palaeohydrology fires and vegetation succession in the southern baltic during the last 7500 years reconstructed from a raised bog based on multi proxy data 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 st zki 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 st zki 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

the last interglacial glacial cycle in ne fennoscandia a nearly continuous record from sokli finnish lapland abstract boreholes from the sokli basin in finnish lapland have recovered a unique sequence of diamicts interlayered with fine grained sediments that are rich in fossils the diamicts are interpreted as till beds deposited by the fennoscandian ice sheet the fine grained intercalations seem to represent a series of warm stages that include one interglacial and three interstadials the interglacial is characterized by a mixed taiga pollen assemblage and corresponds to a distinct diatom gyttja bed the interstadials show progressively colder floras from open birch forest to arctic forest limit to shrub tundra their sediments comprise gyttja interlayered with wood and sand interstadial 1 sands grading into sandy gyttja interstadial 2 and sands overlain by laminated silt and clay interstadial 3 the interstadial 2 and 3 deposits are underlain by diamict and are interpreted as deglaciation sequences silts with a tundra pollen assemblage separate the interglacial and interstadial 1 deposits luminescence dating evidence indicates that the interglacial bed most probably represents the nw european mainland eemian interglacial marine isotope stage mis 5e the interstadial 1 2 and 3 deposits are tentatively correlated with the early weichselian brorup and odderade interstadials and an interstadial of middle weichselian age respectively mis 5c 5a and 3 respectively the correlation implies that the easternmost part of the ice divide zone of the fennoscandian continental ice sheet was deglaciated during part of mis 3

biostratigraphy of the last glacial period in europe the european early weichselian early wurmian is characterized by two long and relatively warm interstadials brorup and odderade which can be traced and correlated with certainty across large parts of europe the amersfoort interstadial described earlier from the netherlands has been included in the brorup and represents the older part of it both great interstadials were forested in north west central and southern europe in the north conifer forests prevailed giving way towards the south to deciduous forests the climatic gradient was distinctly steeper mainly due to southward displacement of the gulf stream the two great interstadials are synchronous with the isotopic stages 5a and 5c in the deep sea cores subsequent to eemian brorup and odderade and from within the context of a continuous series two additional and clearly delimited interstadials have been recorded in a new standard profile from oerel nw germany these are now described as the oerel and glinde interstadials they were not forested and belong to the early pleni weichselian the lower one oerel can probably be correlated with the 3rd weichselian wurmian interstadial in southern central europe ognon ii durnten samerberg 3 while the upper one glinde has so far no known counterpart for the younger pleni glacial it is assumed that there was a long phase during which it was not too cold the formation of humic layers during this phase took place at different times partly due to local edaphic factors so that the relevant 14c dates show a wide scatter the hengelo and denekamp interstadials represent only slight ameliorations which facilitated the formation of shrub tundra and can be recorded in certain regions only

a late saalian glaciation eemian interglacial and early weichselian pollen sequence at szklarka sw poland reconstruction of vegetation and climate abstract this paper presents the results of palinological studies of the sediments from the site of szklarka silesian lowland sw poland the pollen sequence from szklarka records the longest continuous succession of vegetation covering the late saalian eemian interglacial and early weichselian in sw poland the results of pollen analysis show phases with forest and open vegetation communities in response to climate changes the pollen zones distinquished represent cool phases of the late saalian a complete eemian interglacial succession e1 e7 r paz and two cool intervals herning and redestall and one warm one brorup from the early weichselian two main phases have been distinguished in the brorup interstadial an older birch phase and a younger pine phase during the brorup interstadial towards the end of the birch phase a cooling event has been recorded

vegetation response to rapid climate change in central europe during the past 140 000 yr based on evidence from the furamoos pollen record the response of central european vegetation to rapid climate change during the late quaternary period eemian to holocene is assessed by data from the new pollen record of furamoos southwestern germany this record represents the longest late quaternary pollen record north of the alps as currently known its high degree of completeness allows detailed correlations with greenland ice cores and sea surface temperature records from the north atlantic our data show that if climate deteriorations were not long or severe enough to extirpate refugia of arboreal taxa north of the alps such as during marine oxygen isotope stage mis 5 i e wurm stadial a stadial b and stadial c reforestation with the onset of warmer conditions in central europe occurred on a centennial scale if arboreal taxa became completely extinct north of the alps such as during mis 4 i e wurm stadial d several thousand years were necessary for the reimmigration from refugia situated in regions south of the alps thus dansgaard oeschger interstades dois 24 to 20 and 15 to 11 are expressed in central european pollen records whereas dois 19 to 16 are not recorded due to migration lags

