Oscillations of the water balance during the Holocene in interior Central Europe-features, dating and consequences

The continental water balance depends on precipitation and evaporation, with the latter due to temperature. Moreover, both the components of weather and climate are influenced by the annual seasonality. All these factors have changed during the last millennia. and periods of significant moisture have alternated with ones of low moisture. Evidence of these oscillations results from geostratigraphical subdivision of sequences of freshwater lime deposits and from lake level changes of inland lakes. but also from many archaeological observations concerning settlement distribution. All these observations reflect oscillations that can be correlated through archaeological and other dating. Alternation of drier and moister periods in the course of the Central European Holocene can be recognized. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.