Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2020-12
Vegetation changes and plant wax biomarkers from an ombrotrophic bog define hydroclimate trends and human-environment interactions during the Holocene in northern Norway
Holocene climate records from northern Europe improve our understanding of important North Atlantic ocean and atmospheric circulation systems to long-term insolation-driven changes, as well as more rapid forcing and feedback mechanisms. Here we assess Holocene climate and environmental changes in northern Norway based on the analysis of pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, plant macrofossils, and plant wax biomarkers from a high latitude ombrotrophic bog. We define the extent and thickness of Hollabåttjønnen Bog (0.16 km2), which is located 10 km north of Tromsø. Several cores were analyzed, including a 5.16-m core that spans the last 9.5 cal ka BP. Vegetation changes from several sites were reconstructed and the distribution and hydrogen isotopic composition (δD) of n-alkanes (C21–C33) were analyzed. Our data show several distinct climate intervals that primarily indicate changes in bog surface moisture. In the early Holocene (c. 9.5–7.7 cal ka BP), wetter conditions are defined by the presence of wetland sedges and grasses, higher concentrations of mid-chain length n-alkanes, and a similarity in δD values among homologs. A dry mid-Holocene (c. 7.7–3.8 cal ka BP) is inferred from the presence of a heath shrubland, low peat accumulations rates, and significant differences between δD values of mid- and long-chain length n-alkanes. The late Holocene (c. 3.8 cal ka BP-present) is marked by the onset of wetter conditions, lateral bog expansion, and an increase in sedges and grasses. The Hollabåttjønnen Bog record is also significant because its margins were an important location for human settlement. We correlate early Holocene environmental conditions with changes in Stone Age structures recently excavated, and we identify the occurrence of coprophilous fungi, such as Sporormiella and Sordaria, likely associated with reindeer grazing activity beginning c. 1 cal ka BP. This site therefore provides important regional paleoclimate information as well as context for evaluating local prehistoric human-environment interactions.
AabyB (1976) Cyclic climatic variations in climate over the last 5,500 years reflected in raised bogs. Nature263: 281–284.
2.
AmesburyMJBarberKEHughesPDM (2012) The relationship of fine-resolution, multi-proxy palaeoclimate records to meteorological data at Fågelmossen, Värmland, Sweden and the implications for the debate on climate drivers of the peat-based record. Quaternary International268: 77–86.
3.
AndersenBG (1968) Glacial geology of Western Troms, North Norway. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse256: 1–160.
4.
AndersonRSEjarqueARiceJ, et al. (2015) Historic and Holocene environmental change in the San Antonio Creek Basin, Mid-coastal California. Quaternary Research83: 273–286.
5.
BalboALPerssonPRobertsSJ (2010) Changes in settlement patters on the River Rena, southeast Norway: A response to Holocene climate change?The Holocene20: 917–929.
6.
BaasMPancostRDvan GeelB, et al. (2000) A comparative study of lipids in Sphagnum species. Organic Geochemistry31: 535–541.
7.
BakkeJDahlSOPaascheØ, et al. (2005) Glacier fluctuations, equilibrium-line altitudes and palaeoclimate in Lyngen, northern Norway, during the Lateglacial and Holocene. The Holocene15: 518–540.
8.
BakkeJLieØDahlSO, et al. (2008) Strength and spatial patterns of the Holocene wintertime westerlies in the NE Atlantic region. Global and Planetary Change60: 28–41.
9.
BalascioNLAndersonRS (2014) Paleoenvironmental analysis of Hollabåttjønnen Bog, Skarpeneset Peninsula, Tønsnes, Norway. Final Report. Appendix 3. In: NergaardRHOppvangJCerbingM 2016. Tønsnes Havn, Tromsø kommune, Troms. Rapport fra de arkeologiske undersøkelsene 2014. Tromura kulturhistorie nr. 45, Tromsø: Tromsø Museum, University of Tromsø, pp. 191–214.
10.
BalascioNLWicklerS (2018) Human-environment dynamics during the Iron Age in the Lofoten Islands, Norway. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift72: 146–160.
11.
BalascioNLD’AndreaWJAndersonRS, et al. (2018a) Influence of vegetation type on n-alkane composition and hydrogen isotope values from a high latitude ombrotrophic bog. Organic Geochemistry121: 48–57.
12.
