The influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on the development of Lateglacial and Holocene (a)biotic palaeoenvironment in the southeastern flank of the Last Scandinavian Glaciation

• Main Author: Gedminienė, Laura
• Other Authors: Stančikaitė, Miglė
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: Lithuanian; English
• Published: Institutional Repository of Vilnius University 2020
• Subjects: Lacustrine sediments; geochemistry; palynological data; Lateglacial and Holocene; Lithuania; Tundra
• Online Access: https://repository.vu.lt/VU:ELABAETD52400099&prefLang=en_US

Based on the results of complex studies (primarily based on palynological, geochemical and 14C data) applied to Čepkeliai, Lieporiai and Petrešiūnai sedimentary basins, the development of the Lateglacial (LG) and Holocene (a)biotic environment was reconstructed and the main various-scale natural (astronomical, global, regional, and local) and anthropogenic factors responsible for environmental change in the southeastern flank of the Last Scandinavian Glaciation were identified. The results of the research allowed us to identify and characterize the recorded fluctuations in (a)biotic environmental conditions previously unrecorded in the region. It was proved that the development of the environment was significantly influenced by the global factors related to astronomical events and the periodicity of solar cycles. The dynamics of biotic parameters revealed three LG intervals: the GI-1e-d period dominated by poor pioneer vegetation, GI-1c-a when poor pioneer vegetation changed to the pine forest, and the GS-1 event with the spread of tundra-type vegetation. The most significant previously unrecorded Holocene environmental anomalies date back to 11 200–11 000, 10 600–10 300, and 8 200–7 800 cal yr BP. At the end of the Holocene, human influence on environment dynamics increased. The most evident (a)biotic fluctuations in environmental proxies coincided with the dynamics of agriculture and animal husbandry, i.e. date back to 3 250–2 950 cal yr BP, 1 550–950 cal yr BP, and 6th–7th c. AD.