Early Holocene Tree Growth at a High Elevation Site in the Northernmost Scandes of Sweden (Lapland): A Palaeobiogeographical Case Study Based on Megafossil Evidence

The paper focuses on early Holocene tree growth and alpine tree-limits in the northernmost Swedish Scandes (Lapland). Megafossil wood remnants in peats and lakes were searched for over a large area at elevations high above the modern tree-limits. Wood of Pinus sylvestris, Betula pubescens spp. tortuosa and Alnus incana was discovered near the shore of a small lake (999 m a.s.l.) c. 500 m higher than today's tree-limit of Pinus sylvestris in this region. Radiocarbon dating yielded values of unprecedented age, c. 8500–8100 ¹⁴C years BP for all three species and in addition 5400–4500 ¹⁴C years BP for Betula and Alnus. The highest position of the Pinus tree-limit occurred during the early Holocene, which compares well with the situation reconstructed by megafossils in the southern Scandes. It now appears that the long-term tree-limit and climate histories are broadly the same in entire mid- and northern Fennoscandia. Corrected for glacio-isostatic land uplift, the tree-limit record suggests that the summers were c. 2.4°C warmer than today at 8500 ¹⁴C years BP . A dry continental climate with substantial seasonal contrasts is likely to have prevailed during this period, which restricted the occurrence of glaciers and glacier activity. Most circumstances point to the overriding importance of the Milankovitch orbital theory for pacing or forcing the long-term postglacial climate change. The results are inconsistent with most inferences based on pollen, certain macrofossil records and general circulation simulations. These proxy environmental histories have frequently advocated a mid-Holocene thermal optimum and an oceanic and humid climate in northern and western Fennoscandia during the early Holocene. The uncovered discrepancy between the outcome of the objective and factual megafossil method and more subjective/inferential microfossil methods should be important for Quaternary plant ecology in general, stressing the usefulness of megafossil studies.     

Holocene environmental history in northwest Finnish Lapland reflected in the multi-proxy record of a small subarctic lake

A 2.5-m-long sediment core was retrieved from Lake Somaslampi, a small lake located in a kame field on the north slope of the Scandes Mountains in Finnish Lapland. Holocene environmental changes were inferred from the lithological, geochemical, pollen, diatom and Cladocera records stored in the lake sediment. The chronology was based on six radiocarbon AMS dates supported by a palynological control chronology. The sediment profile consists of a glacial sedimentary sequence truncated by a lacustrine one. A hiatus, tentatively correlated with climate cooling and advances of glaciers during the 8.2 ka yrs BP “Finse cooling Event”, occurs between these sequences. The glacial sequence was composed of fluvioglacial clastics, smoothly changing into glacio-lacustrine diatomaceous ooze deposited in a meromictic proglacial lake that covered the kame field. The meromixis was probably caused by the greater depth of the lake, the extended ice-cover, and the microbial mats covering large areas of the lake bottom. A distinct change in the biota of the glacio-lacustrine sediments indicates higher trophic conditions than during deposition of the fluvioglacial clastics. The late-Pleistocene vegetation was characterised by subarctic birch tundra vegetation (Betula–Salix–Ericaceae) with low biodiversity gradually changing to Betula–Pinus dominance in the early Holocene. The lake was deep and had a diatom inferred pH ~ 7 indicated also by the dominance of planktonic Cladocera. The base of the lacustrine sediment sequence (6,650–6,300 cal. BP) consisted of loess-rich sediment indicating an increase in eolian activity. This is also supported by the pollen record, which is dominated by more long-distant taxa such as Alnus and Pinus, and by the increased C/N ratio of the sediment. After the initial meromictic phase of the lake, an abrupt lowering of the water level occurred. Lake Somaslampi was isolated from the larger Pre-Lake Somas basin and became holomictic, shallow, much warmer and more productive, until the deterioration of climate around 3,000 yr BP and the increased input of clastics from the tundra soils. The vegetation followed the general climatic trend by gradually changing from the dominance of Betula and Pinus to the dominance of more tundra-related vegetation like Poaceae and Cyperaceae. However, the higher frequencies of planktonic Cladocera and centric diatoms in the most recent sediments indicates higher trophic conditions, increased turbulence and a prolonged ice-free period, which can possibly be linked to the recent climate warming especially in areas of higher altitude and latitude.     