age and climate of the late saalian and early eemian in the type area amsterdam basin the netherlands abstract lake deposits of late saalian mis 6 and early eemian mis 5e age in glacially excavated basins in the central part of the netherlands provide a high resolution stable isotope and pollen record of the glacial interglacial transition late saalian warm conditions were interrupted by a cold dry interval at the saalian eemian boundary which we correlate to the kattegat stadial and heinrich event 11 this cold interval ties our continental climate record to that of the marine oxygen isotope based time scale oxygen isotope data from this sequence indicate that the subsequent early eemian saw a quick recovery to warm interglacial climatic conditions which was reached already during the pioneer phase of the vegetation the sea transgressed the lake 1 kyr after the start of the eemian and highstand was reached 2 kyr later precipitation increased just prior to transgression of the sea into the lake causing important changes in the vegetation transgression of the isostatically rebounding area once covered by the baltic ice sheet is of early eemian age and becomes younger from the former centre of the ice sheet along the baltic sea to its margin in the netherlands the highstand cannot precede the start of the eemian as the area was emerging assuming that the effect of the isostatic rebound is small along the margin of the former ice sheet and by using the australian u th ages of the eemian highstand coral reefs combined with the duration of the eemian pollen zones derived from the annually layered lake deposits of bispingen it is concluded that the eemian in the netherlands starts at 131 ka

vegetation patterns under climate changes in the eemian and early weichselian in central europe inferred from a palynological sequence from ustkow central poland abstract this paper presents a fresh examination of a pollen profile from ustkow central poland which after preliminary results was thought to span a period between the early eemian mis 5e and the upper pleni weichselian mis 3 the newly obtained results confirmed the age assessment of the bottom series but revealed a much older age for the uppermost part of the profile as far back as the rederstall stadial mis 5b palynological research showed slightly different patterns of vegetation in comparison to other sites located in central europe among them were an early ulmus maximum coinciding with the betula optimum in the early eemian a relatively late optimum of taxus baccata during the decline of the middle eemian and a distinct division of the older part of the late eemian into phases of abies picea and picea pinus forest domination the herning stadial mis 5d falls into a typical bipartition reflected by heathland domination during its older part and the prevalence of juniperus thickets and artemisia poaceae steppe during its younger part which makes this succession similar to those from northern germany the pollen spectra reflecting the brorup interstadial mis 5c distinctly revealed an intra brorup cold oscillation rarely detected in profiles from central europe and a period of larix dominated forests during the latest part of the interstadial extraordinarily high percentages exceeding 15 of the total pollen sum local pollen taxa together with the lithological composition of deposits revealed that there was a water body in the area during the periods of the late saalian early eemian transition middle eemian the decline of the tilia phase the herning stadial mis 5d the early brorup interstadial mis 5c and the rederstall stadial mis 5b between these time intervals a poor and or rich fen and or bog functioned

the eemian interglaciation in northwestern germany abstract hundreds of small lakes became filled with eemian deposits following the retreat of saalian ice in northwestern germany weakly expressed climate oscillations have been inferred from some local pollen records of late saalian sediments sea level stood 7 m below the current northwest german sea level datum nn during the interglacial climate optimum and decreased afterward a uniform vegetational succession of the eemian mixed forests correlated with marine isotope stage mis 5e terminated with the demise of boreal woodlands marked by a steep increase in nonarboreal pollen this is the onset of the early weichselian herning stade correlated with mis 5d no sharp climate oscillations during the eemian have been documented in the ending phase of the interglaciation the climate deteriorated gradually dominant heath and grass tundras point to a substantial decline of summer temperature during the herning stade sea level then stood at 40 m nn sedimentological considerations supported by counts of partly varved deposits indicate that the eemian lasted about 10 000 11 000 yr and the herning for several millennia