BalascioNLD’AndreaWJGjerdeM, et al. (2018b) Hydroclimate variability of High Arctic Svalbard during the Holocene inferred from hydrogen isotopes of leaf waxes. Quaternary Science Reviews183: 177–187.
13.
BarberKE (1993) Peatlands as scientific archives of past biodiversity. Biodiversity and Conservation2: 474–489.
14.
BarberKE (2006) Peatland records of Holocene climate change. In: EliasS (ed.) Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science. Elsevier, Oxford, pp. 1884–1895.
15.
BarberKEChambersFMMaddyD, et al. (1994) A sensitive high-resolution record of late Holocene climatic change from a raised bog in northern England. The Holocene4: 198–205.
16.
BattarbeeRWBinneyHA (2008) Natural Climate Variability and Global Warming: A Holocene Perspective. Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, p. 276.
17.
BenumP (1958) The Flora of Troms Fylke. Tromsø Museums Skrifter, Volume VI. Tromsø Museum, Tromsø, Norway.
18.
BergmanJWastegårdSHammarlundD, et al. (2004) Holocene tephra horizons at Klocka Bog, west-central Sweden: Aspects of reproducibility in subarctic peat deposits. Journal of Quaternary Science19: 241–249.
19.
BergmanIZackrissonOLiedgrenL (2013) From hunting to herding: Land use, ecosystem processes, and social transformation among Sami AD 800-1500. Arctic Anthropology50 (2): 25–39.
20.
BjerckHB (2008) Norwegian mesolithic trends. In: BaileyGSpikinsP (eds) Mesolithic Europe. Cambridge University Press, pp. 60–106.
21.
BjuneAEBirksHJB (2007) Holocene vegetation dynamics and inferred climate changes at Svanåvatnet, Mo I Rana, northern Norway. Boreas37: 146–156.
22.
BjørklundI (2013) Domestication, reindeer husbandry and development of Sámi pastoralism. Acta Borealia30(2): 174–189.
23.
BowenGJRevenaughJ (2003) Interpolating the isotopic composition of modern meteoric precipitation. Water Resources Research39: 1299.
24.
BlaauwM (2010) Methods and code for ‘classical’ age-modelling of radiocarbon sequences. Quaternary Geochronology5: 512–518.
25.
BlackfordJJChambersFM (1991) Proxy records of climate from blanket peat: Evidence for a Dark Age (1400 BP) climatic deterioration in the British Isles. The Holocene1: 63–67.
26.
BlackfordJJChambersFM (1993) Determining the degree of peat decomposition for peat based palaeoclimatic studies. International Peat Journal5: 7–24.
27.
BreivikHM (2014) Palaeo-oceanographic development and human adaptive strategies in the Pleistocene-Holocene transition: A study from the Norwegian coast. The Holocene24: 1478–1490.
28.
BushRTMcInerneyFA (2013) Leaf wax n-alkane distributions in and across modern plants: implications for paleoecology and chemotaxonomy. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta117: 161–179.
29.
CalvoEGrimaltJJansenE (2002) High resolution Uk37 sea surface temperature reconstruction in the Norwegian Sea during the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews21: 1385–1394.
30.
ChambersFMBarberKEMaddyD, et al. (1997) A 5500-year proxy-climate and vegetation record from blanket mire at Talla Moss, borders, Scotland. The Holocene7: 391–399.
31.
ChambersFMDaniellJRGHuntJB, et al. (2004) Tephrostratigraphy of An Loch Mór, Inis Oírr, western Ireland: implications for Holocene tephrochronology in the northeastern Atlantic region. The Holocene14: 703–720.
32.
CharmanDJ (1999) Testate amoebae and the fossil record: Issues in biodiversity. Journal of Biogeography26: 89–96.
33.
CharmanDJBarberKEBlaauwM, et al. (2009) Climate drivers for peatland paleoclimate records. Quaternary Science Reviews28: 1811–1819.
34.
CooperCLSwindlesGTWatsonEJ, et al. (2019) Evaluating tephrochronology in the permafrost peatlands of northern Sweden. Quaternary Geochronology50: 16–28.
35.
CornerGDHauganeE (1993) Marine-lacustrine stratigraphy of raised coastal basins and postglacial sea-level change at Lyngen and Vanna, Troms, northern Norway. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift77: 175–197.
36.
CurtinLD’AndreaWJBalascioNL, et al. (2019) Holocene and last Interglacial climate of the Faroe Islands from sedimentary plant wax hydrogen and carbon isotopes. Quaternary Science Reviews223: 105930.