Palaeolimnological Development of Lake Njargajavri, Northern Finnish Lapland, in a Changing Holocene Climate and Environment

This study used palaeolimnological approaches to determine how Holocene climatic and environmental changes affected aquatic assemblages in a subarctic lake. Sediments of the small Lake Njargajavri, in northern Finnish Lapland above the present treeline, were studied using multi-proxy methods. The palaeolimnological development of the lake was assessed by analyses of chironomids, Cladocera and diatoms. The lake was formed in the early Holocene and was characterized by prominent erosion and leaching from poorly developed soils before the establishment of birch forests, resulting in a high pH and trophic state. The lake level started to lower as early as ca. 10,200 cal. BP. In the resulting shallow basin, rich in aquatic mosses, pH decreased and a diverse cladoceran and chironomid assemblage developed. It is likely that there was a slight rise in the water level ca. 8000 cal. BP. Later, during the mid-Holocene characterized by low effective moisture detected elsewhere in Fennoscandia, the lake probably completely dried out; this is manifest as a hiatus in the stratigraphy. The sediment record continues from ca. 5000 cal. BP onwards as the lake formed again due to increased effective moisture. The new lake was characterized by very low pH. The possible spread of pine to the catchment and the development of heath community may have contributed to the unusually steep (for northern Fennoscandia) decline in pH via change in soils, together with the natural decrease in leaching of base cations. Furthermore, the change in pH may have been driven by cooling climate, affecting the balance of dissolved inorganic carbon in the lake.     

Multi-proxy evidence of postglacial climate and environmental change at Two Frog Lake,central mainland coast of British Columbia,Canada

Pollen and diatoms preserved in the radiocarbon dated sediments of Two Frog Lake in the Seymour-Belize Inlet Complex of the central mainland coast of British Columbia document postglacial climate change. Two Frog Lake was isolated from the sea prior to 11,040 ± 50 yr BP (13,030 cal. yr BP) when the climate was cool and dry, and open Pinus contorta woodlands covered the landscape. These woodlands were replaced by a mixed conifer forest ca. 10,200 yr BP (ca. 12,300 cal. yr BP) when the climate became moister. A relatively dry and warm early Holocene climate allowed Pseudotsuga menziesii to migrate northward to this site where it grew with Picea, Tsuga heterophylla and Alnus. The climate became cooler and moister at ca. 8,000 yr BP (ca. 9,200 cal. yr BP), approximately 500–1,000 years prior to sites located south of Two Frog Lake and on the Queen Charlotte Islands, but contemporary with sites on the northern mainland coast of British Columbia and south coastal Alaska. Climate heterogeneity in central coastal British Columbia appears to have occurred on a synoptic scale, suggesting that atmospheric dynamics linked to a variable Aleutian Low pressure system may have had an important influence on early Holocene climate change in the Seymour-Belize Inlet Complex. The transition to cooler and moister conditions facilitated the expansion of Cupressaceae and the establishment of a modern-type coastal temperate rainforest dominated by Cupressaceae and T. heterophylla. This was associated with progressive lake acidification. Diatom changes independent of vegetation change during the late Holocene are correlative with the mid-Neoglacial period, when cooler temperatures altered diatom communities.     

