The rank of climatic oscillations during MIS 11c (OHO and YHO) and post-interglacial cooling during MIS 11b and MIS 11a in eastern Poland

Abstract

Lacustrine sediments representing Marine Isotope Stage 11 (MIS 11) were found in Hermanów (SE Poland) in a present-day closed depression under a thin cover of Weichselian and Holocene deposits (1.4 m). These sediments filled a palaeolake created as a result of melting of a dead-ice block at the end of MIS 12. Geological research has excluded the presence of an ice sheet during MIS 12 in this area. The lobe of the ice sheet of this glaciation was located several kilometres to the west of Hermanów. The palaeolake was part of a larger palaeolakeland in southeastern Poland, formed during MIS 11. The palaeomorphology of this interglacial is evident in the contemporary relief of the area and the outline of the lakes corresponds to the pattern of the closed palaeodepressions. Based on the record of sediments from Hermanów, a new perspective regarding the sub-division of MIS 11 is presented. Two regressive phases are observed in the Holsteinian Interglacial (MIS 11c) – OHO and YHO. The subsequent substages with five cold fluctuations according to the newest stratigraphic standards should be assigned to MIS 11b with a very clear cooling and a slightly warmer MIS 11a. Carbon isotopic composition of organic matter corroborates geological and environmental analysis. The isotopic composition suggests two cooling periods: OHO and MIS 11b. Stable climatic conditions with little temperature fluctuations persisted between the cooling periods.