an analysis of eemian climate in western and central europe on the basis of 31 pollen diagrams and additional data for botanical macrofossils an analysis is made of the last interglacial eemian climatic history in western and central europe the main tool for this analysis is the climatic indicator species method only selected woody species are used for the quantification of data partial climatic range diagrams are presented for abies alba acer monspessulanum acer tataricum buxus sempervirens tilia tomentosa the problem of time correlation and pollen zonation of the eemian is discussed the climatic analysis itself is based on an improved version of the indicator species method in this version not every site is analysed for its climatic values instead maps and tables on the migrational history of hedera ilex buxus abies and species of acer tilia and abies are the basis for climatic maps showing respectively january and july isotherms for the periods of the corylus zone e4a and the carpinus zone e5 it is concluded that mean january temperatures were as much as 3 c higher at amsterdam the netherlands than at present and mean temperatures in july were 2 c higher however the thermal maximum in winter was later zone e5 than the summer thermal maximum zone e4a winter temperatures changed parallel to rise and fall of global sea level precipitation changes are more difficult to estimate in the first part of the eemian precipitation must have been relatively low but from zone e4b onward it increased to higher values reaching 800 mm and probably substantially more in zones e5 and e6 hence the eemian climate was in its beginning relatively more contintental and later from e4b onward more oceanic however as compared with the holocene the eemian climate was generally speaking more oceanic

multiproxy climate reconstructions for the eemian and early weichselian palaeobotanical coleopteran and periglacial data from 106 sites across northwestern europe have been analysed in order to reconstruct palaeoclimatic conditions during the eemian and early weichselian three time slices in the eemian and four in the early weichselian have been considered in the pinus quercetum mixtum corylus phase of the eemian summer temperatures were probably at their highest and the botanic evidence suggests a southeast to northwest gradient for both the warmest and coldest month coleoptera indicate that the summers in southern england were several degrees warmer than those of present day the climate during thecarpinus picea phase was uniform and oceanic without obvious gradients in the final time slice of the eemian the pinus picea abies phase temperatures of the warmest month seem to drop slightly with some indication of a shift towards a more boreal and suboceanic climate the reconstruction of the palaeoclimate in the herning stadial and rederstall stadial is hampered by the limited number of sites but botanical evidence suggests a gradient in temperature of the coldest month from east to west coleoptera from the herning stadial in central england and eastern germany suggest similarly cold and continental climates during the brorup interstadial and the odderade interstadial the botanical evidence suggests that the minimum mean july temperatures rose to 15 16 c but during the coldest month these temperatures show a gradient between 13 c in the east and 5 c in the west 1998 john wiley sons ltd

was the climate of the eemian stable a quantitative climate reconstruction from seven european pollen records the aim of the present study is to estimate the range of the climatic variability during the eemian interglacial which lasted about 10 000 years marine isotopic stage 5e the modem pollen analogue technique is applied to seven high resolution pollen records from france and poland to infer the annual precipitation and the mean temperature of the coldest month the succession of pollen taxa and the reconstructed climate can be interpreted coherently the warmest winter temperatures are centred in the first three millennia of the eemian interglacial during the mixed oak forest phase with quercus and corylus as dominant trees a rapid shift to cooler winter temperatures of about 6 degrees to 10 degrees c occurred between 4000 and 5000 years after the beginning of the eemian related to the spread of the carpinus forest this shift is more obvious for the reconstructed temperatures than for precipitation and is unique and irreversible for the whole eemian period following this climatic shift of the eemian variations of temperature and precipitation during the fast 5000 years were only slight with an amplitude of about 2 degrees to 4 degrees c and 200 to 400 mm yr the estimated temperature changes were certainly not as strong as those reconstructed for the stage 6 5e termination or the transition 5e 5d this is consistent with the constantly high ratio of tree pollen throughout the eemian indicative of a succession of temperate forest types this gradual transition between different forest landscapes can be related to intrinsic competition between the species rather than to a drastic climatic change c 1998 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