Evaluating environmental drivers of Holocene changes in water chemistry and aquatic biota composition at Lake Loitsana,NE Finland

This study presents a detailed analysis of geochemical and biotic proxies in a lake sediment profile to assess the effects of local and regional environmental drivers on the Holocene development of Lake Loitsana, situated in the northern boreal forest of NE Finland. Multi-proxy studies, in particular those that include a detailed plant macrofossil record, from the part of the northern boreal zone of Fennoscandia which has not been affected by treeline fluctuations, are scarce and few of these records date back to the earliest part of the Holocene. A 9-m sediment sequence of gyttja overlying silts representing the last c. 10,700 cal year, allowed for a high-resolution study with emphasis on the early to mid-Holocene lake history. The lacustrine sediments were studied using lithology, loss-on-ignition and C/N ratios, micro- and macro-fossils of aquatic and wetland taxa, diatoms, chironomids and accelerator mass spectrometry ¹⁴C dating on terrestrial plant macrofossils. Our study shows that the local development at Loitsana was complex and included a distinct glacial lake phase and subsequent drainage, a history of fluvial input affected by nearby wetland expansion, and lake infilling in an eventual esker-fed shallow lake. Enhanced trophic conditions, due to morphometric eutrophication, are recorded as Glacial Lake Sokli drained and open water conditions became restricted to a relatively small Lake Loitsana depression. pH appears to have been stable throughout the Holocene with a well-buffered lake due to the local carbonatite bedrock (Sokli Carbonatite Massif). The fossil assemblage changes are best explained by a complex mixture of drivers, including water-body conditions (i.e. depth, turbidity and turbulence), rate of sediment input, and the general infilling of the lake, highlighting the need to carefully evaluate the possible influence of such local factors as palaeoenvironmental conditions are reconstructed based on aquatic proxies.     

Temporal patterns in lacustrine stable isotopes as evidence for climate change during the late glacial in the Southern European Alps

We investigated oxygen and carbon isotopes of bulk carbonate and of benthic freshwater ostracods (Candona candida) in a sediment core of Lago Piccolo di Avigliana that was previously analyzed for pollen and loss-on-ignition, in order to reconstruct environmental changes during the late glacial and early Holocene. The depth–age relationship of the sediment core was established using 14 AMS ¹⁴C dates and the Laacher See Tephra. While stable isotopes of bulk carbonates may have been affected by detrital input and, therefore, only indirectly reflect climatic changes, isotopes measured on ostracod shells provide unambiguous evidence for major environmental changes. Oxygen isotope ratios of ostracod shells (δ¹⁸O_C) increased by ～6‰ at the onset of the Bølling (～14,650 cal BP) and were ～2‰ lower during the Younger Dryas (～12,850 to 11,650 cal BP), indicating a temporal pattern of climate changes similar to the North Atlantic region. However, in contrast to records in that region, δ¹⁸O_C gradually decreased during the early Holocene, suggesting that compared to the Younger Dryas more humid conditions occurred and that the lake received gradually increasing input of ¹⁸O-depleted groundwater or river water.     

Holocene regional and local vegetation history and lake-level changes in the Torneträsk area, northern Sweden

A combination of pollen and macrofossil analyses from six lakes at altitudes between 370 and 999 m above sea level (a.s.l.) in the Torneträsk area reflect the Holocene vegetation history. The main field study area has been the Abisko valley at altitudes around 400 m a.s.l. The largest lake, Vuolep Njakajaure has annually laminated (varved) sediments. The chronology and sedimentation rates in the pollen-influx calculations are based on varve yrs in this lake and on radiocarbon dated terrestrial plant macrofossils in the other lakes. A strong increase of mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. tortuosa) during the early Holocene with a tree-line c. 300 m above the present, indicates that the summer temperature was c. 1.5 °C higher than today, assuming that the land uplift has been 100 m since then. Scattered stands of pine (Pinus sylvestris) may have been growing in the area immediately after the deglaciation but a forest consisting of pine and mountain birch expanded first at low elevations and reached the eastern parts of the Torneträsk area at c. 8300 cal BP and the western parts at c. 7600 cal BP. The highest pine-birch forest limit was not reached until 6300 cal BP (110 m above present pine limit). Warm and dry conditions during the pine forest maximum led to lowering of the water level documented in Lake Badsjön in the Abisko valley about 1-1.5 m lower than today. Pine and mountain birch were growing at the maximum altitude until c. 4500 cal BP. Assuming that land uplift has been in the range of 20-40 m since the mid-Holocene, this implies that the temperature was then c. 1.5-2 °C higher than today. Rising lake-levels and lowering limits of pine and mountain birch since c. 4500 cal BP indicate a more humid and cool climate during the late Holocene.     

