Palaeohydrology, fires and vegetation succession in the southern Baltic during the last 7500 years reconstructed from a raised bog based on multi-proxy data

Gałka, Mariusz; Miotk-Szpiganowicz, Grażyna; Goslar, Tomasz; Jęśko, Marcin; van der Knaap, Willem Oscar; Lamentowicz, Mariusz (2013). Palaeohydrology, fires and vegetation succession in the southern Baltic during the last 7500 years reconstructed from a raised bog based on multi-proxy data. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 370, pp. 209-221. Amsterdam: Elsevier 10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.12.011

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We present the first 7500 yr long multi-proxy record from a raised bog located at the southern Baltic coast, Poland. Testate amoebae, plant macrofossils, pollen and microscopic charcoal were used to reconstruct environmental changes in Pomerania (northern Poland, Kaszuby Lakeland) from a 7-m thick peat archive of Stążki bog dated 5500 BC–AD 1250. We obtained a record of proxies representing different spatial scales: regional vegetation changed simultaneously with local vegetation, and testate amoebae showed a pattern of change similar to that of pollen and plant macrofossils. On the basis of the combined proxies, we distinguished three hydroclimatic stages: moist conditions 5500–3450 BC, drier conditions with regionally increased fires up to 600 BC, and again moist conditions from 600 BC onward. During the drier interval, a first climatic shift to wetter conditions at 1700 BC is indicated by regional pollen as the replacement of Corylus by Carpinus, and locally by, e.g., the increase of Hyalosphenia elegans and mire plants such as Sphagnum sec. Cuspidata. Furthermore, we observed a correlation since 600 BC among the re-expansion of Carpinus (after a sudden decline ca. 950 BC), increased peat accumulation, increase of Hyalosphenia species, and fewer fires, suggesting lower evapotranspiration and a stable high water table in the bog. Fagus started to expand after AD 810 gradually replacing Carpinus, which was possibly due to a gradually more oceanic climate, though we cannot exclude human impact on the forests. Peat accumulation, determined by radiocarbon dating, varied with bog surface wetness. The hydroclimatic phases found in Stążki peatland are similar to moisture changes recorded in other sites from Poland and Europe. This is the first detailed record of hydroclimatic change during the Holocene in the southern Baltic region, so it forms a reference site for further studies on other southern Baltic bogs that are in progress.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS) > Palaeoecology
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS)

UniBE Contributor:

van der Knaap, Pim

Subjects:

500 Science > 560 Fossils & prehistoric life
500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)

ISSN:

0031-0182

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Peter Alfred von Ballmoos-Haas

Date Deposited:

12 Feb 2014 08:10

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:26

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.12.011

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Ombrotrophic peatland, Pollen, Plant macrofossils, Testate amoebae, Charcoal, Palaeohydrology, Holocene; Baltic, Poland

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.38670

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/38670

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