Open AccessLateglacial environmental changes recorded in calcareous gyttja deposits at Gulickshof, southern Netherlands
Author(s) -
HOEK WIM Z.,
BOHNCKE SJOERD J. P.,
GANSSEN GERALD M.,
MEIJER TOM
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
boreas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.95
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1502-3885
pISSN - 0300-9483
DOI - 10.1111/j.1502-3885.1999.tb00230.x
Subject(s) - stadial , geology , calcareous , younger dryas , stable isotope ratio , radiocarbon dating , vegetation (pathology) , paleontology , holocene , physics , quantum mechanics , medicine , pathology
Environmental changes were reconstructed from Lateglacial calcareous gyttja deposits at Gulickshof, southern Netherlands. Analyses of pollen, fresh‐water mollusca, stable isotopes and geo‐chemistry were performed and the combined evidence was put into a chronostratigraphic framework based on regional biostratigraphy and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating. The pollen diagram showed vegetation development from the Bφlling interstadial into the Late Dryas stadial within 2.9 m of lacustrine deposits. Early in the Allerφd, around 11 900 BP, the composition of aquatic taxa and stable isotopes of calcium carbonate changed significantly. It appears that the final melting of relic ground‐ice and subsequent re‐establishment of the hydrological cell early in the Allerφd were responsible for these changes. Later in the Allerφd, around 11 250 BP, the disappearance of molluscs, changes in vegetation and isotope composition all point to colder climate conditions attributable to the Gerzensee oscillation. The combination of different lines of evidence in these types of deposits proves to be an excellent tool for unravelling climate and environmental signals.