TY - JOUR

T1 - Late glacial and Holocene climate and landscape dynamics in the Valdai Highlands (East European Plain) inferred from lake sediment records

AU - Федоров, Григорий Борисович

AU - Савельева, Лариса Анатольевна

AU - Бобров, Никита Юрьевич

AU - Лудикова, Анна Валерьевна

AU - Костромина, Наталья Андреевна

AU - Черезова, Анна Алексеевна

AU - Петров, Алексей Юрьевич

AU - Баженова, Евгения Александровна

AU - Andreev, Andrei

PY - 2025/9/1

Y1 - 2025/9/1

N2 - The results of a ground-penetrating radar survey and multiproxy studies of the sediment cores collected from two lakes in the ValdaiHighlands (East European Plain) provide new insights into the late glacial and Holocene environmental history of the region situated inthe marginal zone of the last Scandinavian ice sheet. The cores were analyzed for organic carbon and nitrogen content, as well as for pollenand diatoms. The chronology of the cores is based on radiocarbon dates and pollen-based stratigraphy. The studied records document thatvast dead ice masses and associated ice-dammed lakes existed in the Valdai Highlands area until ∼14 cal ka BP. Open tundra-steppe communitiesdominated the study area during the Oldest Dryas, Bølling, and Older Dryas (between ca. 17 and 14 cal ka BP), but dwarf birch(Betula nana), shrub alder (Alnus fruticosa), and willow (Salix) were also common. Scots pine forest (Pinus sylvestris) became common fora short interval during the Bølling warming (ca. 14.9 and 14.4 cal ka BP). The appearance of spruce (Picea) forest in the landscape occurredin the beginning of the Allerød warming (∼14 cal ka BP), but the open steppe-like plant communities remained common until the onset ofthe Holocene. The modern lake systems emerged at ∼10 cal ka BP, marked by an onset of organic-type sedimentation and the appearance ofmodern-type forests. The Mid-Holocene (∼8–4 cal ka BP) was the warmest time, as documented by the maximal distribution of temperateand broadleaved taxa in the region. The onset of agricultural land use and simultaneous trend of increasing lake trophic state and increasingpaludification in the area is recorded at ∼2.5 cal ka BP.

AB - The results of a ground-penetrating radar survey and multiproxy studies of the sediment cores collected from two lakes in the ValdaiHighlands (East European Plain) provide new insights into the late glacial and Holocene environmental history of the region situated inthe marginal zone of the last Scandinavian ice sheet. The cores were analyzed for organic carbon and nitrogen content, as well as for pollenand diatoms. The chronology of the cores is based on radiocarbon dates and pollen-based stratigraphy. The studied records document thatvast dead ice masses and associated ice-dammed lakes existed in the Valdai Highlands area until ∼14 cal ka BP. Open tundra-steppe communitiesdominated the study area during the Oldest Dryas, Bølling, and Older Dryas (between ca. 17 and 14 cal ka BP), but dwarf birch(Betula nana), shrub alder (Alnus fruticosa), and willow (Salix) were also common. Scots pine forest (Pinus sylvestris) became common fora short interval during the Bølling warming (ca. 14.9 and 14.4 cal ka BP). The appearance of spruce (Picea) forest in the landscape occurredin the beginning of the Allerød warming (∼14 cal ka BP), but the open steppe-like plant communities remained common until the onset ofthe Holocene. The modern lake systems emerged at ∼10 cal ka BP, marked by an onset of organic-type sedimentation and the appearance ofmodern-type forests. The Mid-Holocene (∼8–4 cal ka BP) was the warmest time, as documented by the maximal distribution of temperateand broadleaved taxa in the region. The onset of agricultural land use and simultaneous trend of increasing lake trophic state and increasingpaludification in the area is recorded at ∼2.5 cal ka BP.

KW - Dead ice masses

KW - Ground-penetrating radar

KW - Diatoms

KW - Pollen

KW - Environmental history

KW - Dead ice masses

KW - Diatoms

KW - Environmental history

KW - Ground-penetrating radar

KW - Pollen

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/09d52d9b-51c0-3714-9f2a-655b3a65ec3b/

U2 - 10.1017/qua.2025.10020

DO - 10.1017/qua.2025.10020

M3 - Article

JO - Quaternary Research

JF - Quaternary Research

SN - 0033-5894

ER -