Holocene environmental changes in northern Poland recorded in alkaline spring-fed fen deposits – A multi-proxy approach

Spring-fed fen deposits (peat-tufa sequences) from northern Poland were investigated for Holocene environmental reconstruction (climate and hydrology) using multi-proxy analysis (lithofacies, molluscs, pollen, plant macrofossils, geochemistry, and stable oxygen- and carbon-isotopes). The main aims of these studies were: (1) comparison of several similar sites with the same type of groundwater supply and sedimentation on a widespread space scale, (2) detailed reconstruction of their long-term development, assessing their sensitivity to climate change, (3) verification of the synchronicity of the record of different proxies in distant sites in the context of Holocene climate changes in relation to specific well-known global and/or regional climate events (so-called Bond events), and (4) discussion on permafrost degradation as a driver of spring-fed fens development.