PAGES Lithuania

national science highlight

Late Glacial and Holocene environment: natural effects and human impacts

Reconstruction of the Post Glacial environmental history of the second half of the Holocene, with emphasis on human interaction, is the main aim of investigations being carried out in Lithuania. A survey of Late Glacial deposits (Fig. 1) has provided new data that enables us to determine peculiarities of the vegetation cover, variations in the lake level table and the intensity of geological processes in this part of Europe. Ongoing investigations of the Holocene period are aimed at reconstructing the environmental history, including chronologization and a description of particular events, with special emphasis on anthropogenically induced changes (Fig. 2). Numerous interdisciplinary investigations are studying the negligible impact of the Mesolithic tribes, the rising activity of the Neolithic communities with the onset of subsistence economies, and the increase in human pressure throughout later periods.
The Baltic Sea is of particular interest for the Lithuanian scientific community. A detailed survey of coastal formations and deep sea sections have provided information about sea level fluctuations, paleoecological regime, sedimentation and erosion processes.

Fig. 1. Coring in Varene Lake (photo by V. Seiriene)