Deglaciation history of Lake Ladoga (northwestern Russia) based on varved sediments

Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia is Europe's largest lake. The postglacial history of the Ladoga basin is for the first time documented continuously with high temporal resolution in the upper 13.3 m of a sediment core (Co1309) from the northwestern part of the lake. We applied a multiproxy approach including radiographic imaging, (bio‐)geochemical and granulometric analyses. Age control was established combining radiocarbon dating with varve chronology, the latter anchored to a correlated radiocarbon age from a lake close by. The age‐depth model reveals the onset of glacial varve sedimentation at 13 910±140 cal. a BP, when Lake Ladoga was part of the Baltic Ice Lake. Linear extrapolation of published retreat rates of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet provides a formation age of the Luga moraine close to Lake Ladoga's southern shore of 14.5–15.9 cal. ka BP, older than previously assumed. Varve sedimentation covers the Bølling/Allerød interstadial, the Younger Dryas stadial and the Early Holocene. Varve‐thickness variations, conjoined with grain‐size and geochemical variations, inform about the relative position of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and the climate during the deglaciation phase. The upper limit of the varved succession marks the change from glaciolacustrine to normal lacustrine sedimentation and post‐dates the drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake as well as the formation of the Salpausselkä II moraine north of Lake Ladoga, by c. 250 years. The Holocene sediment record is divided into three periods in the following order: (i) a lower transition zone between the Holocene boundary and c. 9.5 cal. ka BP, characterized by mostly massive sediments with low organic content, (ii) a phase with increased organic content from c. 9.5 to 4.5 cal. ka BP corresponding to the Holocene Thermal Maximum, and (iii) a phase with relatively stable sedimentation in a lacustrine environment from c. 4.5 cal. ka BP until present.     

Glacial and climate history of the last 24 000 years in the Polar Ural Mountains,Arctic Russia,inferred from partly varved lake sediments

We present a well‐dated, high‐resolution and continuous sediment record spanning the last c. 24 000 years from lake Bolshoye Shchuchye located in the Polar Ural Mountains, Arctic Russia. This is the first continuous sediment succession reaching back into the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ever retrieved from this region. We reconstruct the glacial and climate history in the area since the LGM based on sedimentological and geochemical analysis of a 24‐m‐long sediment core. A robust chronology was established using a combination of AMS ¹⁴C‐dating, the position of the Vedde Ash and varve counting. The varved part of the sediment core spans across the LGM from 24 to 18.7 cal. ka BP. We conclude that the lake basin remained ice‐free throughout the LGM, but that mountain glaciers were present in the lake catchment. A decrease in both glacial varve preservation and sedimentation rate suggests that these glaciers started to retreat c. 18.7 cal. ka BP and had disappeared from the catchment by 14.35 cal. ka BP. There are no indications of glacier regrowth during the Younger Dryas. We infer a distinct climatic amelioration following the onset of the Holocene and an Early to Middle Holocene thermal optimum between 10–5 cal. ka BP. Our results provide a long‐awaited continuous and high‐resolution record of past climate that supplements the existing, more fragmentary data from moraines and exposed strata along river banks and coastal cliffs around the Russian Arctic.     

East Asian monsoon variation and climate changes in Jeju Island, Korea, during the latest Pleistocene to early Holocene

A 4.96-m-long sediment core from the Hanon paleo-maar in Jeju Island, Korea was studied to investigate the paleoclimatic change and East Asian monsoon variations during the latest Pleistocene to early Holocene (23,000-9000 cal yr BP). High-resolution TOC content, magnetic susceptibility, and major element composition data indicate that Jeju Island experienced the coldest climate around 18,000 cal yr BP, which corresponds to the last glacial maximum (LGM). Further, these multi-proxy data show an abrupt shift in climatic regime from cold and arid to warm and humid conditions at around 14,000 cal yr BP, which represents the commencement of the last major deglaciation. After the last major deglaciation, the TOC content decreased from 13,300 to 12,000 cal yr BP and from 11,500 to 9800 cal yr BP, thereby reflecting the weakening of the summer monsoon. The LGM in Jeju Island occurred later in comparison with the Chinese Loess Plateau. Such a disparity in climatic change events between central China and Jeju Island appears to be caused by the asynchrony between the coldest temperature event and the minimum precipitation event in central China and by the buffering effect of the Pacific Ocean.     

