Late‐glacial and early Holocene changes in vegetation and lake‐level at Hauterive/Rouges‐Terres, Lake Neuchâtel (Switzerland)

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Magny, Michel, Thew, Nigel, Hadorn, Philippe
• Other Authors: C.N.R.S. (France)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2002
• Subjects: Greenland; Low Lake; Lower Lake; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.699; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.699; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.699

Abstract Palynological and sedimentological analyses of a sedimentary sequence sampled at Hauterive/Rouges‐Terres, Lake Neuchâtel (Switzerland) provide documentation of changes in vegetation and lake‐level during the Bølling, Younger Dryas and Preboreal pollen zones, and have allowed a comparison with sequences covering the same period from other sites located in the western part of the Swiss Plateau. The Juniperus–Hippophaë zone (regional pollen assemblage zone (RPAZ) CHb‐2, first part of the Bølling, ca. 14 650–14 450 cal. yr BP) was characterised by a generally low lake‐level. A weak rise occurred during this zone. The Juniperus–Hippophaë to Betula zone transition coincided with a lake‐level lowering, interrupted by a short‐lived but marked phase of higher lake‐level recorded at the neighbouring site of Hauterive‐Champréveyres, but not present at Hauterive/Rouges‐Terres owing to an erosion surface. Shortly after the beginning of the Betula zone (RPAZ CHb‐3, second part of the Bølling, ca 14 450–14 000 cal. yr BP), a marked rise in lake‐level occurred. It was composed of two successive periods of higher level, coinciding with high values of Betula , separated by a short episode of relatively lower lake‐level associated with raised values in Artemisia and other non‐arboreal pollen. The last part of RPAZ CHb‐3 saw a fall in lake‐level. The lower lake‐levels during RPAZ CHb‐2 to early RPAZ CHb‐3 can be correlated with the abrupt warming at the beginning of the Greenland Interstadial (GI) 1e thermal maximum. The successive episodes of higher lake‐level punctuating the GI 1e might be linked to the so‐called Intra‐Bølling Cold Oscillations identified from several palaeoclimatic records in the North Atlantic area, and also documented in oxygen‐isotope data sets from Swiss Plateau lakes. The Hauterive/Rouges‐Terres lake‐level record provides evidence for marked climatic drying through the second part of the Younger Dryas event (GS1), during the GS1–Preboreal (RPAZ CHb‐4b–4c) transition (except for a rise at ca. 11 ...