Devensian Lateglacial and early Holocene floral and faunal records from NENorthumberland

Radiocarbon-dated Late Devensian and early Holocene pollen, molluscan and o stracod assemblages, from the sediments of an infilled kettle-hole lake nea r Wooler in north-eastern Northumberland, are described and discussed in bo th a local and a wider context. During the Lateglacial interstadial, open b irch woodland developed for a short time after herbaceous vegetation had fi rst dominated the surrounding landscape. Scrub was present for the remainde r of the interstadial. Mollusca and Ostracoda immigrated into the lake duri ng the pre-woodland phase of the interstadial, then disappeared, perhaps du e to a climatic deterioration. A depauperate fauna returned in the latter p art of the interstadial, when a less hostile aquatic environment may have e xisted. In the succeeding Loch Lomond Stadial, a periglacial climate led to tundra-like vegetation and to the extirpation once again of the lacustrine fauna. In the early Holocene, Betula- then Corylus-dominated woodland was preceded by scrub and heath. Mollusca and Ostracoda recolonized the water b ody at the start of the Holocene, with the former quickly developing a dive rse fauna. Two episodes of increased lake level with an intervening fall ar e suggested by the faunal assemblages. The second rise in water level was a ccompanied by vegetation changes in its environs, which may have been linke d to a wetter and cooler climate than that which preceded it, and which occ urred between 8000 and 7000 BP.