Lateglacial vegetation and environment at the mouth of Hardangerfjorden, western Norway

Abstract

This article is a detailed pollen analysis and accurate AMS chronology of the Lateglacial of two coastal sites in western Norway. The area was deglaciated around 14 600 cal. yr BP or shortly before. The earliest vegetation was open, with a pioneer mosaic of vegetation on mineral soils, including snowbed communities, and plants on wind‐blown ridges. Later, more stable vegetation developed with Empetrum as an important constituent. Scattered tree birches were established in the area in the last part of the Bølling/Allerød (GI‐1). The pollen record from Vassnestjern indicates three short‐lasting cold periods: c. 14 050 to 13 900, 13 800 to 13 700 and 13 150 to 13 000 cal. yr BP. It has been suggested that the last‐mentioned period, detected at both sites, corresponds with the Gerzensee/Killarney Oscillation. From about 12 750 cal. yr BP, the vegetation was affected by the Younger Dryas (GS‐1) cooling, which caused the vegetation to break up and humus‐soil communities to disappear. In the early Holocene, the humus‐soil communities re‐established and open birch forests developed. This Lateglacial vegetation development is broadly similar to the reconstructed vegetation development in other parts of southwestern Norway.