New radiocarbon dates from Finnish mammoths indicating large ice-free areas in Fennoscandia during the Middle Weichselian

New radiocarbon dates from Finnish subfossil mammoth material (Mammuthus sp.), transported by glacial ice, range in age from ca. 32000 to ca. 22500 yr BP. These results suggest that there was a larger ice-free area in Fennoscandia during the Middle Weichselian than previously assumed. In addition, two dates are also presented for bones found in clay with a different transport history. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predicting oxygen in small estuaries of the Baltic Sea: a comparative approach

Coastal eutrophication, manifested as hypoxia and anoxia, is a global problem. Only a few empirical models, however, exist to predict bottom oxygen concentration and percentage saturation from nutrient load or morphometry in coastal waters, which are successfully used to predict phytoplankton biomass both in lakes and in estuaries. Furthermore, hardly any empirical models exist to predict bottom oxygen from land-use. A data set was compiled for 19 estuaries in the northern Baltic Sea, which included oxygen concentration and percentage saturation, water chemistry, estuary morphometry, and land-use characteristics. In regression analyses, bottom oxygen was predicted both as a function of the percentage of watershed under agriculture and of mean depth. These models accounted for ca. 55% of the variation in oxygen. Additionally, oxygen was linked to fetch (diameter of the area in the direction of the prevailing wind), which accounted for 30% of the variation in oxygen. This suggests that shallow Finnish estuaries are wind-sensitive. In ‘pits’ (sub-thermocline waters of deep basins), near-bottom total nitrogen strongly correlated with oxygen percentage saturation (R²=0.81). Neither chlorophyll a, total phosphorus nor nutrient loading explained oxygen variation in entire estuaries or in ‘pits’, probably mainly due to annual sedimentation/sediment–water flux dynamics. On the basis of the results of cross-validation, the models have general applicability among Finnish estuaries.     

Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blum.) and its environment in northern Europe during the last glaciation

Woolly mammoths were large, herbivorous, cold-adapted mammals of the Late Pleistocene. The diet and habitat requirements of the species set certain constraints on the palaeoenvironments it could occupy. The relationship between the mammoth’s shifting range and changing environments can be explored using independent data on ice sheet configuration, temperature, and vegetation, provided the locality and age of the fossil remains can be validated. Here we present a comprehensive record of occurrence of the woolly mammoth in the circum-Baltic region of northern Europe during the last glaciation, based on a compilation of radiocarbon-dated remains. The record shows that the mammoth was widespread in northern and north-eastern Europe during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), at 50,000–30,000 calibrated years ago (50–30 ka). The presence of the species up to 65°N latitude supports the restriction of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) during MIS 3. The widest distribution range round 30 ka was followed by a decline that led to the disappearance of mammoths from the area during the maximum extent of the SIS, from 22 to 18 ka. The woolly mammoth re-colonized the Baltic region and southern Scandinavia after the onset of the late-glacial deglaciation at 17 ka. The late-glacial record suggests a markedly fluctuating population changing its range in tune with the rapid environmental changes. The last appearance of mammoth in our study region was in Estonia during the Younger Dryas (Greenland Stadial 1; GS1) at about 12 ka. The two major periods of occurrence during MIS 3 and the late-glacial stadial suggest that mammoth had a wide tolerance of open to semi-open tundra and steppe-tundra habitats with intermediately cold climate, whereas the 22–18 ka disappearance suggests a major southward and/or eastward retreat in response to extremely cold, glacial conditions near the SIS margin. The final regional extinction correlates with the re-forestation during the rapid warming at the Younger Dryas–Holocene boundary.     

Land-use dominates climate controls on nitrogen and phosphorus export from managed and natural Nordic headwater catchments

Agricultural, forestry-impacted and natural catchments are all vectors of nutrient loading in the Nordic countries. Here, we present concentrations and fluxes of total nitrogen (totN) and phosphorus (totP) from 69 Nordic headwater catchments (Denmark: 12, Finland:18, Norway:17, Sweden:22) between 2000 and 2018. Catchments span the range of Nordic climatic and environmental conditions and include natural sites and sites impacted by agricultural and forest management. Concentrations and fluxes of totN and totP were highest in agricultural catchments, intermediate in forestry-impacted and lowest in natural catchments, and were positively related %agricultural land cover and summer temperature. Summer temperature may be a proxy for terrestrial productivity, while %agricultural land cover might be a proxy for catchment nutrient inputs. A regional trend analysis showed significant declines in N concentrations and export across agricultural (−15 μg totN L⁻¹ year⁻¹) and natural (−0.4 μg NO₃-N L⁻¹ year⁻¹) catchments, but individual sites displayed few long-term trends in concentrations (totN: 22%, totP: 25%) or export (totN: 6%, totP: 9%). Forestry-impacted sites had a significant decline in totP (−0.1 μg P L⁻¹ year⁻¹). A small but significant increase in totP fluxes (+0.4 kg P km⁻² year⁻¹) from agricultural catchments was found, and countries showed contrasting patterns. Trends in annual concentrations and fluxes of totP and totN could not be explained in a straightforward way by changes in runoff or climate. Explanations for the totN decline include national mitigation measures in agriculture international policy to reduced air pollution and, possibly, large-scale increases in forest growth. Mitigation to reduce phosphorus appears to be more challenging than for nitrogen. If the green shift entails intensification of agricultural and forest production, new challenges for protection of water quality will emerge possible exacerbated by climate change. Further analysis of headwater totN and totP export should include seasonal trends, aquatic nutrient species and a focus on catchment nutrient inputs.     

MIS 3 mammoth remains from Sweden—implications for faunal history, palaeoclimate and glaciation chronology

The distribution of low-arctic megafaunal remains in time and space from the area previously covered by the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) suggests the presence of breeding mammoth populations in the circum-Baltic region during the time interval from 44 to 26 ka ago. The transport history of 30 mammoth teeth and bones from southern and north-central Sweden was estimated and the remains were subjected to osteological analyses and ¹⁴C dating. Oxygen isotope analyses of tooth enamel indicate a palaeoclimate considerably more homogenous than that experienced in Sweden today, showing moderate north–south gradients in the δ¹⁸O value of precipitation and temperature. In general, the results support the model of restricted ice sheet distribution during the second half of the Middle Weichselian. The clear discrepancy in the inferred absence of glaciation in the central Swedish uplands and the Baltic basin as evidenced by the Swedish mammoth data versus the Danish OSL-based glaciation chronology in the period from 40 to 30 ka ago is discussed in the light of radiocarbon calibration and glacial dynamics.