Tepsankumpu revisited - pollen evidence of stable Eemian climates in Finnish Lapland

Several till-covered organic deposits, principally lake gyttja, in Finnish Lapland have been correlated with the last (i.e. Eemian) interglacial on th e basis of their lithostratigraphic position and pollen stratigraphy. Most of the sequences an: short, but together with three longer sequences from F innish Lapland and one fram Swedish Lapland (Leveaniemi) they provide a com plete picture of Eemian vegetational and climatic development. The Tepsanku mpu site was revisited, and the till-covered thick freshwater gyttja deposi t was studied in detail for pollen in order to search for signals of rapid climatic fluctuations postulated for the earlier part of the Eemian on the basis of Greenland ice core studies. The Eemian pollen stratigraphy in Finn ish Lapland closely resembles the Holocene pollen stratigraphy of the area. The abundance of spruce and alder pollen suggests, however, more northerly limits for forest vegetation zones during the Eemian than during the Holoc ene. Oak also grew closer to Lapland, indicating a warmer climate than duri ng the Holocene climatic optimum. The Tepsankumpu pollen stratigraphy indic ates climatic stability over the entire time-span it covers, i.e. the major part of the interglacial. This finding is in conflict with results from Gr eenland GRIP ice core studies and interpretations of some Continental Europ ean Eemian pollen diagrams.