Sedimentary evidence for a major glacial oscillation and proglacial lake formation in the Solway Lowlands (Cumbria,UK) during Late Devensian deglaciation

Livingstone, S. J., Ó Cofaigh, C., Evans, D. J. A. & Palmer, A. 2010: Sedimentary evidence for a major glacial oscillation and proglacial lake formation in the Solway Lowlands (Cumbria, UK) during Late Devensian deglaciation. Boreas, Vol. 39, pp. 505–527. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00149.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. This paper is a sedimentological investigation of Late Devensian glacial deposits from the Solway Lowlands, northwest England, in the central sector of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet. In this region, laminated glaciolacustrine sediments occur, sandwiched between diamictons interpreted as subglacial tills. At one location the laminated sediments are interpreted as varves, and indicate the former presence of a proglacial lake. Correlation of these varves with other laminated sediments indicates that the glacial lake was at least 140 km² in area and probably much larger. Extensive beds of sand, silt and gravel throughout the Solway Basin associated with the lake demonstrate ice‐free conditions over a large area. Based on the number of varves, the lake was in existence for at least 261 years. The stratigraphic sequence of varves bracketed by tills implies a major glacial oscillation prior to the Scottish Re‐advance (16.8 cal. ka BP). This oscillation is tentatively correlated with the Gosforth oscillation at c.19.5 cal. ka BP. Subsequent overriding of these glaciolacustrine sediments during a westward‐moving re‐advance demonstrates rapid ice loss and then gain within the Solway Lowlands from ice‐dispersal centres in the Lake District, Pennines and Southern Uplands. It is speculated that the existence of this and other lakes along the northeastern edge of the Irish Sea Basin would have influenced ice‐sheet dynamics.     

The Lastglacial and Holocene seismostratigraphy and sediment distribution of Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye,Polar Ural Mountains,Arctic Russia

Seismostratigraphical studies of the 11.8‐km²‐large and ~140‐m‐deep Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye, Polar Ural Mountains, reveal up to 160‐m‐thick acoustically laminated sediments in the lake basin. Using a dense grid of seismic lines, the spatial and temporal distributions of the sedimentary history have been reconstructed. Three regional seismic horizons have been identified and correlated with the well‐dated 24‐m‐long sediment core retrieved from the lake. Isopach maps constructed from the seismic data show four phases of sedimentation. A contour map of the deepest regional seismic reflector represents the earliest hemipelagic sedimentation in the lake. Three contour maps represent time intervals covering the last 23 cal. ka based on the well‐dated core stratigraphy from the lake. The detailed time constraints on the upper stratigraphical units in the lake allow calculation of the lake's development in terms of sediment fluxes and the denudation rates from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present. The sedimentation in Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye has been dominated by hemipelagic processes during at least the last 24 cal. ka BP only locally interrupted by delta progradation and slope processes. A major shift in the sediment accumulation at c. 18.7 cal. ka BP is interpreted to mark the end of the local glacial maximum, greatly reduced denudation and the onset of the deglaciation period; this also demonstrates how fast the glaciers melted and possibly disappeared at the end of the LGM. The denudation rate during the Holocene is only a fifth of the LGM rate. The age of the oldest stratified sediments in Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye is not well constrained, but estimated as c. 50–60 ka.     

Seismic stratigraphical record of Lake Levinson‐Lessing,Taymyr Peninsula: evidence for ice‐sheet dynamics and lake‐level fluctuations since the Early Weichselian

A multi‐channel, high‐resolution seismic reflection survey using a Micro‐GI airgun was carried out in the framework of the Russian‐German project PLOT (Paleolimnological Transect) on Lake Levinson‐Lessing, Taymyr Peninsula, in 2016. In total, ~70 km of seismic reflection profiles revealed in unprecedented detail the glacial and postglacial sedimentary infill of the lake basin. Five main seismic units have been recognized and interpreted as glacial (Unit V), subglacial and proglacial (Unit IV), marine (Unit III), fluvial‐lacustrine (Unit II) and lacustrine (Unit I) sediments. Of particular significance are imbricated, south‐orientated structures present in the southernmost part of the lake basin within Unit V and a large topographic ridge recognized in front of those structures. We interpret these structures as push moraines and an end moraine, respectively, left by the glacier after its retreat. The depositional pattern of the units above the moraines documents past lake‐level fluctuations. We interpret Unit IV, Unit III and Unit I as highstand deposits, and Unit II as lowstand deposits. Gas‐charged sediments dominate the northern part of the lake basin, whilst they occur only sporadically and in limited spatial extent in the central and southern parts of the lake. In the latter areas, the seismic and echo‐sounder data suggest recent tectonic activity. Our study contributes to the reconstruction of environmental conditions in the Taymyr Peninsula directly following the Early Weichselian deglaciation and shows that deep tectonic lake basins affected by several glaciations can preserve important palaeoenvironmental records, which contributes significantly to our understanding of palaeoenvironmental changes in the Taymyr Peninsula and the central Russian Arctic.     

