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A Vegetation, Climate and Environment Reconstruction Based on Palynological Analyses of High Arctic Tundra Peat Cores (5000–6000 years BP) from Svalbard

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Abstract

As a reference for ongoing studies reconstructing past vegetation, climate and environment, pollen spectra in tundra peat profiles from Svalbard, were investigated. The base of tundra peat cores collected from Ny Ålesund, Stuphallet, Blomstrand and Isdammen has been 14C dated to 350–490 BP, 5710 BP, 4670 BP and 700–900 BP, respectively. The Stuphallet and Blomstrand (Brøggerhalvøya) peat profiles were composed of a peat developed in a nutrient enriched and wet tundra environment of steep birdcliffs. Pollen concentrations were low, Brassicaceae pollen dominated the whole profile. In contrast, the Ny Ålesund and Isdammen profiles contained high pollen concentrations and suggest a nutrient-poor, dry tundra environment. Pollen of the polar willow, Salix polaris, occurred commonly throughout all four peat profiles. In the relatively high resolution (10 years per peat core sample) analysis of the Ny Ålesund core, starting before or at the beginning of the Little Ice Age (LIA, 16th-mid 19th century), dominance of Saxifraga oppositifolia indicates a cold and dry climate, followed by a decline of Saxifraga oppositifolia and gradual increase of Salix polaris after the LIA, which indicates a moist and milder climate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systems Ecology, Institute of Ecological Science, Climate Center, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    J. Rozema, P. Boelen, M. Doorenbosch, P. Blokker, C. Boekel, R. A. Broekman & M. Konert

  2. Department of Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    S. Bohncke

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  1. J. Rozema
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  2. P. Boelen
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  3. M. Doorenbosch
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Rozema, J., Boelen, P., Doorenbosch, M. et al. A Vegetation, Climate and Environment Reconstruction Based on Palynological Analyses of High Arctic Tundra Peat Cores (5000–6000 years BP) from Svalbard. Plant Ecol 182, 155–173 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-005-9024-0

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