Oxygen isotope fractionation in three freshwater ostracod species from early Holocene lacustrine tufa in northern Estonia

We quantified differences in oxygen isotope fractionation among three biostratigraphically important subfossil ostracod species (Metacypris cordata, Pseudocandona rostrata and Candonopsis kingsleii) from an early Holocene freshwater tufa layer in northern Estonia. Estimated mean δ¹⁸O values are −10.05‰ for M. cordata, −9.34‰ for C. kingsleii and −8.75‰ for P. rostrata. All three species exhibit positive offset from the weighted mean annual δ¹⁸O of contemporary precipitation (−10.7‰ in δ¹⁸O_V-PDB) and from the mean δ¹⁸O value of authigenic tufa carbonate (−10.64‰) in the ostracod-bearing layer. Assuming that the known oxygen isotope fractionation in P. rostrata (+2.5‰) and M. cordata (+1.5‰) has remained constant over time, the theoretical δ¹⁸O_V-SMOW of the early Holocene lake water was calculated to have been between −11.52 and −11.92‰, slightly less negative than the local Ordovician groundwater (−11.7 to −12.2‰). δ¹⁸O values of the tufa carbonate differ by +0.6 to +1.0‰ from the calculated theoretical isotope composition (δ¹⁸O_V-PDB) of lake water, indicating that the tufa also did not precipitate in isotopic equilibrium with ambient waters. Results show that the greater the δ¹⁸O offset from the calculated, theoretical isotope composition of lake water for an ostracod species, the lower is its preferred mean July temperature. Both our data and earlier published results on δ¹⁸O values in Holocene lacustrine carbonates and ostracods from north-eastern Europe, display pronounced decreases in δ¹⁸O with an increase in latitude of the study site. This suggests that temperature-dependent, and therefore latitude-dependent isotopic composition of meteoric waters controlled the δ¹⁸O values in lacustrine tufa and ostracods throughout the Holocene.     

Holocene Environmental Changes of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) from Stable Isotopes (δ13C, δ18O) and Trace Element Records of Ostracod and Gastropod Carbonates

Stable isotopes and trace-element contents of ostracod (Candona neglecta) valves mostly from the Holocene portion of two assembled cores from Petit Lac (Lake Geneva, Switzerland-France) were analysed in order to depict the geochemical record of post-glacial environmental changes of this lake. Additional stable isotope and trace element data from the gastropod Bithynia tentaculata (shells and opercula) from some intervals of these cores, as well as previous data from bulk carbonate from the lower part of the studied intervals were also considered. Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca molar ratios for the Holocene lake water have been estimated from evaluations of the partitioning coefficients for Mg and Sr for C. neglecta and B. tentaculata taking into account the modern-lake water composition. This study shows an overall gentle trend to higher δ¹⁸O values in C. neglecta valves from the Boreal interval (mean −8.44‰) to the upper part of the core (mean −8.11‰). This trend is superimposed to higher frequency oscillations of stable isotope values and trace element ratios, especially through the upper Older Atlantic and the Subboreal. The overall isotopic oxygen trend includes several shifts in δ¹⁸O of about 1‰. These shifts are interpreted as major regional-global climate changes that have also been observed in other coeval δ¹⁸O and pollen records which reflect the Holocene climate variability in other European basins. Especially well-defined peaks in some episodes like Older Atlantic (~8200 yr BP), Younger Atlantic – Subboreal transition (~5600 yr BP) and early Subatlantic (~ 2500 yr BP) correspond to well-recognized events in globally-distributed records. Some of these shifts are correlated with pulses in the lake-level curve of the Lake Geneva. An erratum to this article is available at .     