37.
DiefendorfAFFreemanKHWingSL, et al. (2011) Production of n-alkyl lipids in living plants and implications for the geologic past. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta75: 7472–7485.
38.
DiefendorfAFLeslieABWingSL (2015) Leaf wax composition and carbon isotopes vary among major conifer groups. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta170: 145–156.
39.
DugmoreAJLarsenGNewtonAJ (1995) Seven tephra isochrones in Scotland. The Holocene5: 257–266.
EjarqueAAndersonRSSimmsAR, et al. (2015) Prehistoric fires and the shaping of colonial transported landscapes in southern California: A palaeoenvironmental study at Dune Pond, Santa Barbara County. Quaternary Science Reviews112: 181–196.
42.
EjarqueAMirasYRieraS (2011) Pollen and non-pollen palynomorph indicators of vegetation and highland grazing activities obtained from modern surface and dung datasets in the eastern Pyrenees. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology167: 123–139.
43.
EldevikTRisebrobakkenBBjuneAE, et al. (2014) A brief history of climate – the northern seas from the last Glacial Maximum to global warming. Quaternary Science Reviews106: 225–246.
44.
EronenMHyvärinenHZetterbergP (1999) Holocene humidity changes in northern Finnish Lapland inferred from lake sediments and submerged Scots pines dates by tree-rings. The Holocene9: 569–580.
45.
FægriKIversenJ (1989) Textbook of Pollen Analysis. 4th ed. In: FaegriKKalandPEKrzywinskiK. New York, NY: Wiley.
46.
GjerdeJMHoleJ-T (2013) Tønsnes Havn, Tromsø kommune, Troms. Rapport frå dei arkeologiske undersøkingane 2011 og 2012. Tromura kulturhistorie nr. 44, Tromsø: Tromsø Museum, University of Tromsø.
47.
GjerdeJMSkandferM (2017) Large Mesolithic house-pits at Tønsnes, coastal northern Norway: evidence of a winter aggregation site? In: BlankholmHP (ed.) Early Economy and Settlement in Northern Europe. Pioneering, Resource Use, Coping with Change, The Early Settlement of Northern Europe, Vol. 3. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing, pp. 59–76.
48.
GlørstadH (2014) Deglaciation, sea level changes and the Holocene colonisation of Norway. In HarffJBaileyGLüthF (eds), Geology and Archaeology; Submerged Landscapes of the Continental Shelf. Special Publication of the Geological Society of London, pp. 9–26.
49.
GrimmEC (2005) Tilia and Tilia graph. PC spreadsheet and graphics software for pollen data. Springfield, IL: Illinois State Museum.
50.
HaldMAnderssonCEbbesenH, et al. (2007) Variations in temperature and extent of Atlantic Water in the northern North Atlantic during the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews26: 3423–3440.
51.
HallVAPilcherJR (2002) Late-Quaternary Icelandic tephras in Ireland and Great Britain: Detection, characterization and usefulness. The Holocene12: 223–230.
52.
HuntleyBLongAJAllenJRM (2013) Spatio-temporal patterns in Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation and climate of Finnmark, northernmost Europe. Quaternary Science Reviews70: 158–175.
53.
JansenEAnderssonCMorosM, et al. (2008) The early to mid-Holocene thermal optimum in the northern North Atlantic and Nordic Seas: The role of seasonal orbital forcing and Holocene century to millennial scale climate events. In: BattarbeeRWBinneyHA (eds), Natural Climate Variability and Global Warming: A Holocene Perspective. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, pp. 123–137.
54.
KahmenASchefußESachseD (2013a) Leaf water deuterium enrichment shapes leaf wax n-alkane δD values of angiosperm plants I: Experimental evidence and mechanistic insights. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta111: 39–49.
55.
KahmenAHoffmannBSchefußE, et al. (2013b) Leaf water deuterium enrichment shapes leaf waxn-alkane δD values of angiosperm plants II: observational evidence and global implications. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta111: 50–63.
56.
KamerlingIMSchofieldJEEdwardsKJ, et al. (2017) High-resolution palynology reveals the land use history of a Sami renvall in northern Sweden. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany26: 369–388.
57.
LarsenGEiríkssonJ (2008) Late Quaternary terrestrial tephrochronology of Iceland – frequency of explosive eruptions, type and volume of tephra deposits. Journal of Quaternary Science23: 109–120
58.