Lateglacial and Holocene environmental history of the central Kola region,northwestern Russia revealed by a sediment succession from Lake Imandra

Bolshaya Imandra, the northern sub-basin of Lake Imandra, was investigated by a hydro-acoustic survey followed by sediment coring down to the acoustic basement. The sediment record was analysed by a combined physical, biogeochemical, sedimentological, granulometrical and micropalaeontological approach to reconstruct the regional climatic and environmental history. Chronological control was obtained by ¹⁴C dating, ¹³⁷Cs, and Hg markers as well as pollen stratigraphy and revealed that the sediment succession offers the first continuous record spanning the Lateglacial and Holocene for this lake. Following the deglaciation prior to c. 13 200 cal. a BP, the lake's sub-basin initially was occupied by a glacifluvial river system, before a proglacial lake with glaciolacustrine sedimentation established. Rather mild climate, a sparse vegetation cover and successive retreat of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) from the lake catchment characterized the Bølling/Allerød interstadial, lasting until 12 710 cal. a BP. During the subsequent Younger Dryas chronozone, until 11 550 cal. a BP, climate cooling led to a decrease in vegetation cover and a re-advance of the SIS. The SIS disappeared from the catchment at the Holocene transition, but small glaciers persisted in the mountains at the eastern lake shore. During the Early Holocene, until 8400 cal. a BP, sedimentation changed from glaciolacustrine to lacustrine and rising temperatures caused the spread of thermophilous vegetation. The Middle Holocene, until 3700 cal. a BP, comprises the regional Holocene Thermal Maximum (8000–4600 cal. a BP) with relatively stable temperatures, denser vegetation cover and absence of mountain glaciers. Reoccurrence of mountain glaciers during the Late Holocene, until 30 cal. a BP, presumably results from a slight cooling and increased humidity. Since c. 30 cal. a BP Lake Imandra has been strongly influenced by human impact, originating in industrial and mining activities. Our results are in overall agreement with vegetation and climate reconstructions in the Kola region.     

Late quaternary sediments in Lake Zürich,Switzerland

Lake Zürich occupies a glacially overdeepened perialpine trough in the northern Middlelands of Switzerland. A total of 154.4 m of Quaternary sediments and 47.3 m of Tertiary Molasse bedrock has been cored from the deepest part of the lake, some 10 km south of the city of Zürich. Some 16.8 m of gravels and sands directly overlying the bedrock include basal till and probably earliest subglacial fluvial and lacustrine deposits. These are overlain by 98.6 m of fine-grained, glacial-aged sediments comprising completely deformed proglacial and/or subglacial lacustrine muds, separated by four basal mud tills. The lack of interglacial sediments, fossils, and other datable material, and the presence of severe sediment deformation and unknown amounts of erosion prevent the establishment of an exact chronostratigraphy for sediments older than the upper mud till. Above it some 8.6 m of lacustrine muds were deposited, folded, faulted, and tilted during the final opening of the lake at about 17,500–17,000 years ago. Superimposed are 30.4 m of final Würm and post-glacial sediments comprising (from oldest): cyclic proglacial mud, thick-bedded and laminated mud, a complex transition zone, laminated carbonate, laminated marl, and diatom-calcite varves. These sediments reflect changing catchment and lacustrine conditions including: glacial proximity, catchment stability, lake inflow characteristics, thermal structure, chemistry, and bed stability. Average sedimentation rates ranged from 11 cm yr⁻¹ immediately after glacier withdrawal, to as low as 0.4 mm yr⁻¹ as the environment stabilized. The lack of coarse outwash deposits separating the fine-grained glaciolacustrine sediments from a corresponding underlying basal till suggests that deglaciation of the deep northern basin of Lake Zürich was by stagnation-zone retreat rather than by retreat of an active ice-front.     

