Eemian and Vistulian pollen records from the Łomża region (NE Poland)

In the Łomża region, northeastern Poland, many new lacustrine and peat deposits have been found. Pollen analysis of borehole material shows that they accumulated mostly during the Eemian Interglacial. Parts of these sites were active in the Vistulian, probably in its early phases. The sites analysed usually represent small lakes or peat-bogs sediment with accumulating in different time intervals of the Eemian. Only exceptionally they are represented by deep-water facies with a decrease in water level not before the hornbeam zone, as seen at many Eemian sites in Poland. Especially interesting is the occurrence in the pollen spectra of a number of exotic taxa such as Viburnum lantana, Bruckenthalia spiculifolia, Falcaria vulgaris, Lycopodium lucidulum t. noted previously in the Eemian Interglacial mainly in the south and in the southeastern Poland, where milder climatic conditions prevailed. The analysed interglacial spectra also show signs of plant—animal interaction. Such signs have been observed in Holocene and Vistulian strata, although in other pollen taxa. Pollen affected by these processes may come to resemble other species and so be misidentified.