Vegetation, climate and ice‐front oscillations in the Tromsø area, northern Norway during the Allerød and Younger Dryas

Abstract

Sediments from two small lakes distal to the Tromsø–Lyngen moraine at Tromsø, northern Norway, indicate that the area was deglaciated prior to c. 11.7 14C ka BP. The earliest vegetation was dominated by calciphilous and heliophilous pioneer plants on unstable soils; this changed to a vegetation reflecting a dry continental climate until c. 10.7 14Cka BP. A phase (10.7–10.5 14Cka BP) with snow‐bed communities was followed by one with a mosaic of plant communities. This was succeeded by Empetrum heaths c. 10.3 14Cka BP, then by an open forest with Betula pubescens after 10.0 14Cka BP. Ice‐front oscillations in the Tromsø area are evaluated. The main part of the Younger Dryas glacial readvance, the Tromsø–Lyngen event, probably occurred between 10.7 and 10.3 14Cka BP.