Summary
Two project meetings have been arranged in the period September 1990 - June 1991 with participation from up to 10 countries. Plans for publication of the results of the Pilot Project have been worked out. A research project is initiated on the within site and between site variability in the composition of overbank sediments from 9 countries. An initial phase of the Main Project has been started in the Benelux and adjoining areas of Germany as well as in the Harz Mountains of Germany. Such work will also start in Finland and Norway during 1991. So far the research shows that samples of pristine overbank sediment can normally be found even in drainages heavily polluted by old mining, but at some locations the stratigraphy of the sediments may be complicated and the selection of suitable sample sites laborous.
