Lateglacial lake-level changes at Montilier-Strandweg, lake Morat, Switzerland and their climatic significance

Using pollen and sediment analyses, cores from Montilier-Strandweg, lake Morat (Swiss Plateau), were studied to reconstruct lake-level fluctuations during the Bolling-Allerod interstadial and the Younger Dryas stadial. Lake-level appears to have been low during the early and mid-Bolling at ca 12 275 BP (Juniperus and early Betula phases), the early and late Allerod (at 11 845 and 11 250 BP respectively), and the second part of the Younger Dryas. Rises in lake-level occurred during the late Bolling and the Bolling-Allerod transitions at ca 12 000 BP (late Betula phase and Older Dryas), the mid-Allerod, and the Younger Dryas start. The palaeohydrological changes reconstructed at Montilier-Strandweg show a possible response in west-central Europe to the oscillations of the deglacial ocean-system such as recognized in the North Atlantic area.