Institution: | aDepartment of Paleoclimatology and Geomorphology, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands bPalaeoecology, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands cNetherlands Centre for Luminescence Dating, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, 2629 JB Delft, The Netherlands |
Abstract: | We inferred past climate conditions from lacustrine sediments intercalated in Weichselian Early Glacial and Early Pleniglacial fluvial and aeolian sediments, exposed in two opencast lignite mines from the Niederlausitz area (eastern Germany). A chronology was established using radiocarbon and luminescence dating methods. Both lithology and chironomid fauna indicate that the former shallow lakes were situated on a floodplain. Palaeotemperature estimates calculated from the fossil chironomid-assemblages of the Early Glacial lacustrine deposit indicate mean July air temperatures of ca. 15 °C, which is in line with results derived in earlier studies from the Niederlausitz area and from northwestern Europe. The Early Pleniglacial lacustrine deposits consist of an organic-rich gyttja, intercalated with sand and silt lenses. The chironomid-assemblages show that a shallow meso- to eutrophic lake was present at the study site, and chironomid-inferred palaeotemperature estimates indicate an abrupt decline in July air temperatures from 15–16 °C to ca. 13 °C. In combination with other proxies from the same record, this suggests a Dansgaard/Oeschger like climate event. |