Würmian deglaciation of western Lake Geneva (Switzerland) based on seismic stratigraphy

Western Lake Geneva (le Petit-Lac) was filled during the Quaternary over a major erosion surface truncating the cemented, folded and thrusted Tertiary sediments of the foreland Alpine basin. The carving of the lake occurred during Quaternary glaciations with ice originating from the Rhone valley catchment basin flowing in two branches oriented SW and NE over the Swiss Plateau. Lake Geneva is situated on the South-Western branch of this paleo ice-cap.For the first time, a dense grid of high-resolution seismic profiles (airgun 5-inch³, airgun 1-inch³ and echosounder) has imaged the whole Quaternary sequence, providing a paleoenvironmental interpretation and a detailed reconstruction of the Rhone glacier retreat stages during glacial events that led to the formation of western Lake Geneva.The Quaternary sequence filling up the bedrock valley is exceptionally thick with up to 220 m of deposits and consists of glacial, glacio-lacustrine and lacustrine sediments. Fourteen seismic units have been defined (units U1–U14). Unit U1 represents the remnants of glacial deposits older than the last glacial cycle, preserved in the deepest part of the lake and in secondary bedrock valleys. Unit U2 represents gravel and sands deposited by meltwater circulation at the bottom of the glacial valley. Unit U3 is a thick, stratified unit marking the beginning of the deglaciation, when the Rhone glacier became thinner and buoyant and allowed the formation of a subglacial lake. Younger glacial units (units U4, U5, U7, U9, U11) are acoustically chaotic sediments deposited subglacially under the water table (undermelt tills), while the glacier was thinning. These glacial units are bounded by synform erosion surfaces corresponding to readvances of the glacier.The transition from a glacial to a glacio-lacustrine environment started with the appearance of a marginal esker-fan system (unit U6). Esker formation was followed by a small advance–retreat cycle leading to the deposition of unit U7. Then, the ice front receded and stratified sediments were deposited in a glacio-lacustrine environment (units U8, U10 and U12). This retreat was punctuated by two readvances – Coppet (unit U9) and Nyon (unit U11) – producing large push moraines and proglacial debris flows. Finally, a lacustrine environment with a characteristic lake current pattern and mass movement deposits took place (units U13 and U14).Except for unit U1, the sedimentary sequence records the Würmian deglaciation in a fjord-like environment occupied by a tidewater glacier with a steep, calving ice front. The presence of an esker-fan system reveals the importance of subglacial meltwater flow in continental deglaciation. Push-moraines and erosion surfaces below the glacier indicate at least 5 readvances during the deglaciation thus revealing that oscillations of ice front are the key process in deglaciation of perialpine fjord-lakes. The dating of these continental glacier fluctuations would allow correlation with oceanic and ice records and help to understand the climatic mechanisms between oceans and continents.     

Glacio‐isostatic age modelling and Late Weichselian deglaciation of the Lögurinn basin,East Iceland

Knowledge of the glaciation of central East Iceland between 15 and 9 cal. ka BP is important for the understanding of the extent, retreat and dynamics of the Icelandic Ice Sheet. Crucially, it is not known if the key area of Fljótsdalur‐Úthérað carried a fast‐flowing ice stream during the Last Glacial Maximum; the timing and mode of deglaciation is unclear; and the history and ages of successive lake‐phases in the Lögurinn basin are uncertain. We use the distribution of glacial and fluvioglacial deposits and gradients of former lake shorelines to reconstruct the glaciation and deglaciation history, and to constrain glacio‐isostatic age modelling. We conclude that during the Last Glacial Maximum, Fljótsdalur‐Úthérað was covered by a fast‐flowing ice stream, and that the Lögurinn basin was deglaciated between 14.7 and 13.2 cal. ka BP at the earliest. The Fljótsdalur outlet glacier re‐advanced and reached a temporary maximum extent on two separate occasions, during the Younger Dryas and the Preboreal. In the Younger Dryas, about 12.1 cal. ka BP, the outlet glacier reached the Tjarnarland terminal zone, and filled the Lögurinn basin. During deglaciation, a proglacial lake formed in the Lögurinn basin. Through time, gradients of ice‐lake shorelines increased as a result of continuous but non‐uniform glacio‐isostatic uplift as the Fljótsdalur outlet glacier retreated across the Valþjófsstaður terminal zone. Changes in shoreline gradients are defined as a function of time, expressed with an exponential equation that is used to model ages of individual shorelines. A glaciolacustrine phase of Lake Lögurinn existed between 12.1 and 9.1 cal. ka BP; as the ice retreated from the basin catchment, a wholly lacustrine phase of Lake Lögurinn commenced and lasted until about 4.2 cal. ka BP when neoglacial ice expansion started the current glaciolacustrine phase of the lake.     

