The natural environment in the vicinity of Lake Sporovskoye in the Late Glacial and Holocene

Abstract

Due to the relatively small number of lakes in the southern part of Belarus, in the Polesie region, each lake and its bottom sediments are of great scientific interest for palaeoecological reconstructions. Lake Sporovskoye is one of the largest lakes in Belarusian Polesie, previously studied in the field of palaeoecology by a number of researchers. The discovery in 2018 of the Kakoryca-4 archaeological site near Lake Sporovskoye inspired the beginning of this study, during which new palaeoecological data were obtained. The purpose of the article was to build palaeoecological reconstructions based on spore-pollen, macroremains, sedimentological, and radiocarbon analyses of the Sporovo II core. As a result, it was proven that Lake Sporovskoye was formed in the Late Glacial. Water level changes in the lake, as well as a period of increased activity of the Yaselda River, were detected in the Holocene. The author proposed the reconstructions of regional and local vegetation and corrected some previous views on the development of the study area in the Late Glacial and Holocene.