A 200‐year tree‐ring chronology of pine from a raised bog in sweden: implication for climate change?

Abstract

A dendrochronological study was made on fossil tree trunks of Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris, preserved in a peat bog at Hanvedsmossen, 50 km SW of Stockholm, Sweden. Of 56 sampled pines, 48 were assembled in a 204‐year long floating chro‐nology. The chronology spans 1686‐1483 BC ± 23 years. The trunks are found at the very bottom of the peat accumulation. Because the roots stand in underlying clay, the tree stand germinated before or simultaneously with bog growth and provides maximum age for bog vegetation development which started c. 1480 BC. The pine growth steadily decreased during the last 30 years of the chronology and most trees died during the same period. It is proposed that the drainage outlets from Hanvedsmossen overgrew with brushwood simultaneously with the succession of pines, resulting in a higher sensitivity of tree growth to small changes in water levels. The preservation of the logs is suggested to be a result of a raised water table providing anaerobic conditions and later the logs were enveloped by peat growth. It is suggested that this period was the initial phase of the ensuing climate deterioration. The climate shifted to wetter conditions, i.e. higher amounts of precipitation, lower temperature or both. This resulted in lower evaporation giving additional peat bog growth and a locally raised water table.

Key words:

• paraglacial
• glacigenic sediments
• debris flow
• clast fabrics
• lithofacies
• diamicton
• Norway