A terrestrial palynological record for the last two glacial cycles from southwestern New Zealand

A pollen profile from Okarito Pakihi Bog in south Westland, New Zealand extending from near present back to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 provides a continuous record of vegetation and climate change for the past two glacial cycles. Independent chronological control was obtained by AMS radiocarbon dating of organic sediments in the upper part of the sequence and OSL dating of inorganic silts in the lower part, with a unique tie point provided by the ca 26.5 cal ka Kawakawa Tephra. As was probably a common occurrence in this region, the basin developed as a moraine-dammed proglacial lake and remained lacustrine until the early Holocene, when a peat bog developed. Survival of the depositional site through subsequent multiple ice advances, unusual in a glaciated landscape, was probably assisted by lateral displacement of the basin relative to its source area, across the Alpine Fault.There is good correspondence between inferred periods of substantial treeline depression in the pollen profile and the record for ice advance in this region. More cooling events are evident in the pollen record, however, presumably due to the fragmentary nature of glacial geomorphology. The pollen record also shows broad consistency with the MIS record and hence with the Milankovitch orbital forcing model, but with some departures, including an early onset to the last glacial maximum (LGM). Several sub-Milankovitch scale events are also evident, including a mid-LGM warming and Lateglacial reversals during both the last and the penultimate deglaciation.     

Glacial and environmental changes over the last 60 000 years in the Polar Ural Mountains,Arctic Russia,inferred from a high‐resolution lake record and other observations from adjacent areas

Our knowledge about the glaciation history in the Russian Arctic has to a large extent been based on geomorphological mapping supplemented by studies of short stratigraphical sequences found in exposed sections. Here we present new geochronological data from the Polar Ural Mountains along with a high‐resolution sediment record from Bolshoye Shchuchye, the largest and deepest lake in the mountain range. Seismic profiles show that the lake contains a 160‐m‐thick sequence of unconsolidated lacustrine sediments. A well‐dated 24‐m‐long core from the southern end of the lake spans the last 24 cal. ka. From downward extrapolation of sedimentation rates we estimate that sedimentation started about 50–60 ka ago, most likely just after a large glacier had eroded older sediments from the basin. Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) exposure dating (¹⁰Be) of boulders and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of sediments indicate that this part of the Ural Mountains was last covered by a coherent ice‐field complex during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4. A regrowth of the glaciers took place during a late stage of MIS 3, but the central valleys remained ice free until the present. The presence of small‐ and medium‐sized glaciers during MIS 2 is reflected by a sequence of glacial varves and a high sedimentation rate in the lake basin and likewise from ¹⁰Be dating of glacial boulders. The maximum extent of the mountain glaciers during MIS 2 was attained prior to 24 cal. ka BP. Some small present‐day glaciers, which are now disappearing completely due to climate warming, were only slightly larger during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) as compared to AD 1953. A marked decrease in sedimentation rate around 18–17 cal. ka BP indicates that the glaciers then became smaller and probably disappeared altogether around 15–14 cal. ka BP.     

A chronology of environmental changes in the Lake Vättern basin from deglaciation to its final isolation

During and after deglaciation, Lake Vättern developed from a proglacial lake situated at the westernmost rim of the Baltic Ice Lake (BIL), into a brackish water body connecting the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and finally into an isolated freshwater lake. Here we present geochemical and mineralogical data from a 70‐m composite sediment core recovered in southern Lake Vättern. Together with a radiocarbon age model of this core, we are able to delineate the character and timing of the different lake stages. In addition to a common mineralogical background signature seen throughout the sediment core, the proglacial sediments bear a calcite imprint representing ice‐sheet transported material from the limestone bedrock that borders the lake basin in the northeast. The proglacial fresh to brackish water transition is dated to 11 480±290 cal. a BP and is in close agreement with other regional chronologies. The brackish period lasted c. 300 years and was followed by a c. 1600 year freshwater period before the Vättern basin became isolated from the Initial Littorina Sea. Decreasing detrital input, increasing δ¹³C values and the appearance of diatoms in the upper 15 m of the sediment succession are interpreted as an overall increase in biological productivity. This mode of sedimentation continues until the present and is interpreted to mark the final isolation of the lake at 9530±50 cal. a BP. Consequently, the isolation of Lake Vättern was not an outcome of the Ancylus Lake regression, but rather because of ongoing continental uplift in the early Littorina period.     

