ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Limnological record inferred from diatoms
in sediments of Lake Skaliska
(north-eastern Poland)
1 | Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, Research Centre in Warsaw,
Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa, Poland |
Online publication date: 2013-06-26
Publication date: 2013-06-26
Acta Palaeobotanica 2013; 53(1): 99–104
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Subfossil diatoms analysis was employed to reconstruct past environmental changes in Lake Skaliska.
This lake, presently a palaeolake, is located on a wide plain called the Skaliska Basin (northern part of
Mazury Lake District, north-eastern Poland). Changes in terrestrial vegetation suggest that the initial phase
of the lake was in the early Holocene. In the sediments a total of 176 diatom species belonging to 35 genera
were identifi ed. The majority of diatoms are alkaliphilous and alkalibiontic, occurring mainly in meso-eutrophic
water. Diatom fl ora development suggests that the best conditions for diatom growth prevailed throughout the
Boreal and in the early Atlantic, a suggestion supported by the increased frequency of planktonic diatoms living
in nutrient-rich water. A water pH reconstruction (DIpH) based on diatoms points to alkalinity during the
lake’s existence. Since roughly the mid-Atlantic the lake was shallowing, and at the beginning of the Subboreal
peat sedimentation led to complete overgrowth of the lake.
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