Lake Bâlea pollen analyses

The pollen analysis of the Bâlea Lake in the Făgărași Mts, Romania has been completed. During the analysis, 116 samples were counted and 130 terrestrial, aquatic, and non-pollen palynomorphs taxa were identified, together with the sedimentary (micro) charcoal. A high-resolution pollen record (~100/50 yr) was obtained (cal BP) covering the time interval from 8.6 cal ka BP to present, where the Holocene expansion of trees follows the regionally typical order and a visible human impact on the vegetation is recorded from ca 1100 cal yr BP. Currently, the results are used to run a pollen-based climate reconstruction and writing of a publication about the Holocene vegetation and pollen-inferred climate changes in the Făgărași Mts with a special focus on the mid-Holocene (between 4000-8000 cal yr BP), where the pollen record has a higher resolution (~ 50 yr).