DOI 10.1007/s12549-020-00464-x High-resolution pollen analyses were performed on two cores from the western Black Sea and one core from the Marmara Sea, covering the Late Glacial-Holocene transition using 14C chronology. Particular effort was invested in the botanical identification of pollen grains thereby significantly improving our knowledge of regional flora. When interpreted with respect to modern vegetation, pollen records revealed all the major changes caused by climatic fluctuations over the last 20,000 years. The results of this study provide evidence for the occurrence of relict thermophilous-hygrophilous trees (papillate Cupressaceae, Carya, Liquidambar, Zelkova) in certain refugia up to the Holocene. Vegetation dynamics is specified for some taxa (e.g., Cupressus–Juniperus, Fagus, Cedrus) and some ecosystems (e.g., mesophilous forests, Mediterranean sclerophyllous populations, steppes). Pollen data enabled palaeoclimatic reconstructions which were compared with available estimates in the region. The use of a powerful pollen ratio between ‘thermophilous and steppe taxa’ led to fruitful climatostratigraphic relationships with the oxygen isotope curve from the NGRIP core. The Younger Dryas and cooling at 8.2 ka are among the most obvious climatic phases identified in the three cores studied here.
Last Glacial–, Holocene pollen flora, W Black Sea–, Marmara Sea regions, Plant diversity, Vegetation dynamics, Climate reconstruction, Climatostratigraphy
| File | Pages | Size | Access | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Author's final draft | 25 | 8 Mo | ||
Table 1 Detailed pollen record of core BLKS9810 | 1 | 102 Ko | ||
Table 2 Detailed pollen record of core B2KS33 | 1 | 89 Ko | ||
Table 3 Detailed pollen record of core C10 | 1 | 91 Ko | ||
Table 4 Modern detailed pollen records: collected dust from 3 localities in the Carpathian area (South Romania) and 11 surface sediments from the Black and Marmara seas | 1 | 90 Ko | ||
Publisher's official version IN PRESS | 16 | 1 Mo |
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