The sedimentary and palynological records of Serpent River Bog,and revised early Holocene lake-level changes in the Lake Huron and Georgian Bay region

Serpent River Bog lies north of North Channel, 10 m above Lake Huron and 15 m below the Nipissing Great Lake level. A 2.3 m Holocene sequence contains distinct alternating beds of inorganic clastic clay and organic peat that are interpreted as evidence of successive inundation and isolation by highstands and lowstands of the large Huron-Basin lake. Lowstand phases are confirmed by the presence of shallow-water pollen and plant macrofossil remains in peat units. Twelve ¹⁴C dates on peat, wood and plant macrofossils combined with previously published ¹⁴C ages of lake-level indicators confirm much of the known early Holocene lake-level history with one notable exception. A new Late Mattawa highstand (8,390 [9,400 cal]–8,220 [9,200 cal] BP) evidenced by a sticky blue-grey clay bed is tied to outburst floods of glacial Lake Minong during erosion of the Nadoway drift barrier in the eastern Lake Superior basin. A subsequent Late Mattawa highstand (8,110 [9,040 cal]–8,060 [8,970 cal] BP) is attributed to enhanced meltwater inflows that first had deposited thick varves throughout Superior Basin. Inundation by the Nadoway floods and possibly the last Mattawa flood were likely responsible for termination of the Olson Forest (southern Lake Michigan). A pollen diagram supports the recognized progression of Holocene vegetation, and defines a subzone implying a very dry, cool climate about 7.8–7.5 (8.6–8.3 cal) ka BP based on the Alnus crispa profile during the Late Stanley lowstand. A new date of 9,470 ± 25 (10,680–10,750 cal) BP on basal peat over lacustrine clay at Espanola West Bog supports the previous interpretation of the Early Mattawa highstand at ca. 9,500 (10,740 cal) BP. The organic and clastic sediment units at these two bogs are correlated with other records showing coherent evidence of Holocene repeated inundation and isolation around northern Lake Huron. Taken together the previous and new lake-level data suggest that the Huron and Georgian basin lakes were mainly closed lowstands throughout early Holocene time except for short-lived highstands. Three of the lowstands were exceptionally low, and likely caused three episodes of offshore sediment erosion which had been previously identified as seismo-stratigraphic sequence boundaries.     

A 14,500-year record of landscape change from Okpilak Lake, northeastern Brooks Range, northern Alaska

Analyses of lithology, organic-matter content, magnetic susceptibility, and pollen in a sediment core from Okpilak Lake, located in the northeastern Brooks Range, provide new insights into the history of climate, landscape processes, and vegetation in northern Alaska since 14,500?cal?year BP. The late-glacial interval (>11,600?cal?year BP) featured sparse vegetation cover and the erosion of minerogenic sediment into the lake from nearby hillslopes, as evidenced by Cyperaceae-dominated pollen assemblages and high magnetic susceptibility (MS) values. Betula expanded in the early Holocene (11,600?C8,500?cal?year BP), reducing mass wasting on the landscape, as reflected by lower MS. Holocene sediments contain a series of silt- and clay-dominated layers, and given their physical characteristics and the topographic setting of the lake on the braided outwash plain of the Okpilak River, the inorganic layers are interpreted as rapidly deposited fluvial sediments, likely associated with intervals of river aggradation, changes in channel planform, and periodic overbank flow via a channel that connects the river and lake. The episodes of fluvial dynamics and aggradation appear to have been related to regional environmental variability, including a period of glacial retreat during the early Holocene, as well as glacial advances in the middle Holocene (5,500?C5,200?cal?year BP) and during the Little Ice Age (500?C400?cal?year BP). The rapid deposition of multiple inorganic layers during the early Holocene, including thick layers at 10,900?C10,000 and 9,400?C9,200?cal?year BP, suggests that it was a particularly dynamic interval of fluvial activity and landscape change.     

