Five test runs were performed to assess possible bias when performing the loss on ignition (LOI) method to estimate organic matter and carbonate content of lake sediments. An accurate and stable weight loss was achieved after 2 h of burning pure CaCO3 at 950 °C, whereas LOI of pure graphite at 530 °C showed a direct relation to sample size and exposure time, with only 40-70% of the possible weight loss reached after 2 h of exposure and smaller samples losing weight faster than larger ones. Experiments with a standardised lake sediment revealed a strong initial weight loss at 550 °C, but samples continued to lose weight at a slow rate at exposure of up to 64 h, which was likely the effect of loss of volatile salts, structural water of clay minerals or metal oxides, or of inorganic carbon after the initial burning of organic matter. A further test-run revealed that at 550 °C samples in the centre of the furnace lost more weight than marginal samples. At 950 °C this pattern was still apparent but the differences became negligible. Again, LOI was dependent on sample size. An analytical LOI quality control experiment including ten different laboratories was carried out using each laboratory's own LOI procedure as well as a standardised LOI procedure to analyse three different sediments. The range of LOI values between laboratories measured at 550 °C was generally larger when each laboratory used its own method than when using the standard method. This was similar for 950 °C, although the range of values tended to be smaller. The within-laboratory range of LOI measurements for a given sediment was generally small. Comparisons of the results of the individual and the standardised method suggest that there is a laboratory-specific pattern in the results, probably due to differences in laboratory equipment and/or handling that could not be eliminated by standardising the LOI procedure. Factors such as sample size, exposure time, position of samples in the furnace and the laboratory measuring affected LOI results, with LOI at 550 °C being more susceptible to these factors than LOI at 950 °C. We, therefore, recommend analysts to be consistent in the LOI method used in relation to the ignition temperatures, exposure times, and the sample size and to include information on these three parameters when referring to the method.

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Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of results.

CONISS: a FORTRAN 77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by the method of incremental sum of squares

Publisher Summary This chapter concerns data analysis techniques that assist the interpretation of community composition in terms of species' responses to environmental gradients in the broadest sense. All species occur in a characteristic, limited range of habitats; and within their range, they tend to be most abundant around their particular environmental optimum. The composition of biotic communities thus changes along environmental gradients. Direct gradient analysis is a regression problem—fitting curves or surfaces to the relation between each species' abundance, probability of occurrence, and one or more environmental variables. Ecologists have independently developed a variety of alternative techniques. Many of these techniques are essentially heuristic, and have a less secure theoretical basis. This chapter presents a theory of gradient analysis, in which the heuristic techniques are integrated with regression, calibration, ordination and constrained ordination as distinct, well-defined statistical problems. The various techniques used for each type of problem are classified in families according to their implicit response model and the method used to estimate parameters of the model. Three such families are considered. The treatment shown here unites such apparently disparate data analysis techniques as linear regression, principal components analysis, redundancy analysis, Gaussian ordination, weighted averaging, reciprocal averaging, detrended correspondence analysis, and canonical correspondence analysis in a single theoretical framework.

/pdf/a-theory-of-gradient-analysis-351pq0a6mk.pdf

A Theory of Gradient Analysis

Glossary of pollen and spore terminology

https://boris.unibe.ch/62575/1/1-s2.0-S0277379114003485-main.pdf

A stratigraphic framework for abrupt climatic changes during the Last Glacial period based on three synchronized Greenland ice-core records: refining and extending the INTIMATE event stratigraphy

This handbook reviews the key palaeoecological methods applied to primarily organic lake and mire deposits. Particular attention is paid to Holocene environmental changes in the temperate zone, but most methods can be applied to older Quaternary deposits and to areas outside the temperate zone. The need for uniform methods of correlating stratigraphical data on a continental scale is emphasized. The first part of the book concentrates upon the theoretical background to environmental change, examining relationships between physical and biological environments and how they are affected by changes in climate, hydrology and human impact. The research strategy applied to palaeoecological studies of lakes and mires is then considered, introducing the concept of 'reference sites' for stratigraphical correlations. Recommended methods for dealing with these sites are described in subsequent sections. These include sampling and mapping techniques, stratigraphical methods, dating methods, and physical, chemical and biological methods. The numerical treatment of biostratigraphical data is discussed in the final section. The content is based upon the work of the International Geological Correlation Programme Project 158B.

Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology

Principles and terminology for classification of the Quaternary are discussed, including lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy. morphostratigraphy, climatostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy. The main conclusion is a proposal for a common chronostratigraphical classification of the Quaternary in Norden (and partly continental NW Europe). The Quaternary is subdivided into the Pleistocene and the Holocene Series. The Pleistocene is further subdivided into several provisional stages (Weichselian, Eemian, etc.), based on the sequence of glacials/interglacials. but with the boundaries preferably defined by stratotypes. The Late Weichselian and the Flandrian (Holocene) are subdivided into chronozoncs (Bolling, Older Dryas, Allerod, Younger Dryas, Preboreal, Boreal, Atlantic, Subboreal, Subatlantic) with the boundaries dcfined in conventional radiocarbon years.

Quaternary stratigraphy of Norden, a proposal for terminology and classification

Ireland Great Britain - England Great Britain - Wales Great Britain - Scotland Faroe Islands Norway Denmark Sweden Finland Russian Karelia Estonia Lithuania Poland Czech and Slovak Republics Germany Belgium France Switzerland Austria Slovenia Bulgaria.

Palaeoecological Events During the Last 15,000 Years: Regional Synthesis of Palaeoecological Studies of Lakes and Mires in Europe.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00173136109428945

Björn E. Berglund

Papers

Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology

Quaternary stratigraphy of Norden, a proposal for terminology and classification

Palaeoecological Events During the Last 15,000 Years: Regional Synthesis of Palaeoecological Studies of Lakes and Mires in Europe.

An Introduction to a Scandinavian Pollen Flora

Human impact and climate changes—synchronous events and a causal link?