Vegetation, climate and ice‐front oscillations in the Tromsø area, northern Norway during the Allerød and Younger Dryas

• Published in: Boreas
• Main Authors: FIMREITE, SOLVEIG, VORREN, KARL‐DAG, VORREN, TORE O.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2001
• Subjects: Norway; Tromsø; Northern Norway; Lyngen
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2001.tb01215.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1502-3885.2001.tb01215.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2001.tb01215.x

Sediments from two small lakes distal to the Tromsø–Lyngen moraine at Tromsø, northern Norway, indicate that the area was deglaciated prior to c. 11.7 14 C ka BP. The earliest vegetation was dominated by calciphilous and heliophilous pioneer plants on unstable soils; this changed to a vegetation reflecting a dry continental climate until c. 10.7 14 Cka BP. A phase (10.7–10.5 14 Cka BP) with snow‐bed communities was followed by one with a mosaic of plant communities. This was succeeded by Empetrum heaths c. 10.3 14 Cka BP, then by an open forest with Betula pubescens after 10.0 14 Cka BP. Ice‐front oscillations in the Tromsø area are evaluated. The main part of the Younger Dryas glacial readvance, the Tromsø–Lyngen event, probably occurred between 10.7 and 10.3 14 Cka BP.