Palaeoenvironmental changes and vegetation history of the northern Upper Rhine Graben (southwestern Germany) since the Lateglacial

Abstract

The vegetation of the northern Upper Rhine Graben (southwestern Germany) is reconstructed for the end of the Lateglacial and the Holocene by means of palynological analyses in combination with AMS 14C dating. Analogous to adjacent lowland areas, the Younger Dryas climatic deterioration did not result in a complete deforestation of the area and open pine woodlands with locally birch stands and shrubs persisted. A subdivision of the Younger Dryas period, into a humid first phase, followed by a dry second phase was also reflected in our records. For the Holocene, the pollen diagrams show two regionally different vegetation developments, related to substrate and variations in annual precipitation: in the south the ‘classical’ succession of pine then hazel is followed by other deciduous trees, whereas in the northern part, pine kept its dominance far into the Subboreal.