The development of Belarusian lakes during the Late Glacial and Holocene

Abstract

Sediment cores from six lakes in northern, central, and southern Belarus were eхamined to establish correlations between changes in lake conditions and catchment evolution since the Older Dryas. Detailed studies were conducted in three areas with highly different landscape development history. Common patterns and synchronism in lake sedimentation and fluctuations are more diverse during the Late Glacial and early Holocene, mainly due to the general tendency of climate warming at the beginning of the postglacial epoch and disappearance of permafrost, which led to the increase in infiltrating processes. During the latter half of the Holocene lake level changes were asynchronous in different regions of Belarus. At that time most of the existing differences were caused by local factors.