Vegetation and Stratigraphic Interpretation of the Mazovian (Holsteinian) Interglacial Profile from Dobropol and other New Sites in the West Polesie Region (SE Poland)

Abstract

Abstract Geological mapping in eastern Poland resulted in the new find of organic deposits near Włodawa. Pollen and plant macrofossils analyses at the Dobropol site proved deposition during the Mazovian (Holsteinian) Interglacial (MIS 11). Pollen spectra indicated strong predominance of Carpinus in the optimum phase (pollen period III), suggesting intensive influence of continental climate in this part of Po land. The paleolake Dobropol was shallow, with many species of rushes in a littoral zone. During the Liviecian (MIS 10) and the Krznanian (MIS 8) Glaciations the reservoir was occupied by an ice-dam lake, in which silt and clay de position prevailed. The Mazovian Interglacial organic deposits were also recorded in immediate surroundings of the study area. Based on geological and paleobotanical examination of the Dobropol site, the ice sheet of the Krznanian Glaciation seemed to have reached at least the southern part of Włodawa. The ice sheet has not covered pre sum ably the whole study area as its advance occurred in several lobes. The surroundings of Włodawa in the West Polesie Region are the third largest Mazovian paleo-lakeland area in Po land, apart from the vicinities of Biała Podlaska and the Łuków Plain.