Palynostratigraphy of the last centuries in Switzerland based on 23 lake and mire deposits: chronostratigraphic pollen markers, regional patterns, and local histories

A total of 23 pollen diagrams [stored in the Alpine Palynological Data-Base (ALPADABA), Geobotanical Institute, Bern] cover the last 100 to over 1000 years. The sites include 15 lakes, seven mires, and one soil profile distributed in the Jura Mts (three sites), Swiss Plateau (two sites), northern Pre-Alps and Alps (six sites), central Alps (five sites), southern Alps (three sites), and southern Pre-Alps (four sites) in the western and southern part of Switzerland or just outside the national borders. The pollen diagrams have both a high taxonomic resolution and a high temporal resolution, with sampling distances of 0.5–3 cm, equivalent to 1 to 11 years for the last 100 years and 8 to 130 years for earlier periods. The chronology is based on absolute dating (14 sites: 210Pb 11 sites; 14C six sites; varve counting two sites) or on biostratigraphic correlation among pollen diagrams. The latter relies mainly on trends in Cannabis sativa, Ambrosia, Mercurialis annua, and Ostrya-type pollen. Individual pollen stratigraphies are discussed and sites are compared within each region. The principle of designating local, extra-local, and regional pollen signals and vegetation is exemplified by two pairs of sites lying close together. Trends in biostratigraphies shared by a major part of the pollen diagrams allow the following generalisations. Forest declined in phases since medieval times up to the late 19th century. Abies and Fagus declined consistently, whereas the behaviour of short-lived trees and trees of moist habitats differed among sites (Alnus glutinosa-type, Alnus viridis, Betula, Corylus avellana). In the present century, however, Picea and Pinus increased, followed by Fraxinus excelsior in the second half of this century. Grassland (traced by Gramineae and Plantago lanceolata-type pollen) increased, replacing much of the forest, and declined again in the second half of this century. Nitrate enrichment of the vegetation (traced by Urtica) took place in the first half of this century. These trends reflect the intensification of forest use and the expansion of grassland from medieval times up to the end of the last century, whereas subsequently parts of the grassland became used more intensively and the marginal parts were abandoned for forest regrowth. In most pollen diagrams human impact is the dominant factor in explaining inferred changes in vegetation, but climatic change plays a role at three sites.

Mivḥar ha-shirah ha-ʿIvrit : le-mi-yom ḥatom ketave ha-ḳodesh ʿad-gelot Yiśraʾel me-ʿal adamat Sefarad bi-shenat 5252

arukh u-metukan ʿal-yede Ḥayim Berodi ... Meʾir Ṿiner

Ha-zofeh le-vet Yiśraʼel : we-nispeḥu ʼelaw miktavim ʼigrot we-sirimwî Lêṭêrîs

Übers. d. Hauptsacht.: Der Beobachter des Hauses Israel

Maḥzor mi-kol ha-shanah : ke-minhag Ashkenaz ʿim ḥamesh megilot ṿe-ʿim birkat kohanim ṿe- hugah be-ʿiyun be-b"h yashan ṿe-hosif shir ha-yiḥud ...

In hebr. Schr., teilw. in jidd. Sprache

Sefer Metiv Safah : kolel ha-seliḥot la-yamim ha-noraʾim ke-fi minhage bene Yiśraʾel ha-shonim ...

me-et Refaʾel b"r Yiśraʾel Firśṭenṭhal

Luaḥ erets Yiśraʾel : shimushe ṿe-sifruti

Nebent.: Literarischer Palästina-Almanach

Sefer Or le-Yiśraʾel : kolel Torah neviʾim u-khtuvim ; ʿim targum Onḳelos, Tiḳun sofrim, pe. Rashi, beʾur ṿe-targum Ashkenazi ...

ṿe-nosefu ʿalehem heʿarot ... Refaʾel be-r. Y. Firśṭenṭhal ...

Seder zemirot Yiśraʾel

uebersetzt und mit Anmerkungen versehen von M. L. Bamberger

Ṿos ṿill "Agudat Yiśraʾel"? : referaṭ ershṭaṭṭeṭ oyf der ḳonferents tsu Ḳatovits am 12. Siṿan (28ten May) 5672

fon Yaʿaḳov Rozenhaym, Franḳfurṭ a. M.

Tefilot Yiśraʾel

uebersetzt von I. N. Mannheimer

High-resolution multi-proxy record of the last glacial period from Lake Van, eastern Anatolian high plateau, Turkey

Detailed analyses of the Lake Van pollen, Ca/K ratio and stable oxygen isotope record allow the identification of millennial-scale vegetation and environmental changes in eastern Anatolia throughout the last glacial (~75-15 ka BP). The climate within the last glacial was cold and dry, with low arboreal pollen (AP) levels. The driest and coldest period corresponds to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 (~28-14.5 ka BP) dominated by the highest values of xerophytic steppe vegetation. Our high-resolution multi proxy record shows rapid expansions and contractions of tree populations that reflects variability in temperature and moisture availability. This rapid vegetation and environmental changes can be linked to the stadial-interstadial pattern of the Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events as recorded in the Greenland ice cores. Periods of reduced moisture availability were characterized by enhanced xerophytic species and high terrigenous input from the Lake Van catchment area. Furthermore, comparison with the marine realm reveals that the complex atmosphere-ocean interaction can be explained by the strength and position of the westerlies, which is responsible for the supply of humidity in eastern Anatolia. Influenced by diverse topography of the Lake Van catchment, larger DO interstadials (e.g. DO 19, 17-16, 14, 12 and 8) show the highest expansion of temperate species within the last glacial. However, Heinrich events (HE), characterized by highest concentrations of ice-rafted debris (IRD) in marine sediments, are identified in eastern Anatolia by AP values not lower and high steppe components not more abundant than during DO stadials. In addition, this work is a first attempt to establish a continuous microscopic charcoal record over the last glacial in the Near East, which documents an initial immediate response to millennial-scale climate and environmental variability and enables us to shed light on the history of fire activity during the last glacial.