The history of vegetation of the Eemian Interglacial in the Great Polish Lowland

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the history of vegetation in the Eemian Interglacial in southern Great Poland determined in the course of palaeobotanical research. Pollen analysis was conducted for lacustrine deposits from two localities (Grudzielec near Kalisz and Lechitów near Góra). The obtained pollen diagrams show diagnostic features of the Eemian. The succession of vegetation in both studied localities is characterised by three distinctive phases: protocratic with dominant pine-birch and birch-pine forest and communities of mixed pine-oak and oak forest. mesocratic with predominant hazel and well developed hornbeam-lime forest, and a telocratic one with widespread fir-spruce and pine forest. Moreover, the vegetation succession in top sections of the studied profiles was recognised as typical of the Early Vistulian. The presence of taxa with higher climatic requirements enabled the assessment of palaeoclimatic conditions in the Eemian climatic optimum of southern Great Poland. The development of vegetation in the Eemian Interglacial corresponds with the changes recorded in the nearby localities of Great Polish Lowland and other regions of Poland, as well as those of neighbouring countries. Some minor differences between the studied profiles result from different geographical location of the localities and various genesis of sedimentation basins.