LevesquePEMDinelHLaroucheA (1988) Guide to the Identification of Plant Macrofossils in Canadian Peatlands. Agricultural Canada, Research Branch, Publication1817. Ottawa, Canada: Land Resource Research Centre.
59.
MöllerPÖstlundOBarnekowL, et al. (2012) Living at the margin of the retreating Fennoscandian Ice Sheet: The early Mesolithic sites at Aareavaara, northernmost Sweden. The Holocene23: 104–116.
60.
MontgomeryFH (1977) Seeds and Fruits of Plants of Eastern Canada and Northeastern United States. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
MossbergBStenbergL (2010) Gyldendals Nordiske Feltflora. Gyldendal Norsk Forlag.
63.
NergaardRHOppvangJCerbingM (2016) Tønsnes Havn, Tromsø kommune, Troms. Rapport fra de arkeologiske undersøkelsene 2014. Tromura kulturhistorie nr. 45. Tromsø: Tromsø Museum, University of Tromsø.
64.
NesjeAJansenEBirksJB, et al. (2005) Holocene climate variability in the North Atlantic region: A review of marine and terrestrial evidence. In: DrangeHDokkenTFurevikT, et al. (eds) The Nordic Seas: An Integrated Perspective, AGU Geophysical Monograph, pp. 289–322.
65.
NesjeABakkeJDahlSO, et al. (2008) Norwegian mountain glaciers in the past, present and future. Global and Planetary Change60: 10–27.
66.
NicholsJEBoothRKJacksonST, et al. (2006) Palohydrologic reconstruction based on n-alkane distributions in ombrotrophic peat. Organic Geochemistry37: 1505–1513.
67.
NicholsJEBoothRKJacksonST, et al. (2010) Differential hydrogen isotopic ratios of Sphagnum and vascular plant biomarkers in ombrotrophic peatlands, as a quantitative proxy for precipitation—evaporation balance. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta74: 1407–1416.
68.
NicholsJEPeteetDMMoyCM, et al. (2014) Impacts of climate and vegetation change on carbon accumulation in a south-central Alaskan peatland assessed with novel organic geochemical techniques. The Holocene24: 1146–1155.
69.
NicholsJEWalcottMBradleyRS, et al. (2009) Quantitative assessment of precipitation seasonality and summer surface wetness using ombrotrophic sediments from an Arctic Norwegian peatland. Quaternary Research72: 443–451.
70.
NottCJXieSAvsejsLA, et al. (2000) n-Alkane distributions in ombrotrophic mires as indicators of vegetation change related to climactic variation. Organic Geochemistry31: 231–235.
71.
OldfieldF (2008) The role of people in the Holocene. In BattarbeeRWBinneyHA (eds), Natural climate variability and global warming: a Holocene perspective. Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd., pp. 58–97.
72.
PancostRDBaasMvan GeelB, et al. (2002) Biomarkers as proxies for plant inputs to peats: an example from a sub-boreal ombrotrophic bog. Organic Geochemistry33: 675–690.
73.
PilcherJBradleyRSFrancusP, et al. (2005) A Holocene tephra record from the Lofoten Islands, Arctic Norway. Boreas34: 136–156.
74.
PilcherJRHallVAMcCormacFG (1996) An outline tephrochronology for the Holocene of the north of Ireland. Journal of Quaternary Science11: 485–494.
75.
PolissarPJD’AndreaWJ (2014) Uncertainty in paleohydrologic reconstructions from molecular δD values. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta129: 146–156.
76.
PoynterJFarrimondPRobinsonN, et al. (1989) Aeolian-derived higher plant lipids in the marine sedimentary record: links with palaeoclimate. In: LeinenMSarntheinM (eds), Paleoclimatology and Paleometeorology: Modern and Past Patterns of Global Atmospheric Transport. Netherlands: Springer, pp. 435–462.
77.
R Development Core Team (2011) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available at: www.R-project.org.
78.
ReilleM (1992) Pollen et spores d’Europe et d’Afrique du nord. Laboratoire de Botanique historique et Palynologie, Universite d’Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France
79.
ReimerPJBardEBaylissA, et al. (2013) IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon55: 1869–1887.
80.
RisebrobakkenBJansenEAnderssonC, et al. (2003) A high-resolution study of Holocene paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic changes in the Nordic Seas. Palaeoceanography18: 1017.
81.