Holocene diatom stratigraphy in the Archipelago Sea,northern Baltic Sea

Two sediment cores from the Archipelago Sea in the northern Baltic Sea were examined for their siliceous microfossils in order to study the Holocene palaeoenvironmental history of the area. The diatom record was divided into local diatom assemblage zones (LDAZ). An age model was constructed using independent palaeomagnetic and AMS-¹⁴C methods. The early history of the Archipelago Sea was freshwater. Initial brackish-water influence is observed at 7,950 ± 80 cal. BP (LDAZ4), but fully brackish conditions were established at 7,700 ± 80 cal. BP (LDAZ5). Diatom assemblages indicate increasing salinity, warming climate, and possible increasing trophic state during the transition from lacustrine to brackish-water conditions. The decreasing abundance of Pseudosolenia calcar-avis (Schultze) Sundström and the increasing abundance of the ice-cover indicator species Pauliella taeniata (Grunow) Round and Basson indicate reduced salinity and climatic cooling after ～5,000 cal. BP. LDAZ boundaries do not always correlate with changes in the sediment appearance, which underlines the importance of defining biostratigraphic boundaries independently to the sediment visual character, in contrast with the conventional practice for classifying the Baltic Sea sediments.     

Climatic and environmental change in Yanchi Lake, Northwest China since the Late Glacial: A comprehensive analysis of lake sediments

Modern climate research has shown that the Asian summer monsoon water vapor transport is limited to the eastern part of the Qilian Mountains. On the Holocene millennial-scale, whether the northwest boundary of the summer monsoon varies according to climate change is a key scientific issue. Yanchi Lake is located in the northern Qilian Mountains and the middle of the Hexi Corridor, where the modern climate is less affected by the Asian summer monsoon. It is a key research area for examining the long-term variations of the Asian summer monsoon. Paleoclimatic data, including AMS ^14C dates of pollen concentrates and bulk organic carbon, lithology, grain-size, mineral composition and geochemical proxies were acquired from sediments of Yanchi Lake. The chronological results show that the lower part of the lacustrine section is formed mainly in the Late Glacial and early Holocene period, while the proxies＇ data indicate the lake expansion is associated with high content of mineral salts. The middle part of this section is formed during the transitional period of the early and middle Holocene. Affected by the reworking effect, the pollen concentrates AMS^14C dates from the middle part of the section are generally older than those from the lower part. Since the mid-Holocene, Yanchi Lake retreated significantly and the deposition rate dropped obvi- ously. The Yanchi Lake record is consistent with the Late Glacial and Holocene lake records in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the climatic records in typical monsoon domain, which indicate the lake expansion and the strong Asian summer monsoon during the Late Glacial and early Holocene. The long-term monsoonal pattern is different from the lake evolution in Central Asia on the Holocene millennial-scale. This study proves the monsoon impacts on the northwestern margin of the summer monsoon, and also proves the fact that the northern boundary of the summer monsoon moves according to millennial-scale climate change.     

Sir Vivian Fuchs FRS 1908-1999

A palaeoecological investigation in the Bodø area (Salten, Nordland) records a shift from Betula-dominated forest to mostly treeless vegetation during the last 4000 years. Corylus avellana, now at its northern limits in this region, was previously more abundant within the area. Deforestation started c. 3500–3000 BP, most likely connected to human activity during the early Bronze Age. After the onset of anthropogenic disturbance, heathland was established, initially with a dominance of Calluna vulgaris and Empetrum. Later on, c. 900 BP, Calluna was dominant. The heathland was probably subject to management, including burning. It should be viewed as a part of a northern extension of the western European heathland vegetation of the coast of SW Norway.     