Glacial to Holocene climate changes in the SE Pacific. The Raraku Lake sedimentary record (Easter Island, 27°S)

Easter Island (SE Pacific, 27°S) provides a unique opportunity to reconstruct past climate changes in the South Pacific region based on terrestrial archives. Although the general climate evolution of the south Pacific since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is coherent with terrestrial records in southern South America and Polynesia, the details of the dynamics of the shifting Westerlies, the South Pacific Convergence Zone and the South Pacific Anticyclone during the glacial–interglacial transition and the Holocene, and the large scale controls on precipitation in tropical and extratropical regions remain elusive. Here we present a high-resolution reconstruction of lake dynamics, watershed processes and paleohydrology for the last 34 000 cal yrs BP based on a sedimentological and geochemical multiproxy study of 8 cores from the Raraku Lake sediments constrained by 22 AMS radiocarbon dates. This multicore strategy has reconstructed the sedimentary architecture of the lake infilling and provided a stratigraphic framework to integrate and correlate previous core and vegetation studies conducted in the lake. High lake levels and clastic input dominated sedimentation in Raraku Lake between 34 and 28 cal kyr BP. Sedimentological and geochemical evidences support previously reported pollen data showing a relatively open forest and a cold and relatively humid climate during the Glacial period. Between 28 and 17.3 cal kyr BP, including the LGM period, colder conditions contributed to a reduction of the tree coverage in the island. The coherent climate patterns in subtropical and mid latitudes of Chile and Eastern Island for the LGM (more humid conditions) suggest stronger influence of the Antarctic circumpolar current and an enhancement of the Westerlies. The end of Glacial Period occurred at 17.3 cal kyr BP and was characterized by a sharp decrease in lake level conducive to the development of major flood events and erosion of littoral sediments. Deglaciation (Termination 1) between 17.3 and 12.5 cal kyr BP was characterized by an increase in lake productivity, a decrease in the terrigenous input and a rapid lake level recovery, inaugurating a period of intermediate lake levels, dominance of organic deposition and algal lamination. The timing and duration of deglaciation events in Easter Island broadly agree with other mid- and low-latitude circum South Pacific terrestrial records. The transition to the Holocene was characterized by lower lake levels. The lake level dropped during the early Holocene (ca 9.5 cal kyr BP) and swamp and shallow lake conditions dominated till mid Holocene, partially favored by the infilling of the lacustrine basin. During the mid- to late-Holocene drought phases led to periods of persistent low water table, subaerial exposure and erosion, generating a sedimentary hiatus in the Raraku sequence, from 4.2 to 0.8 cal kyr BP. The presence of this dry mid Holocene phase, also identified in low Andean latitudes and in Patagonian mid latitudes, suggests that the shift of storm tracks caused by changes in the austral summer insolation or forced by “El Niño-like” dominant conditions have occurred at a regional scale. The palm deforestation of the Easter Island, attributed to the human impact could have started earlier, during the 4.2–0.8 cal kyr BP sedimentary gap. Our paleoclimatic data provides insights about the climate scenarios that could favor the arrival of the Polynesian people to the island. If it occurred at ca AD 800 it coincided with the warmer conditions of the Medieval Climate Anomaly, whereas if it took place at ca AD 1300 it was favored by enhanced westerlies at the onset of the Little Ice Age. Changes in land uses (farming, intensive cattle) during the last century had a large impact in the hydrology and limnology (eutrophication) of the lake.     

