Postglacial vegetation and climate change in the Lake Onega region of eastern Fennoscandia derived from a radiocarbon-dated pollen record ...

• Main Authors: Krikunova, Aleksandra I., Savelieva, Larisa A., Long, Tengwen, Leipe, Christian, Kobe, Franziska, Kostromina, Natalia A., Vasilyeva, Aleksandra, Tarasov, Pavel E.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Freie Universität Berlin 2024
• Subjects: Pollen record; Biome reconstruction; 8.2 ka BP event; Northgrippian-Meghalayan transition; Karelia; 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::550 Geowissenschaften, Geologie::550 Geowissenschaften; Fennoscandia; Tundra
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-44238; https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/44526

With its numerous environmental archives stored in lake and peat sediments and relatively low human pressure, the Lake Onega region in eastern Fennoscandia is regarded as a particularly promising area for studying past changes in vegetation and climate since the Lateglacial period. The 885-cm-long sediment core RZ19 (62°27′53″N, 34°26′4″E) was collected from Razlomnoe Peat on the northern shore of Lake Onega in 2019, radiocarbon-dated and analysed for pollen and cryptogam spores. The age-depth model suggests continuous sedimentation since ca. 11,800 a BP (all ages given in years (a) or kiloyears (ka) before present (BP) with BP referring to 1950 CE). The results of pollen analysis and pollen-based biome reconstruction show rapid afforestation of the area in the Early Holocene, although the scores of the tundra biome remain relatively high prior to ca. 11,450 a BP, suggesting that the vegetation was likely more open than today. Between 8300 and 8000 a BP, Betula sect. Albae shows a marked increase in pollen ...