Late- and post-glacial vegetation and climate history of the south-western Taymyr Peninsula, central Siberia, as revealed by pollen analysis of a core from Lake Lama

Abstract

On the Taymyr Peninsula and Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago, Central Siberia, a joint German/Russian multidisciplinary research project focuses on the Late Quaternary history of climate and environment. Within the scope of this project, palynological studies were carried out on a 10.8-m core from Lama Lake, situated in the south-west of the research area. The core, which did not reach the base of the lacustrine sediments, reveals the vegetation and climate history of the last 17 000 years and demonstrates that this area was not glaciated during that time. The Pleistocene/Holocene transition is, as elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, characterized by increased temperatures during the Bølling, Allerød and Preboreal with interruptions during the Older (post-Bølling) and Younger Dryas events. The Holocene climate optimum at Lama Lake probably occurred within the Boreal period, when dense larch forests developed. The Atlantic period was characterized by warm conditions that favoured the establishment of larch-spruce forests, though a climatic deterioration is also recorded. During the Subboreal, spruce fluctuated in importance, on the basis of which it is suggested that there were two cool periods with an intervening warm period. Since 3000 B.P., the climate has become considerably cooler and forests have degenerated. During the last 1000 years, unfavourable climate conditions have resulted in a forest tundra and widespread tundra communities developing in the Lama Lake region.