alpine rivers to Global Change: High-resolution palaeoenvironmental records and modelling of extreme flood events in the Swiss Alps) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science from January 2010 to December 2012.

Aims of research
The goal of the FluVAlps-plus Project is the contribution of knowledge about Late Holocene and historical terrestrial environmental changes in the Western Alps providing accurate data from fluvial sedimentary, pollen, documentary and instrumental records.
Methods
The generation of high-resolution environmental data from fluvial landforms records such as alluvial fans and fan deltas requires the use of an innovative methodology. We apply a multi-proxy approach, that integrates paleoecological, geomorphological, paleoclimatological, palynological, paleohydrological and documentary data.
Regional settings
The research focuses on the Late Holocene aggradation and environmental history of the Lütschine, Lombach, Aare, Sahne river fan deltas, as well asd further alluvial fans of small catchments of the Lake Brienz and Thun area defined as our study area at the northern slope of the Jungfrau massif (Swiss Alps).
Research highlights
The fluvial archives of the Lütschine fan record paleoclimatic variability from 4000 to 900 yr cal BP. For the last millennium, the anthropogenic impact changed the depositional conditions, reducing wetland environments. Moreover, this impact masks the climate signal of the pollen and geochemistry proxies. The correlation between the major flooding events and d14C anomalies suggest that aggradation of the Lütschine fan delta during the focused period was triggered by solar forcing. Floods occurred in the Lütschine River catchment during cold and wet periods.
Relevant publications

Schulte, L. et al. 2019.

Integration of multi-archive datasets towards the development of a four-dimensional paleoflood model in alpine catchments.

Global and Planetary Change 180, 66-88.


Peña, J.C.; Schulte, L., 2020.

Simulated and reconstructed atmospheric variability and their relation with large Pre-industrial summer floods in the Hasli-Aare catchment (Swiss Alps) since 1300 CE.

Global and Planetary Change 190, 103191.


Schulte, L. et al., 2019.

Pluridisciplinary analysis and multi-archive reconstruction of paleofloods: societal demand, challenges and progress.

Global and Planetary Change 177, 225-238.


Blöschl, G. et al. 2020.

Current European flood-rich period exceptional compared with past 500 years.

Nature 583, 560–566 (2020).


Sánchez-García et al. 2019.

500-year flood history in the arid environments of south-eastern Spain. The case of the Almanzora River.

Global and Planetary Change, 102987.


Schulte, L. et al. 2015.

A 2600-year history of floods in the Bernese Alps, Switzerland: frequencies, mechanisms and climate forcing.

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 19, 3047-3072.


Peña, J.C. et al. 2015.

Influence of solar forcing, climate variability and atmospheric circulation patterns on summer floods in Switzerland.

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 19, 3807-3827.

Universitat de BarcelonaICREA - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis AvançatsUniversität BernServei Meteorològic de CatalunyaGobierno de España - Ministerio de Educación y CienciaAlexander von Humboldt Foundation