stable oxygen and carbon isotopes in planktonic foraminifera neogloboquadrina pachyderma in the arctic ocean an overview of published and new surface sediment data abstract a summary study on oxygen and carbon stable isotopes in planktonic foraminifera from arctic ocean floor appeared in marine geology 20 years ago spielhagen and erlenkeuser 1994 we revisit this topic with a wealth of new data focused on the western amerasian arctic a spotlight in the current climatic and oceanic change neogloboquadrina pachyderma the most abundant polar planktonic foraminiferal species is an important tool for reconstructing surface subsurface water changes in the arctic our new data on n pachyderma 150 250 m from the surface sediments show 18 o and 13 c values of 18 o and 13 c are both influenced by complex water sources water column structure and foraminiferal depth habitat the observed distribution of n pachyderma stable isotopes confirms a shallow habitat of this species in the sea ice covered central arctic especially in the canada basin probably in relation to the shallow chlorophyll maximum the associated light n pachyderma 18 o reflects the long term storage of fresh water at the shelf break a deeper dwelling of n pachyderma with heavier 18 o is supported by a more extensive photic zone and nutrient availability air sea exchange plays an important role in 13 c distribution and is consistent with heavy n pachyderma 13 c in the perennially ice covered central arctic ocean light 13 c composition at the shelf break is additionally influenced by shelf bottom waters enriched in isotopically light remineralized terrestrial carbon distribution of foraminiferal 13 c on the chukchi shelf reflects primary production patterns in the area

formal status and vegetational development of the eemian interglacial in northwestern and southern europe abstract the terms eem and eemian have been applied to lithostratigraphic chronostratigraphic and biostratigraphic aspects of the last interglacial in western europe eemian vegetational successions show strong uniformity at sites from western france across the north european plain to poland suggesting by comparison with the holocene that major pollen zones are broadly synchronous south of the alps and pyrenees a different vegetational succession is observed with no evidence for a substage of post temperate cooling

mean july temperatures during the younger dryas in northwestern and central europe as inferred from climate indicator plant species abstract we estimated minimum mean july temperatures in northwestern and central europe during the younger dryas 10 950 10 15014c yr b p from distributions of climate indicator plant species which were reconstructed from 140 pollen and plant macrofossil diagrams paleobotanical records mainly from the central and eastern part of the study area show that the coldest conditions occurred early in the younger dryas before 10 55014c yr b p for this phase mean july temperatures at sea level of around 10 c are suggested for the northern part of the british isles and for ice free scandinavia we estimated a mean july temperature of 12 c for central england the netherlands and northern germany the 13 c mean july isotherm largely based on the modern distribution oftypha latifolia was most probably located in southern england belgium central germany and poland the reappearance of thermophilous elements in the records after 10 55014c yr b p suggests a summer warming at least temporarily of 1 to 2 c in the study area the reconstructed temperatures are comparable with temperature estimates based on beetle data however they appear rather high when compared with estimates based on glaciological evidence

evolution of palaeolake environment in poland during the eemian interglacial based on oxygen and carbon isotope data from lacustrine carbonates abstract the results of oxygen and carbon stable isotope investigations of eight eemian lacustrine sediments from poland are presented the values of 18o changed from ca 11 to 1 and 13c values oscillated between 3 5 and 7 0 the isotopic record correlated well with pollen cladoceran and diatom data the evolution of the palaeolakes in poland was reconstructed the palaeolakes originated during the final phase of the wartanian late saalian glaciation the 18o and 13c values of that time reflect the input of detrital carbonates into the basins the boundary between the glaciation and the interglacial period is expressed by a significant decrease in 18o and 13c values during the early eemian a positive trend in 18o values confirms the gradual climatic changes the eemian optimum is characterized by constant 18o and 13c values during the early vistulian weichselian glaciation the palaeolake declined the varying 18o values likely reflect frequent changes in water balance between precipitation and evaporation associated with an influence of marine circulation the fluctuations of the isotopic curves in the upper parts of the successions the post optimum were caused by a shallowing of the basin by infilling with sediments the observed shifts in the isotopic curves are due to the proximity of the baltic sea and earlier strong oceanic influences

