The high sensitivity of the palynological record in the Vico maar lacustrine sequence (Latium, Italy) highlights the climatic gradient through Europe for the last 90 ka

The palynological study of the Vice maar lacustrine sequence (Italy) is realized from the correlation of three drillholes. The time span covers a period from the end of Oxygen Isotope Substage 5b till the beginning of Stage 1 (from ca. 90 to ca. 10 ka BP). At the base of the pollen diagram (pollen zone 0), a Younger Dryas-like fluctuation is observed. After pollen zone 1, which is a well developed forest period (Substage 5a), the forests of pollen zones 3 and 5 correspond to extensive climate improvements. These last two zones are correlated to the Ognon complex of the Grande Pile (France) and to interstadial periods 20 and 19 defined in the GRIP ice core (Greenland) (72.6-66.2 ka) before the Stage 5/4 transition. These two interstadial periods are global events found in the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets, as well as in North Atlantic marine cores. In other pollen records from north of the Alps, changes have been recorded but they are less pronounced than in Vico. Pollen zone 7 (Stage 3) shows ca. 7 warm/humid fluctuations, that might have a link to the Dansgaard-Oeschger events (Greenland). During zone 9, the Lateglacial interstadial is recorded as well as the Younger Dryas event. The localization of Vice near plant refugia and far from the ice cap enables its pollen diagram to record abrupt and intense response to climate changes, possibly through a link to the Atlantic Ocean via westerly winds. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd