Vegetational and agricultural dynamics at Burgäschisee (Swiss Plateau) recorded for 18,700 years by multi-proxy evidence from partly varved sediments ...

• Main Authors: Rey, Fabian, Gobet, Erika, Van Leeuwen, Jacqueline, Gilli, Adrian, Van Raden, Ulrike, Hafner, Albert, Wey, Othmar, Rhiner, Julia, Schmocker, Daniela, Zünd, Jan, Tinner, Willy
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2017
• Subjects: 930 History of ancient world to ca. 499; 580 Plants Botany; Betula nana; Tundra
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7892/boris.105929; https://boris.unibe.ch/105929/

Little is known about the timing and the vegetation dynamics shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) on the Swiss Plateau 19,000–15,000 cal BP. Subsequent Late Glacial and Holocene vegetation changes are better known; however, it is unclear if the few available palynological and macrofossil records are able to capture the entire vegetation variability of the region. A new palaeoecological multi-proxy study using pollen, spores, charcoal and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) from Burgäschisee (Swiss Plateau, 465 m a.s.l.) is applied to reconstruct vegetation, fire and land use for the past 19,000 cal years. Steppe tundra vegetation established at c. 18,700 cal BP only c. 300 years after the end of the LGM and deglaciation. A shift from steppe tundra (Artemisia, Helianthemum) to shrub tundra (Betula nana, Salix, Juniperus) with sporadic tree Betula stands occurred around 16,000 cal BP, most likely in response to climate warming after the end of Heinrich event 1. Abundant spores of coprophilous fungi (Sporormiella, ...