ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Palaeobotanical studies on Late Glacial
and Holocene vegetation development
and transformations of the ‘Wielkie Błoto’ mire
near Gołdap (north-eastern Poland)
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1
Jagiellonian University, Institute of Botany, Department of Palaeobotany and Palaeoherbarium,
Lubicz 46, 31-512 Kraków, Poland
2
Department of Biogeography and Palaeoecology, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences,
Adam Mickiewicz University, Dzięgielowa 27, 61-680 Poznań, Poland
3
W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, 31-512 Kraków, Poland
Online publication date: 2013-06-26
Publication date: 2013-06-26
Acta Palaeobotanica 2013; 53(1): 53-67
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the results of palynological, macrofossil and peat analyses that were conducted
on deposits from a profi le collected from the Wielkie Błoto mire near Bałupiany (north eastern Poland). The
investigation revealed that the recorded changes of vegetation span the period from the decline of the Younger
Dryas (ca 9600 cal. yr BC) to the late Subboreal or early Subatlantic chronozone, but due to a 40 cm long sediment
gap a complete reconstruction was not possible. At the beginning, the area was occupied by steppe and tundra
communities together with abundant Juniperus stands. A subsequent expansion of birch (Betula) woodlands
with pine (Pinus sylvestris) took place in the Preboreal chronozone in which a rise in the water level and/or basin
deepening was recorded at the site as well. The domination of such woodlands lasted to the end of the Boreal
chronozone when Corylus avellana expanded rapidly. In the Atlantic chronozone multispecies deciduous forests
developed with Tilia cordata and Quercus, while Ulmus together with Alnus spread in damp habitats. During
this chronozone, traces of the occurrence of Carpinus betulus were detected in the macrofossil analysis, while the
pollen analysis failed to record its presence. The expansion of Carpinus betulus and Picea abies was characteristic
of the Subboreal chronozone when both taxa presented antagonistic optima. Alone in north-eastern Poland,
there was a re-expansion of deciduous forest in the younger part of the Subboreal chronozone caused probably
by low human impact, which is refl ected in the whole profi le. The fi rst probable traces of human activity were
noticed in the Atlantic chronozone and attributed to peoples of the Mesolithic or Early Neolithic cultures, while
the fi rst evidence of cultivation was correlated to the Bronze Age. However, the low resolution of the radiocarbon
dates did not allow a more precise reconstruction of the chronology. The analysis of macrofossils and tissues
indicated two episodes of oligotrophication of the mire. The fi rst one took place during the Boreal chronozone,
while the second fall in trophy was triggered by spruce expansion in the Subboreal chronozone. On the other
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