Title
Lateglacial summer temperatures in the Northwest European lowlands: A chironomid record from Hijkermeer, the Netherlands
Author
Heiri, O.
Cremer, H.
Engels, S.
Hoek, W.Z.
Peeters, W.
Lotter, A.F.
TNO Bouw en Ondergrond
Publication year
2007
Abstract
Lateglacial environments at Hijkermeer, northwest Netherlands, were reconstructed by means of chironomid, diatom and pollen analyses. Diatom assemblages indicate that Hijkermeer was a shallow, oligo- to mesotrophic lake during this period. Pollen assemblages reflect the typical northwest European Lateglacial vegetation development and provide an age assessment for the record from the beginning of the Older Dryas (ca 14 000 calibrated 14C yr BP) into the early Holocene (to ca 10 700 calibrated 14C yr BP). The chironomid record is characterized by several abrupt shifts between assemblages typically found in mid-latitude subalpine to alpine lakes and assemblages typical for lowland environments. Based on the chironomid record, July air temperatures were reconstructed using a chironomid-temperature transfer-function from central Europe. Mean July air temperatures of ca 14.0-16.0 °C are inferred before the Older Dryas, of ca 16.0-16.5 °C during most of the Allerød, of ca 13.5-14.0 °C during the Younger Dryas, and of ca 15.5-16.0 °C during the early Holocene. Two centennial-scale decreases in July air temperature were reconstructed during the Lateglacial interstadial which are correlated with Greenland Interstadial events (GI)-1d and -1b. The results suggest that vegetation changes in the Netherlands may have been promoted by the cooler climate during GI-1d, immediately preceding the Older Dryas biozone, and GI-1b. The Hijkermeer chironomid-inferred temperature record shows a similar temperature development as the Greenland ice core oxygen isotope records for most of the Lateglacial and a good agreement with other temperature reconstructions available from the Netherlands. This suggests that chironomid-based temperature reconstruction can be successfully implemented in the Northwest European lowlands and that chironomids may provide a useful alternative to oxygen isotopes for correlating European lake sediment records during the Lateglacial. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Subject
Geosciences
Isotopes
Lakes
Oxygen
Temperature measurement
Transfer functions
Vegetation
Lateglacial environments
Oxygen isotopes
Pollen analysis
Temperature reconstructions
Glaciers
air temperature
diatom
fly
Holocene
late glacial
lowland environment
palynology
reconstruction
summer
vegetation dynamics
Younger Dryas
Benelux
Drenthe
Eurasia
Europe
Hijkermeer
Netherlands
Western Europe
Bacillariophyta
Chironomidae
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d72bad06-482c-4b74-8463-cc33733e2999
TNO identifier
240240
ISSN
0277-3791
Source
Quaternary Science Reviews, 26 (19-21), 2420-2437
Document type
article