Late Glacial and Holocene environmental history of the Pirin Mountains (SW Bulgaria): a paleolimnological study of Lake Dalgoto (2310 m)

Diatoms, Cladocera, and chironomids preserved in the sediments of Lake Dalgoto were studied to reconstruct the history of the lake ecosystem in the context of the vegetation history as represented by the pollen stratigraphy. Younger Dryas silty sediments at the base of the core are characterized by low diversity of aquatic organisms. The transition to the Holocene is indicated by a sharp change from silt to clay-gyttja. The migration and expansion of trees at lower elevations between 10200 and 8500 ¹⁴C-yr BP, along with higher diversities and concentrations of aquatic organisms and the decreased proportion of north-alpine diatoms, point to rapidly rising summer temperatures. After 6500 ¹⁴C-yr BP the expansion of Pinus mugo in the catchment coincides with signs of natural eutrophication as recorded by an increase of planktonic diatoms. In the late Holocene (4000–0 ¹⁴C-yr BP) Pinus peuce and Abies are reduced and Picea expands. Cereal grains and disturbance indicators suggest late-Holocene human modification of the vegetation.     

Paleohydrologic implications of 18O enriched Lake Agassiz water

Lake Agassiz water oxygen isotopic compositions inferred from sediment core organics and pore waters provide some additional insight into the paleohydrology of the Great Lakes and their drainage into the North Atlantic during the late glacial and early Holocene. Isotopically enriched Lake Agassiz water supports the hypothesis that high Huron Basin lake (Mattawa) phases, during the early Holocene (9600–9300 and 9100–8100 years BP) resulted from an influx of Lake Agassiz water and suggests that low lake (Stanley) phases (9800–9600, 9300–9100, 8100–7400 years BP) were influenced more by regional influxes of isotopically depleted glacial melt water. Eastward drainage of enriched early Lake Agassiz water supports an active Port Huron outlet between 11000 and 10500 years BP and also helps to explain the absence of an ¹⁸O depleted interval in North Atlantic foram records. This may be the result of a balance between the opposing isotopic effects of depleted Lake Agassiz water and lower sea surface temperatures on carbonate precipitation between 11000 and 10000 years BP.     

中国北方森林群落现代花粉与植被和气候的关系

53 pollen traps and surface samples were collected in order to detect the characteristics of pollen assemblages and their relationships with vegetation and climate in 16 forest communities located in 10 mountains in northern China. The results show that 72% of the pollen taxa (80 taxa) are the same between the traps and the surface samples. The dominant taxa in the plant communities are consistent with the main pollen taxa in the pollen assemblages at the same sites. In Pinus plant communities, both Pinus pollen influx and concentration are higher, indicating the high pollen productivity and good pollen preservation ability of Pinus. In Picea and Abies plant communities, Picea and Abies have lower pollen influxes but higher concentrations, suggesting their low pollen productivities but better pollen preservation abilities. In Betula and Quercus plant communities, Betula and Quercus have higher pollen influxes but lower concentrations, revealing their high pollen productivities but poor pollen preservation abilities. The study of relationships between pollen and vegetation with discriminant analysis shows that pollen assemblages from both trap and surface samples can reflect the characteristics of different communities and distinguish different ecological areas, but surface samples can reflect the dominant components of communities much better than the traps. The study on correlations between pollen assemblages and climate with DCCA reveals that significant correlations exist between pollen assemblages and mean temperature of the coldest month (r = 0.84 for trap samples, r = 0.72 for surface samples), and then annual mean precipitation (r = 0.73 for trap samples, r = 0.71 for surface samples).     

Late Pleistocene: Holocene record of environmental changes in Lake Zirahuen,Central Mexico

