Palynology and lithostratigraphy of Late Elsterian to Early Saalian aquatic sediments in the Ziemupe–Jūrkalne area, western Latvia

Abstract This study is based upon lithological and palynological investigation of test-drilling cores along the Baltic Sea coast. Three intertill units of basin sediments are underlain by a thin layer of Lētiža (Elsterian) till and overlain by glaciotectonically deformed Kurzeme (Saalian Complex) till. The Kurzeme till differs from the Lētiža till by higher contents of limestone clasts and rounded hornblende grains. The lowermost intertill unit consists of glaciolacustrine to glaciomarine laminated clay of the Sudrabi member, a late glacial deposit of the Lētiža glaciation. Treeless vegetation covered the adjoining land. Next is the marine to brackish Akme n rags formation, deposited during…

Annual pollen traps reveal the complexity of climatic control on pollen productivity in Europe and the Caucasus

Annual PAR (pollen accumulation rates; grains cm−2 year−1) were studied with modified Tauber traps situated in ten regions, in Poland (Roztocze), the Czech Republic (two regions in Krkonoše, two in Šumava), Switzerland (4 regions in the Alps), and Georgia (Lagodekhi). The time-series are 10–16 years long, all ending in 2007. We calculated correlations between pollen data and climate. Pollen data are PAR summarized per region (4–7 traps selected per region) for each pollen type (9–14 per region) using log-transformed, detrended medians. Climate data are monthly temperature and precipitation measured at nearby stations, and their averages over all possible 2- to 6-month windows falling within…

Reconstruction of palaeovegetation and sedimentation conditions in the area of ancient Lake Burtnieks, northern Latvia

Palaeobotanical investigations were carried out with the aim of reconstructing the development of palaeovegetation and formation of sediments in the northeastern area of ancient Lake Burtnieks. Pollen and plant macroremain studies provide information on vegetation development in the surroundings of the lake, including Stone Age settlements of Braukšas I and Braukšas II. Results of the investigations indicate that the development of vegetation together with sedimentation conditions in the palaeolake have changed since the Younger Dryas until today. Vegetation composition varies in different parts of the ancient Lake Burtnieks area due to past changes in lake water level which reached differe…

STOP 3: Late-glacial and early postglacial environmental processes and the history of the River Triečupīte valley and surroundings, in the foreland of the Vidzeme Upland

Climate Change During the Holocene (Past 12,000 Years)

This chapter summarises the climatic and environmental information that can be inferred from proxy archives over the past 12,000 years. The proxy archives from continental and lake sediments include pollen, insect remnants and isotopic data. Over the Holocene, the Baltic Sea area underwent major changes due to two interrelated factors—melting of the Fennoscandian ice sheet (causing interplay between global sea-level rise due to the meltwater and regional isostatic rebound of the earth’s crust causing a drop in relative sea level ) and changes in the orbital configuration of the Earth (triggering the glacial to interglacial transition and affecting incoming solar radiation and so controlling…

Comparing pollen spectra from modified Tauber traps and moss samples: examples from a selection of woodlands across Europe

This paper compares pollen spectra derived from modified Tauber traps and moss samples from a selection of woodland types from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Poland, Switzerland and Wales. The study examines the representation of individual taxa in the two sampling media and aims to ascertain the duration of pollen deposition captured by a moss. The latter aim was pursued through the calculation of dissimilarity indexes to assess how many years of pollen deposited in a pollen trap yield percentage values that are most similar to those obtained from the moss. The results are broadly scattered; the majority of moss samples being most similar to several years of pollen depositi…

Recurrent Mesolithic–Neolithic occupation at Sise (western Latvia) and shoreline displacement in the Baltic Sea Basin

A major assemblage of Mesolithic and Neolithic wooden artefacts has been recovered from the bed of the River Užava at Sise, in the coastal belt of western Latvia. New archaeological investigation has also produced wooden remains and other evidence of occupation on the riverbank. On the basis of multi-proxy environmental data and radiocarbon dating, this article offers a first attempt to place the human activity in a palaeolandscape context. The earliest evidence of human presence is provided by wooden artefacts dated to c. 10,500–9700 cal. BP, during the Ancylus Lake transgression. These remains are thought to reflect fishing activities in the shallows of the Ventspils Bay, which existed d…

STOP 12: Late-glacial and Holocene development of Lake Rāzna as recorded by biostratigraphy