Quantitative palaeotemperature records inferred from fossil pollen and chironomid assemblages from Lake Gilltjarnen, northern central Sweden

Palaeotemperature reconstructions based on radiocarbon-dated fossil pollen and chironomid stratigraphies obtained from Lake Gilltjarnen provide evidence of climate changes during the last 11 000 years in the boreal zone of northern central Sweden. The records show consistent trends during the early and mid-Holocene, indicating low temperatures at 11 000-10 000 cal. yr BP, followed by a rising trend and a period of maximum values from about 7000 to 4000 cal. yr BP. At 3000 cal. yrBP the chironomid-inferred temperature values rise abruptly, deviating from the late-Holocene cooling trend indicated by the pollen-based reconstruction and most of the other palaeotemperature records from central Scandinavia, probably as a result of local limnological changes in Lake Gilltjarnen and its catchment. Comparison of the present results with a lake-level reconstruction from Lake Ljustjarnen, ca. 100 km southwest of Lake Gilitjarnen, shows that the low early-Holocene temperatures were associated with high lake-levels at 10500-8500 cal. yrBP, whereas low lake-levels and dry conditions prevailed during the period of high temperatures at between 7500 and 5000 cal. yr BP, probably due to high summer evapotranspiration and lower precipitation. Copyright (C) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.