A HIGH-RESOLUTION RECORD OF LATE YOUNGER DRYAS TO MIDHOLOCENE PALEOHYDROLOGICAL CHANGES FROM THE PALAEOLAKE LE LOCLE, SWISS JURA

A high-resolution record of palaeohydrological changes from Late Young er Dryas to Mid-Holocene is reconstructed from palynological and sedim entological investigations of lacustrine infillings at the palaeolake Le Locle in the Swiss Jura. The Late Younger Dryas is characterized by a general trend towards a fall in lake-level and a large climatic ins tability. The Early to Mid-Holocene period shows two large lowering ph ases developing during the Preboreal and the first half of the Older A tlantic. Each of these phases was interrupted by a shea-term rise in l ake-level, and followed by a major and durable high lake-level event o ccurring during the Boreal and the second half of the Older Atlantic. This regional pattern of climatic changes presents similarities with c limatic changes recorded both in western and central Europe and in the Atlantic ocean. (C) Academie des sciences/Elsevier, Paris.