Palaeoenvironmental record of glacial lake evolution during the early Holocene at Sokli,NE Finland

The development of a glacial lake impounded along the retreating, northeastern ice margin of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet during the last deglaciation and environmental conditions directly following the early Holocene deglaciation have been studied in NE Finland. This so‐called Sokli Ice Lake has been reconstructed previously using topographic and geomorphologic evidence. In this paper a multiproxy approach is employed to study a 3‐m‐thick sediment succession consisting of laminated silts grading into gyttja cored in Lake Loitsana, a remnant of the Sokli Ice Lake. Variations in the sediment and siliceous microfossil records indicate distinct changes in water depth and lake size in the Loitsana basin as the Sokli Ice Lake was drained through various spillways opening up along the retreating ice front. Geochemical data (XRF core‐scanning) show changes in the influence of regional catchment geochemistry (Precambrian crystalline rocks) in the glacial lake drainage area versus local catchment geochemistry (Sokli Carbonatite Massif) within the Lake Loitsana drainage area during the lake evolution. Principal component analysis on the geochemical data further suggests that grain‐size is an additional factor responsible for the variability of the sediment geochemistry record. The trophic state of the lake changed drastically as a result of morphometric eutrophication once the glacial lake developed into Lake Loitsana. The AMS radiocarbon dating on tree birch seeds found in the glaciolacustrine sediment indicates that Lake Loitsana was deglaciated sometime prior to 10 700 cal. a BP showing that tree Betula was present on the deglaciated land surrounding the glacial lake. Although glacial lakes covered large areas of northern Finland during the last deglaciation, only few glaciolacustrine sediment successions have been studied in any detail. Our study shows the potential of these sediments for multiproxy analysis and contributes to the reconstruction of environmental conditions in NE Finland directly following deglaciation in the early Holocene.     

Holocene alpine glaciation inferred from lacustrine sediments on northeastern Baffin Island,Arctic Canada

With accelerated melting of alpine glaciers, understanding the future state of the cryosphere is critical. Because the observational record of glacier response to climate change is short, palaeo‐records of glacier change are needed. Using proglacial lake sediments, which contain continuous and datable records of past glacier activity, we investigate Holocene glacier fluctuations on northeastern Baffin Island. Basal radiocarbon ages from three lakes constrain Laurentide Ice Sheet retreat by ca. 10.5 ka. High sedimentation rates (0.03 cm a^?1) and continuous minerogenic sedimentation throughout the Holocene in proglacial lakes, in contrast to organic‐rich sediments and low sedimentation rates (0.005 cm a^?1) in neighbouring non‐glacial lakes, suggest that glaciers may have persisted in proglacial lake catchments since regional deglaciation. The presence of varves and relatively high magnetic susceptibility from 10 to 6 ka and since 2 ka in one proglacial lake suggest minimum Holocene glacier extent ca. 6–2 ka. Moraine evidence and proglacial and threshold lake sediments indicate that the maximum Holocene glacier extent occurred during the Little Ice Age. The finding that glaciers likely persisted through the Holocene is surprising, given that regional proxy records reveal summer temperatures several degrees warmer than today, and may be due to shorter ablation seasons and greater accumulation‐season precipitation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A record of Holocene climate change from lake geochemical analyses in southeastern Arabia

Lacustrine sediments from southeastern Arabia reveal variations in lake level corresponding to changes in the strength and duration of Indian Ocean Monsoon (IOM) summer rainfall and winter cyclonic rainfall. The late glacial/Holocene transition of the region was characterised by the development of mega-linear dunes. These dunes became stabilised and vegetated during the early Holocene and interdunal lakes formed in response to the incursion of the IOM at approximately 8500 cal yr BP with the development of C3 dominated savanna grasslands. The IOM weakened ca. 6000 cal yr BP with the onset of regional aridity, aeolian sedimentation and dune reactivation and accretion. Despite this reduction in precipitation, the lake was maintained by winter dominated rainfall. There was a shift to drier adapted C4 grasslands across the dune field. Lake sediment geochemical analyses record precipitation minima at 8200, 5000 and 4200 cal yr BP that coincide with Bond events in the North Atlantic. A number of these events correspond with changes in cultural periods, suggesting that climate was a key mechanism affecting human occupation and exploitation of this region.     

