The reconstruction of the Lateglacial environment: some problems associated with the interpretation of pollen data in Studies in the Lateglacial of North-West Europe.
The potentialities of pollen analysis within Lateglacial deposits are limited by the precision of identification currently possible. Some of these limitations are discussed with respect to certain pollen taxa. Since modern counterparts
there was little or no change in vegetation at many sites, although there was inflow of inorganic materials into some lake basins. There is weaker evidence for a climatic deterioration which caused upland erosion between 12,000 and 11,800 BP. This can be seen
in evidence from Ireland and Britain but it is weakly expressed and in evidence from only some sites in Denmark and northern Germany. There is no evidence for such a deterioration in the Alps. Very tentative climatic curves are presented to draw attention
Problems associated with the Lateglacial stratigraphy of NW Europe are discussed. These include the recognition of an Older Dryas climatic oscillation, the usefulness for the Lateglacial of the stratotype approach and some other standard
. It is inferred that at first some summers were warm enough to permit thermal stratification of the kettle lake, but later cooler and perhaps windier summers prevailed. The most extreme conditions of the stadial, represented by the Artemisia maximum, were marked