RisebrobakkenBMorosMIvanovaEV, et al. (2010) Climate and oceanographic variability in the SW Barents Sea during the Holocene. The Holocene20: 609–621.
82.
Rowley-ConwyPPiperS (2016) Hunter-Gatherer variability: Developing models for the northern coasts. Arctic69: 1–14.
83.
SachseDRadkeJGleixnerG (2006) δD values of individual n-alkanes from terrestrial plants along a climatic gradient – implications for the sedimentary biomarker record. Organic Geochemistry37: 469–483.
84.
SachseDBillaultIBowenGJ, et al. (2012) Molecular paleohydrology: Interpreting the hydrogen-isotopic composition of lipid biomarkers from photosynthesizing organisms. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences40: 221–249.
85.
SejrupHPSeppäHMcKayNP, et al. (2016) North Atlantic-Fennoscandian Holocene climate trends and mechanisms. Quaternary Science Reviews147: 365–378.
86.
SeppäHBjuneAETelfordRJ, et al. (2009) Last nine-thousand years of temperature variability in northern Europe. Climate of the Past5: 523–535.
87.
SjögrenP (2013) Paleoekolgiska undersökingar i samband med utvidgelse av E8 i Lavangsdalen. Rapport fra naturvitenskapelig undersøkelser. Tromsø: Tromsø Museum, University of Tromsø.
88.
SjögrenPKirchheferAJ (2012) Historical legacy of the old-growth pine forest in Dividalen, northern Scandes. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services and Management8(4): 338–350.
89.
SkandferMGrydelandSEHenriksenS (2010) Tønsnes havn, Tromsø kommune, Troms. Rapport fra arkeologiske utgravinger i 2008 og 2009. Tromura kulturhistorie 40. Tromsø: Tromsø Museum, University of Tromsø.
90.
SommersethI (2011) Archaeology and the debate on the transition from reindeer hunting to pastoralism. Rangifer31(1):111–127.
91.
StorliI (1993) Sámi Viking Age pastoralism – or the “fur trade” reconsidered. Norwegian Archaeological Review26(1): 1–20.
92.
StuiverMReimerPJReimerRW (2017) CALIB 7.1 [WWW program]. Available at: http://calib.org (accessed July 2019).
93.
van GeelB. 2001. Non-pollen palynomorphs. In: SmolJPBirksHJBLastWM (eds), Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments, vol. 3. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 99–119.
94.
van HoeveMLHendrikseM (eds) (1998) A Study of Non-Pollen Objects in Pollen Slides; the Types as Described by Dr Bas van Geel and Colleagues. Utrecht, The Netherlands: Private Printing.
95.
VorrenK-DEurolaSTveraabakU (1999) The lowland terrestrial mire vegetation about 69 N lat. In northern Norway. Tromsø: Universitetet I Tromsø, Tromsø Museum.
96.
VorrenK-DJensenCENilssenE (2012) Climate changes during the last c. 7500 years as recorded by the degree of peat humification in the Lofoten region, Norway. Boreas41: 13–30.
97.
VorrenK-DNilssenEMørkvedB (1990) Age and agricultural history of the ‘-staðir’ farms of North and Central Norway. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift44: 79–102.
98.
VorrenK-DBlaauwMWastegårdS, et al. (2007) High-resolution stratigraphy of the northernmost concentric raised bog in Europe: Sellevollmyra, Andøya, northern Norway. Boreas36: 253–277.
99.
VorrenTOPlassenL (2002) Deglaciation and paleoclimate of the Andfjor-Vågsfjord area, North Norway. Boreas31: 97–125.
100.
WarnerBGCharmanDJ (1994) Holocene changes on a peatland in northwestern Ontario interpreted from testate amoebae (Protozoa) analysis. Boreas23: 270–279.
101.
WittmeierHEBakkeJVasskogK, et al. (2015) Reconstructing Holocene glacier activity at Langfjordjøkelen, Arctic Norway, using multi-proxy fingerprinting of distal glacier-fed lake sediments. Quaternary Science Reviews114: 78–99.
102.
WoodlandWCharmanDJSimsPC (1998) Quantitative estimates of water tables and soil moisture in Holocene peatlands from testate amoebae. The Holocene8: 261–273.
103.
ZillénLMWastegårdSSnowballIF (2002) Calendar year ages of three mid-Holocene tephra layers identified in varved lake sediments in west central Sweden. Quaternary Science Reviews21: 1583–1591.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
