A high-resolution record of Late-Glacial and Early-Holocene climatic and environmental change in the Czech Republic

Recent discovery of thick buried lake sediments in the Trebon Basin, South Bohemia, presents an exceptional opportunity to study the Late-Glacial history of eastern Central Europe. High-resolution investigation of pollen. plant macrofossils, algal remains. and lithology for the Late-Glacial and Early-Holocene sediments of former Lake Svarcenberk yielded a well-founded palaeoclimatic and palacovegetational data that can be compared with the results from other parts of a west-east European transect, taking into account the oceanic/continental gradient and its influence for palaeoenvironmental conditions. The results demonstrate that the effect of North Atlantic oceanic changes during the last glacial-interglacial transition extended to the investigated area. Nevertheless. significant differences in timing, intensity, and character of vegetational response to these climatic changes have been found between the area under study and the western part of Central Europe. These differences can be ascribed to increased seasonality, specific regional mesoclimatic and soil conditions, and possible local glacial refugia for pine. The results of sediment chemical analyses indicate a close correspondence between climatic, vegetational, and soil development in lake catchments. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.