Varved sediment responses to early Holocene climate and environmental changes in Lake Meerfelder Maar (Germany) obtained from multivariate analyses of micro X-ray fluorescence core scanning data

We present an early Holocene record from Lake Meerfelder Maar in Germany for in-depth interpretation of depositional changes in annually laminated lake sediments as proxies for climatic and local environmental changes. We characterized the compositional changes in the sediment record using Ward's clustering analyses of the micro X-ray fluorescence core scanning data and linked these to microfacies descriptions. The down-core distribution of the clusters allowed us to define boundaries that represent variations of a comprehensive element assemblage occurring at 11 555, 11 230, 10 650, 10 515 and 9670 varve a BP. Our main results show that during the Early Holocene the long-term vegetation reorganization and evolution of the lake's catchment played a predominant role for sediment deposition. Abrupt shifts occurred at the Younger Dryas/Holocene and the Preboreal/Boreal biostratigraphical boundaries. We do not observe clear signals corresponding to known short-term climatic oscillations described in the North Atlantic region such as the Preboreal Oscillation. A unique and intriguing episode in the history of the lake of predominantly organic deposition and very low amounts of allochthonous sediments occurred between 10 515 and 9670 varve a BP and is related to hydrological thresholds.