Geochemical data obtained from X-ray fluorescence, physical properties, total organic and inorganic carbon content (TOC/TIC), and diatom analysis from a 6.61-m-long sedimentary sequence near the modern northern shore of Lake Zirahuen (101° 44′ W, 19° 26′ N, 2000 m asl) provide a reconstruction of lacustrine sedimentation during the last approximately 17 cal kyr BP. A time scale is based on ten AMS ¹⁴C dates and by tephra layers from Jorullo (AD 1759-1764) and Paricutin (AD 1943-1952) volcanoes. The multiproxy analyses presented in this study reveal abrupt changes in environmental and climatic conditions. The results are compared to the paleo-record from nearby Lake Patzcuaro. Dry conditions and low lake level are inferred in the late Pleistocene until ca. 15 cal kyr BP, followed by a slight but sustained increase in lake level, as well as a higher productivity, peaking at ca. 12.1 cal kyr BP. This interpretation is consistent with several regional climatic reconstructions in central Mexico, but it is in opposition to record from Lake Patzcuaro. A sediment hiatus bracketed between 12.1 and 7.2 cal kyr BP suggests a drop in lake level in response to a dry early Holocene. A deeper, more eutrophic and turbid lake is recorded after 7.2 cal kyr BP. Lake level at the coring site during the mid Holocene is considered the highest for the past 17 cal kyr BP. The emplacement of the La Magueyera lava flows (LMLF), dated by thermoluminiscence at 6560 ± 950 year, may have reduced basin volume and contributed to the relative deepening of the lake after 7.2 cal kyr BP. The late Holocene (after 3.9 cal kyr BP) climate is characterized by high instability. Extensive erosion, lower lake levels, dry conditions and pulses of high sediment influx due to high rainfall are inferred for this time. Further decrease in lake level and increased erosion are recorded after ca. AD 1050, at the peak of Purepechas occupation (AD 1300–1521), and until the eighteenth century. Few lacustrine records extend back to the late Pleistocene—early Holocene in central Mexico; this paper contributes to the understanding of late Pleistocene-Holocene paleoclimates in this region.     

Diatom,pollen, and geochemical evidence for the palaeosalinity of Medicine Lake,S. Dakota,during the late-Wisconsin and early Holocene

Medicine Lake is a highly saline meromictic lake in eastern South Dakota. A lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic study of the late-glacial and early post-glacial sediments shows that it was a relatively deep dilute freshwater lake during the period of the Picea pollen zone. When spruce forest changed to a Betula and then to a Quercus/Ulmus woodland in the early post-glacial period, the lake water became more concentrated but remained fresh. However, during the subsequent rapid transition to prairie in the early Holocene, when Gramineae, Ambrosia, and Artemisia dominated dry-land vegetation, the freshwater diatom flora was progressively replaced by a saline assemblage characterized by Cyclotella quillensis, Chaetoceros, and eventually Cyclotella caspia. The lake became permanently saline at about 9000 yr BP. A comparison of the fossil diatom assemblages with surface-sediment samples from a range of lakes in the Dakotas indicates that the change involved an increase in conductivity from about 500 S cm^–1 in the late-glacial period to > 10 000 S cm^–1 in the early Holocene. This rapid change is also marked by an abrupt increase in sulphate concentration in the sediment, the first appearance of bands of gypsum crystals, and the beginning of a well-laminated core sequence that continues through the remaining sediment record. Conditions of high salinity have prevailed to the present day.Contribution 299, Limnological Research Center.     

Holocene Lake Evolution in the Elmali Basin,Southwest Turkey

The spatial coverage of paleoecological research from southwestern Turkey is expanded by reporting on a ca. 12,690 ¹⁴C yr BP (14,935 cal yr BP) proxy record recovered from the Elmali basin. Four AMS radiocarbon age determinations, the litho-stratigraphic analysis of a lake bed core, and the analysis of subsurface sediment samples from 15 shallow auger holes across the basin document sedimentation patterns during the Holocene. Based on the widespread occurrence of Chara gyrogonite, and several species of ostracoda and gastropoda, the Elmali basin was dominated by lacustrine and palustrine environments but was continually influenced by alluvial fan sedimentation. Contrasting stratigraphy in the Kara Göl and Avlan Gölü sub-basins is a result of basin morphology, and possibly hydrologic control by karst features, and sub-basin isolation due to alluvial fan development. The cyclical deposition of marl/lime mud, gyttja, and peat in the Kara Göl core is indicative of periodic fluctuations in water level across a broad shallow basin, whereas the continuous clay record observed at Avlan Gölü implies deep-water sedimentation within a plugged former karst collapse feature. Calcareous clay deposited between 14,935 and 11,180 cal yr BP signals the growth and expansion of paleo Lake Elmali, which at its peak during the late Pleistocene, may have inundated over half of the of the 180 km² Elmali basin.