A long pollen record from Lac du Bouchet, Massif Central, France: for the period ca. 325 to 100 ka BP (OIS 9c to OIS 5e)

Pollen analysis was carried out on sediments older than the Würm pleniglacial (OIS 4), in two new sequences (H and I) derived from the centre of Lac du Bouchet, Massif Central. The inferred vegetation history enables, for the first time in France, five temperate episodes to be defined which pre-date the last interglacial. These temperate episodes alternate with episodes during which the changes in vegetation are indicative of glacial climates. Comparison of these climatic episodes with the oceanic isotope record shows that the pollen record of sequences H and I from Lac du Bouchet spans the time interval from OIS 9c (Ussel interstadial) to OIS 5e (Ribains/Eemian interglacial). In the organic sediments from the Amargiers interstadial (OIS 9a), a trachytic layer, Ar/Ar dated to ca 275 ka, enables a correlation to be established with the upper part of a sequence derived from the nearby Praclaux crater, the lower part of this sequence being of Holsteinian age (OIS 11c). The cross-dating of the pollen sequences from Lac du Bouchet (cores H, I and D) and from Praclaux provides a complete record from the Massif Central, southern France, of successive glacial and interglacial episodes that span the last ca. 400 ka, that is the interval from the Holsteinian to the Holocene.