Palaeoecological study of a Weichselian wetland site in the Netherlands suggests a link with Dansgaard-Oeschger climate oscillation

• Published in: Netherlands Journal of Geosciences - Geologie en Mijnbouw
• Main Authors: Van Geel, B., Bos, J.A.A., Van Huissteden, J., Pals, J.P., Schatz, H., Van Mourik, J.M., Van Reenen, G.B.A., Wallinga, J., Van Der Plicht, J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles; Macrofossils; Non-pollen palynomorphs; Oribatida; Pollen; Weichselian; Arctic; permafrost
• Online Access: https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/palaeoecological-study-of-a-weichselian-wetland-site-in-the-nethe; https://doi.org/10.1017/S001677460000069X

Botanical microfossils, macroremains and oribatid mites of a Weichselian interstadial deposit in the central Netherlands point to a temporary, sub-arctic wetland in a treeless landscape. Radiocarbon dates and OSL dates show an age between ca. 54.6 and 46.6 ka cal BP. The vegetation succession, starting as a peat-forming wetland that developed into a lake, might well be linked with a Dansgaard-Oeschger climatic cycle. We suggest that during the rapid warming at the start of a D-O cycle, relatively low areas in the landscape became wetlands where peat was formed. During the more gradual temperature decline that followed, evaporation diminished; the wetlands became inundated and lake sediments were formed. During subsequent sub-arctic conditions the interstadial deposits were covered with wind-blown sand. Apart from changes in effective precipitation also the climate-related presence and absence of permafrost conditions may have played a role in the formation of the observed sedimentological sequence from sand to peat, through lacustrine sediment, with coversand on top. The Wageningen sequence may correspond with D-O event 12,13 or 14. Some hitherto not recorded microfossils were described and illustrated.