The Holocene palaeoenvironmental changes reflected in the multi-proxy studies of Lake Słone sediments (SE Poland)

Multi-proxy data from the Lake Słone sediments (SE Poland) yielded information on the Holocene changes of Lake Słone in a karst region. Changes of limnological conditions and vegetation reconstructions correspond to high resolution multi-proxy records from north-central Europe. Ostracods showed several small oscillations. Most significant changes occurred at 12300 cal yr BP (Younger Dryas–Preboreal transition) and between 11800 and 11100 cal yr BP (“Preboreal Oscillation”). Lowering of the water table at around 11100–10800 cal yr BP was probably connected with abrupt warming at ca. 11000 cal BP. Temperature and water depth fell at about 8400–8100 cal yr BP (8200 cal yr BP). The Atlantic period was generally warm and is divided into two parts: an older one with comparatively stable water level and a second one (between 7000 and 6300 cal yr BP) with two phases of higher water level separated by lowering at 6800 cal yr BP. At the transition from the Atlantic to the Subboreal (6200–5950 cal yr BP) the dry period is more pronounced than changes in the second half of the Atlantic. Since the beginning of the Subboreal an increase in human activity in Central Europe was the main factor shaping the landscape and changing the limnic regimes.