periodic lake peatland shifts under the eemian and early weichselian climate changes in central europe on the basis of multi proxy studies abstract long term palaeoecological sequences dated to the eemian interglacial and weichselian glaciation are crucial for understanding cyclic climate changes and ecosystem responses this article presents a multi proxy palaeobotanical zoological and geochemical study considering variable aspects of the eemian early weichselian lake mire succession in central poland the investigated sequence collected from a former small kettle hole revealed many ecosystem alterations i e warm stages led to the terrestrialisation of the lake whereas stadial coolings to its reappearance hence we examined whether i the eemian warming influenced the ecological succession of the lake ii lakes which reappeared during the herning and rederstall stadial coolings developed alike and iii the beginning of peatland functioning interglacial or interstadial had an impact on further plant succession the results show that thermal amelioration during the eemian interglacial supported domination of tetraedron minimum and pediastrum boryanum var boryanum which contributed to the sedimentation of bituminous shales the expansion of salvinia natans in the final stage of lake existence middle eemian was probably a result of the mild climate characterised by the lack of late spring frosts algae in contrast to cladocera revealed bipartition of the herning and rederstall stadials older sections were colder younger warmer however geochemical and isotopic data point to the very low productivity of the lakes during those stadials the lake that existed during the herning stadial revealed very low taxonomical diversity of cladocera whereas that during the rederstall was characterised by relatively high diversity of this group during the late eemian and brorup interstadial rich fens with some oligotrophic patches with sphagnum sp developed this study revealed that small water bodies due to their very local character and often uniqueness of palaeo records may be a very valuable source of information about climate and palaeoecology of different groups of organisms during the eemian interglacial and the weichselian glaciation

the terrestrial eemian to late weichselian sediment record at beckentin ne germany first results from lithostratigraphic palynological and geochronological analyses abstract over recent decades a growing number of well documented records from terrestrial last interglacial sites across central europe have substantially improved our understanding of eemian climate and landscape dynamics despite this progress there are also large areas from which little information is available thus constituting significant paleo geographic gaps in the last interglacial record among the regions with still inadequate paleo environmental information is the maritime influenced area of ne germany at the southern margin of the eemian baltic sea here we present first results from a geological investigation of a new last interglacial site recently discovered during archaeological excavations near beckentin sw mecklenburg the study area is located approximately 25 km to the south of the maximum mis 2 ice limit of the scandinavian ice sheet in ne germany and thus lies outside the weichselian belt of glaciation based on lithostratigraphic and sedimentological logging complemented by geochemical xrf and palynological investigations we divide the local succession into three sections 1 a basal facies comprising saalian till and associated glaciofluvial sand overlain by section 2 consisting of a fen peat which grades into laminated organic to minerogenic mud the organic deposits of section 2 preserve a near complete eemian pollen inventory encompassing pollen zones pz i to vi menke and tynni 1984 above this rest poorly sorted periglacial sands section 3 with ventifacts and evidence for cryogenic deformation geochronological results from 230th u dating of the buried organic rich deposits at beckentin show that these units accumulated in a former dead ice depression between 118 7 6 ka and 114 6 5 ka during the eemian interglacial high resolution optically stimulated luminescence osl profiling undertaken with a portable luminescence reader reveals a significant hiatus between the lacustrine fines and overlying periglacial cover sand five osl ages obtained from these cover sediments and the sand filling of an ice wedge cast show that these strata formed between during the last glacial interglacial transition

a long pollen record from lac du bouchet massif central france for the period ca 325 to 100 ka bp ois 9c to ois 5e abstract pollen analysis was carried out on sediments older than the wurm pleniglacial ois 4 in two new sequences h and i derived from the centre of lac du bouchet massif central the inferred vegetation history enables for the first time in france five temperate episodes to be defined which pre date the last interglacial these temperate episodes alternate with episodes during which the changes in vegetation are indicative of glacial climates comparison of these climatic episodes with the oceanic isotope record shows that the pollen record of sequences h and i from lac du bouchet spans the time interval from ois 9c ussel interstadial to ois 5e ribains eemian interglacial in the organic sediments from the amargiers interstadial ois 9a a trachytic layer ar ar dated to ca 275 ka enables a correlation to be established with the upper part of a sequence derived from the nearby praclaux crater the lower part of this sequence being of holsteinian age ois 11c the cross dating of the pollen sequences from lac du bouchet cores h i and d and from praclaux provides a complete record from the massif central southern france of successive glacial and interglacial episodes that span the last ca 400 ka that is the interval from the holsteinian to the holocene

