Litorina Sea shore displacement and pollen analytical indications of forest succession during the Mid-Holocene in Gästrikland, east central Sweden

Abstract

This paper deals with the mid-Holocene shore level history and vegetation development in Gästrikland, east-central Sweden. This is investigated using sediment and microfossil records and 14C datings. The time span covered is c. 8000–5000 cal yr BP. Vegetation history during this time includes an increase in Tilia pollen 6500–6300 cal yr BP and a decrease in Ulmus and Corylus c. 5500 cal yr BP. The former change coincides with a sharp drop in relative sea level (RSL) of some 5 m; this RSL drop can be correlated to the regression from the L3 transgression of the Litorina Sea, identified in other areas around the Baltic Sea. The possible connections between RSL and climate (in particular changes on a maritime-continental continuum), as indicated by new pollen data and other records, are investigated. The new material shows, in comparison to other pollen records from southern and central Scandinavia, unusually high percentages of Tilia, Ulmus and Corylus pollen, but less Quercus. The change in pollen spectra around 5500 cal yr BP can be correlated to the northern European “elm decline”. A regional cooling is recorded in widespread data for this time, but observations suggest that other factors must be considered here, including disease and change in the physical landscape due to the ongoing land uplift.