The first Holocene varve chronology for the UK: Based on the integration of varve counting, radiocarbon dating and tephrostratigraphy from Diss Mere (UK)

Abstract

Abstract The British Isles lack long high-precision and independent chronologies to reconstruct Holocene environmental and climatic conditions at sub-decadal timescales. This paper reports the first Holocene varved chronology for the lacustrine sediment record of Diss Mere in the UK. The record of Diss Mere is 15 m long, and shows 4.2 m of finely-laminated sediments, which are present between ca. 9 and 13 m of core depth. The microfacies analysis identified three major seasonal patterns of deposition (microfacies 1–3), which corroborate the annual nature of sedimentation throughout the whole interval. The sediments are diatomaceous organic and carbonate varves with an average thickness of 0.45 mm. Microfacies 1 consists of a pale layer of authigenic calcite crystals and diatom frustules, and a dark layer composed of a planktonic diatoms and filaments of organic matter. Microfacies 2 is similar but includes a mono-specific diatom bloom layer preceding the calcite layer. Microfacies 3 consists of varves with an occasional very thin calcite layer and mono-specific diatom blooms in spring and autumn. A total of 8473 varves were counted with maximum counting error of up to 40 varves by the bottom of the varved sequence. To tie the resulting floating varve chronology to the IntCal20 radiocarbon timescale, we used a Bayesian Deposition model (P_Sequence with outlier detection) on all available chronological data from the core. The data included five radiocarbon dates, two known tephra layers (Glen Garry and OMH-185) with calendar ages based on Bayesian modelling of sequences of radiocarbon ages, and the relative varve counts between dated points. The resulting age-depth model (DISSV-2020) dates the varved sequence between ca. 2100 and 10,300 cal BP and age uncertainties are decadal in scale. The immediate implication of this new UK Holocene chronology is the updated precise ages for the Glen Garry tephra at 2073 ± 39 cal BP and the OMH-185 tephra at 2617 ± 29 cal BP. DISSV-2020 will also enable Holocene research at high time resolution and comparisons to other annually-resolved records on absolute timescales supporting climatic investigations at the regional level.