vegetation and climate in the early and pleni weichselian in northern central europe analysis of numerous pollen diagrams from north and central germany and from the adjacent lowlands of the netherlands denmark poland and belarus have facilitated a regional comparison of the vegetation and climatic evolution from the beginning of the early weichselian glaciation to the weichselian pleniglacial data from geological studies and analysis of fossil beetles and plant macroremains have been used to supplement the palaeoclimatic reconstruction up to the end of the oerel interstadial the palaeoclimate was characterised by increasing continentality the winter temperatures in particular tended to fall continuously during the stadials and the interstadials of the early weichselian and early pleniglacial in the brorup and odderade interstadials summer temperatures where sufficiently high to enable boreal forests to grow whereas in the oerel interstadial summer temperatures were such that tree growth was inhibited it is probable that falling sea level and the consequent extension northwards of the north sea coast were the main causes of increasing continentality in the latter part of the pleniglacial peat accumulation frequently took place and humic silts were deposited under lacustrine conditions correlation between various sites is extraordinarily difficult pollen diagrams from the so called interstadials of the glinde moershoofd complex hengelo and denekamp are similar to those of the known early weichselian stadials it is proposed therefore that these interstadials should be called intervals and that the term interstadial be reserved for climatic variations that result in distinctive pollen assemblages and which in turn reflect distinctive vegetation dynamics interstadials should be capable of being characterised on a biostratigraphical basis and it should be possible to establish correlations over considerable distances according to this definition the first three warm oscillations of the weichselian glaciation in the central european lowlands are the brorup odderade and oerel interstadials all other pleniglacial peat layers should be assigned the rank of interval copyright 2001 john wiley sons ltd

cyclic climate fluctuations during the last interglacial in central europe differentiating natural climate change from anthropogenic forcing is a major challenge in the prediction of future climates in this context the investigation of interglacials provides valuable information on natural climate variability during periods that resemble the present this paper shows that natural cyclic changes in winter climates affected central european environments during the last interglacial i e the eemian 126 110 ka as a result of the extraordinarily high counting sums performed at eemian pollen samples it was possible to reveal a robust presence absence pattern of the insect pollinated and therefore in the pollen rain underrepresented taxon hedera this plant is known to require the influence of oceanic winter climates i e moist and mild in northwest and central europe by analogy with recent findings from the north atlantic s holocene interglacial the trigger of the eemian climate variability may have been changes in solar activity possibly amplified by changes in north atlantic ocean currents and or in the north atlantic oscillation our findings suggest natural cyclic changes to be a persistent feature of interglacial climates

eemian and vistulian weichselian development of the meltout depression on the watershed between the mroga and mrozyca rivers central poland based on lithological and pollen analysis the lithological and palaeobotanical research conducted in a closed drainage depression located in the watershed zone between the mroga and mrozyca rivers central poland allowed for the reconstruction of its palaeogeography in the period subsequent to the retreat of the last ice sheet wartanian stage of the odranian glaciation the purpose of this article is to gather and synthesise the obtained results as well as to reconstruct the processes of development and filling in the studied depression over the last 135 000 years the post glacial evolution of the relief was recorded in the mineral and biogenic sediments deposited on glacial formations the modern closed drainage depression is a trace of a fossil extensive glacial meltout depression the post glacial development of the land relief within the depression involved three stages dominated by different types of morphogenesis i e the deglaciation stage during the wartanian stage of the odranian glaciation the eemian interglacial early vistulian aggradation stage and the vistulian aggradation denudation stage high thickness of the identified biogenic sediments suggests considerable transformations of the relief of the watershed during the two cycles of temperate climate the eemian interglacial and the holocene the thickness of the mineral sediments suggest low dynamics of the environment during the last glacial maximum lgm and undermine the hypotheses on the determining effect of periglacial conditions on the character of the relief of central poland the obtained results constitute an inspiration and starting point for another research project concerning the reconstruction of the watersheds in central poland

eemian climate fluctuations observed in a european pollen record recent ice core data from greenland1 2 suggest that the climate during the last interglacial period the eemian was more unstable than that of the holocene about 10 000 years ago to the present being characterized in particular by a series of cold episodes each lasting about 70 to 750 years subsequent analysis of a second greenland ice core3 4 however failed to corroborate the details of these eemian climate fluctuations a result that may be attributable to the effects of ice flow4 to resolve this discrepancy it is imperative to seek alternative sources of information about the eemian climate here we present climate reconstructions from pollen data from the annually laminated eemian lake sediment record at bispingen5 and from the eemian and holocene peat records at la grande pile6 the former record indicates that an initially warm period of 2 900 yr was followed by cooling and a series of colder episodes one of which had winter temperatures comparable to those at the end of the preceding cold stage the latter records show greater climate instability during the eemian than the holocene these results are in broad agreement with those from the grip ice core but contrast both with the gisp2 core3 4 and with recent high resolution marine records from the north atlantic7 8

