Holocene lake-level changes in the Fennoscandian tree-line region, western Finnish Lapland: diatom and cladoceran evidence

Abstract

Lithostratigraphical, diatom and cladoceran evidence were used to demonstrate Holocene lake-level changes in two closed-basin lakes in western Finnish Lapland, north of the coniferous tree- line. The lake levels were significantly lower than present in early to mid-Holocene times, from about 8000 until about 4000BP, after which they rose to the present level. The changes are believed to be climatically controlled and regionally representative. The proposed mid-Holocene dryness in Lapland contrasts with the evidence from southern Sweden and Finland, where past lake levels indicate humid conditions during much of the mid-Holocene (Atlantic) time.