Seismic‐stratigraphic record of a deglaciation sequence: from the marine Laflamme Gulf to Lake Saint‐Jean (late Quaternary,Québec,Canada)

The stratigraphy of the last deglaciation sequence is investigated in Lake Saint‐Jean (Québec Province, Canada) based on 300 km of echo‐sounder two dimensional seismic profiles. The sedimentary archive of this basin is documented from the Late Pleistocene Laurentidian ice‐front recession to the present‐day situation. Ten seismic units have been identified that reflect spatio‐temporal variations in depositional processes characterizing different periods of the Saint‐Jean basin evolution. During the postglacial marine flooding, a high deposition rate of mud settling, from proglacial glacimarine and then prodeltaic plumes in the Laflamme Gulf, produced an extensive, up to 50 m thick mud sheet draping the isostatically depressed marine basin floor. Subsequently, a closing of the water body due to glacio‐isostatic rebound occurred at 8.5 cal. ka BP, drastically modifying the hydrodynamics. Hyperpycnal flows appeared because fresh lake water replaced dense marine water. River sediments were transferred towards the deeper part of the lake into river‐related sediment drifts and confined lobes. The closing of the water body is also marked by the onset of a wind‐driven internal circulation associating coastal hydrodynamics and bottom currents with sedimentary features including shoreface deposits, sediment drifts and a prograding shelf‐type body. The fingerprints of a forced regression are well expressed by mouth‐bar systems and by the shoreface–shelf system, the latter unexpected in such a lacustrine setting. In both cases, a regressive surface of lacustrine erosion (RSLE) has been identified, separating sandy mouth‐bar from glaciomarine to prodeltaic muds, and sandy shoreface wedges from the heterolithic shelf‐type body, respectively. The Lake Saint‐Jean record is an example of a regressive succession driven by a glacio‐isostatic rebound and showing the transition from late‐glacial to post‐glacial depositional systems.     

Late Quaternary glacier and sea-ice history of northern Wijdefjorden,Svalbard

The deglaciation history and Holocene environmental evolution of northern Wijdefjorden, Svalbard, are reconstructed using sediment cores and acoustic data (multibeam swath bathymetry and sub-bottom profiler data). Results reveal that the fjord mouth was deglaciated prior to 14.5±0.3 cal. ka BP and deglaciation occurred stepwise. Biomarker analyses show rapid variations in water temperature and sea ice cover during the deglaciation, and cold conditions during the Younger Dryas, followed by minimum sea ice cover throughout the Early Holocene, until c. 7 cal. ka BP. Most of the glaciers in Wijdefjorden had retreated onto land by c. 7.6±0.2 cal. ka BP. Subsequently, the sea-ice extent increased and remained high throughout the last part of the Holocene. We interpret a high Late Holocene sediment accumulation rate in the northernmost core to reflect increased sediment flux to the site from the outlet of the adjacent lake Femmilsjøen, related to glacier growth in the Femmilsjøen catchment area. Furthermore, increased sea ice cover, lower water temperatures and the re-occurrence of ice-rafted debris indicate increased local glacier activity and overall cooler conditions in Wijdefjorden after c. 0.5 cal. ka BP. We summarize our findings in a conceptual model for the depositional environment in northern Wijdefjorden from the Late Weichselian until present.     

Late Pleistocene glaciation of the Kleiner Arbersee area in the Bavarian Forest,south Germany

During Pleistocene mountain glaciation of the Bavarian Forest, south Germany, the Wurmian Kleiner Arbersee glacier left behind glacial landforms and sediments which are described, classified and interpreted using a combination of geomorphological, sedimentological, pedological, surveying and absolute dating methods. The latest Kleiner Arbersee glacier with a maximum length of 2600 m, a minimum width of 800 m and a thickness of 115 m formed an elongated cirque, four lateral moraines, one divided end moraine, one recessional moraine, a proglacial lake and a basin in which lake Kleiner Arbersee was established after deglaciation. Beyond the glacial limit the landscape is denuded by periglacial slope deposits which are differentiated from the glacigenic sediments based upon clast fabrics, clast shapes and sediment consolidation. Within the glacial limit sandy–gravelly to silty–gravelly tills are widely distributed, whereas glaciolacustrine sediments are restricted to a small area north of the lake. Small variations in the sand and silt fraction of the tills are explained by melt-out processes. Quartz, mica and chlorite derived from gneiss bedrock are dominant in the clay mineral spectrum of tills, but also gibbsite as a product of pre-Pleistocene weathering is present giving evidence of glacially entrained saprolites. An IRSL-date of glaciolacustrine sediments (32.4±9.4 ka BP) confirms the Wurmian age for the glaciation and radiocarbon ages of the basal sediments (12.3±0.4 and 12.5±0.2 ka BP uncalibrated) in the lake Kleiner Arbersee prove that the basin was ice-free before the Younger Dryas.