hydrothermal hydrocarbon gases 2 application in the east african rift system hydrocarbon gases are ubiquitous in the hydrothermal systems of the east african rift system ears though often found at very low concentrations in the volcanic eastern branch as compared to the sedimentary western branch study of the chemical and isotopic compositions of these hydrocarbons from sites in kenya ethiopia djibouti and uganda reveals considerable homogeneity over hundreds of km of the various rift units consideration of c and he isotopic evidence points to a predominantly crustal thermogenic origin for the hydrocarbons there being no evidence of mantle inputs in either the morb or hotspot sectors of the ears temperature information from geothermal wells has been utilised to investigate the relationship between reservoir temperatures and ratios of ch4 to c2h6 the general c1 c2 geothermometric relationship proposed in part 1 of this study holds reasonably well and is shown to give results equal to or better than the inorganic gas geothermometers presently in use both in the wellfields and undeveloped high enthalpy geothermal areas results from low enthalpy hot spring systems are less well correlated with apparent deep temperatures but consistent with data from similar systems elsewhere in the world

pitfalls in the ams radiocarbon dating of terrestrial macrofossils the ams 14 c technique has the advantage that small samples of late quaternary age can be dated with high accuracy and that errors due to reservoir effects can be avoided if specifically determined terrestrial micro and macrofossils are measured however to obtain such high accuracy measurements it is important how small samples are handled prior to treatment in the radiocarbon laboratories here we present a set of 51 ams 14 c measurements of which 31 dates gave expected ages and 20 dates resulted in anomalously young ages despite the fact that all samples consisted of clearly identified late weichselian terrestrial plant macrofossils to evaluate possible sources of error we compared these samples in respect to preparation methods sample storage and sample weight our results show that the long term storage of wet macrofossil samples appears to have a significant effect on the radiocarbon age obtained even when the samples are kept cool fungi or micro organisms may easily be incorporated into a sample during preparation and identification and can easily contribute to the contamination of a sample if stored cool and wet for several months 1998 john wiley sons ltd

paleogeography of the environment in north eastern poland recorded in an eemian sedimentary basin based on the example of the jalowka site abstract the paper presents the results of the research on biogenic sediments from the jalowka profile podlasie region ne poland situated at the foot of a dry valley slope a 35 cm monolith of sediments was collected from the excavation pit the sediments were deposited beneath 4 m thick mineral sediments interdisciplinary research helped to reconstruct the possible transformations of the local environment palynological physical and geochemical analyses were applied to organic sediments and plant macroremains were examined five local pollen zones were identified in palynological terms and correlated with the late warta stadial mis 6 of the odra glaciation saalian and four older periods of the eemian interglacial mis 5e e1 e2 e3 and e4 younger zones have not been preserved they were eroded in the early vistulian during the late mis 6 there was a eutrophic water body with highly transparent water characterized by a relative stable water level the landscape was dominated by tundra with a high proportion of juniperus artemisia curves of oxygen 18o and carbon 13c stable isotopes confirmed the boundary between mis 6 and mis 5e the beginning of the interglacial vegetation succession e1 was characterized by expansion of birch pine spruce forests probably at the end of this period the lake became shallower e2 is distinguished by the dominance of pine and birch the lake was replaced by a peat bog the sequence of vegetation succession in the landscape was as follows quercus e3 corylus fraxinus alnus and tilia e4 probably the peat bog drained in the e4 and the water level rose again in the climate optimum of the eemian interglacial the results of physical and geochemical analysis clearly corresponded with climatic changes determined by palynological analysis they provided evidence of the changing redox conditions variability and intensity of denudation the scale of biological productivity and fertility of the environment the studied sediments were characterized by reducing conditions the increase in terrigenous silica content and the relatively high n k ratio indicated the predominance of mechanical denudation during the late glacial period of the warta stadial and the e2 period