Macrofossil studies of Holocene lake sediments from Jameson Land, East Greenland

Abstract

Previous records of Holocene terrestrial and limnic environmental changes in East Greenland, mostly based on pollen analysis, have failed to extend beyond c. 9000 years BP (9 ka BP) because the lakes sampled were situated below the marine limit. The record obtained thus only goes back to the time when the lake basins became isolated from the sea (Funder, 1978; Björck et al., 1994; Funder & Hansen, 1996). In 1994, a lake near the coast of Jameson Land (Fig. 1) was cored with the aim of extending this record. This work was part of the ‘Arctic Terminations Project’, dealing with the timing and character of the last glacial maximum, the Flakkerhuk Stade, in the extensive Scoresby Sund fjord system (e.g. Hansen & Funder, 1995). By selecting a lake basin situated above the local marine limit and by applying macrofossil analysis instead of pollen analysis, the hope was that the sedimentary record could be extended further back in time and that far transported or reworked interglacial material could be avoided. Unfortunately, however, the minerogenic sediments were devoid of in situ organic remains, and thus could not be dated by radiometric methods; furthermore, the onset of organic sedimentation in this lake basin occurred later than in previously investigated lake basins at lower altitudes. In spite of these disappointing aspects, the results merit publication because they provide new evidence of post-glacial climate, environment and biogeography in the area and support the conclusions reached by pollen analysis.