Abstract ID: 3.10757 | Accepted as Talk | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

Large parts of Central European mountains are formed by siliceous rocks. These mountains have been exposed to severe acid precipitation during the second half of the 20th century resulting in extensive forest decline. Soils on siliceous parent material were sensitive to acidification, particularly as most forest ecosystems were dominated by conifers. Mostly paleozooic siliceous metamorphic rocks are very dense and do not provide substantial aquifers. These periglacial mountains were not glaciated during the Pleistocene but were exposed to permafrost and solifluction. In a legacy of these processes, infiltrated water in forest catchments is conducted downhill as interflow close to the surface with short residence times and clearly limited catchments. Springs and their stenoecious plant communities are closely linked to the biogeochemical processes in these catchments. With the end of the Cold War and German reunification, environmental policy and technology rapidly reduced acid precipitations. However, there was no rapid recovery of pH in the discharge of these springs. During the last decades, an additional stressor came along with climate change and increasing fluctuations in precipitation patterns. Severe droughts, such as in 2003 and 2018, were directly reflected in spring vegetation and hydrochemistry. Here, we present results from long-term surveys of springs in the Frankonian Forest and Fichtel Mountains, highlighting their importance as an integrative monitoring system for environmental changes.