ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Pollen-based vegetation and climate
reconstruction of the Ferdynandovian sequence
from Łuków (eastern Poland)
1 | Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management,
Kraśnicka 2 c/d, 20-718 Lublin, Poland |
Online publication date: 2013-06-26
Publication date: 2013-06-26
Acta Palaeobotanica 2013; 53(1): 115–138
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Early middle Pleistocene deposits from Łuków, correlated with the Cromerian complex, represent
rare bi-partite Ferdynandovian pollen sequence encompassing two interglacial warmings (F1 and F2) separated
by F1/2 cooling/glaciation and related to MIS 15–13. The paper presents pollen-based palaeoecological and palaeoclimate
investigations in which plant climate indicators were applied. Additionally modern pollen dataset
from the Roztocze region was used to evaluate vegetation history in terms of forest communities and presence
and abundance of tree taxa sensitive to air temperature and humidity. Climate changes derived from pollen
data indicate strong oceanic features of the climate of the fi rst interglacial (F1) resembling those typical for the
beginning of the Eemian, followed by cooling (F 1/2) with plant communities typical of the Pleistocene steppetundra,
which undoubtedly indicate strong continentality, and subsequent return of more oceanic climate (F2)
with mean remperature of the warmest month exceeding 18°C. Both pollen succession and climate changes
recorded in the Łuków sediments correlate well with other bi-partite successions known from eastern part of
European Lowlands.