Analysis of a sediment core from the Mecklenburg Bay, with a discussion on the early Holocene history of the southern Baltic Sea

Abstract

Abstract The stratigraphy of a core taken from the bottom sediments of Mecklenburg Bay in the southern Baltic is studied. Radiocarbon dates of a peat layer about 26 m below sea level show that the peat was formed approx. 9,500 BP. Pollen and diatom analyses were made from the profile. Some features in the biostratigraphy are difficult to explain, but a consistent picture can be drawn of the outline of the postglacial development in this region. The Ancylus transgression did not extend to Mecklenburg Bay, which was inundated by saline water during the Litorina Sea stage of the Baltic.