High-resolution record of Late Saalian and Eemian palaeoenvironments: the case study of Struga and Parysw (Central Poland)

Eemian organogenic de pos its, ana lysed at the Struga and Parysow sites (Garwolin Plain, cen tral Po land), re veal the veg e tation his tory. Palynological anal y sis sup ported by plant macrofossil anal y sis re vealed a pol len suc ces sion en com pass ing seven re gional pol len as sem blages zones, E1-E7 RPAZ, within which in di ca tor taxa for var i ous cli mate char ac ter is tics (mainly temperature and humidity, including Tilia tomentosa and Hedera he lix) were re corded. Ad di tion ally, the Struga G-120 pro file en com passes a Late Saalian sec tion of de pos its in which stadial and interstadial os cil la tions are in ferred. The data cor rob o rated ear lier find ings that the warm est and wet test part of the Eemian inter gla cial was dur ing the ha zel phase (E4 RPAZ) and the be gin ning of the horn beam phase (E5 RPAZ). The youn ger part of the horn beam phase bears the re cord of a de crease in hu mid ity and grad ual drop in air tem per a ture. Dur ing the telocratic pe riod en com pass ing the spruce-fir (E6 RPAZ) and pine (E7 RPAZ) phases, in creased hu mid ity and ris ing wa ter lev els in the lakes stud ied are again ev i dent. The re con structed plant suc ces sion and cli ma tic con di tions are dis cussed against a broader back ground of other Eemian pro files from Po land and neigh bour ing coun tries. They largely con firm that, at that time, the Garwolin Plain showed char ac ter is tics typ i cal of a tran si tional cli mate from oce anic in West ern Eu rope to con ti nen tal be yond the east ern bor ders of Po land.