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Abstract. The recent development of the MIni CArbon DAting System (MICADAS) allows researchers to obtain radiocarbon (14C) ages from a variety of samples with miniature amounts of carbon (<150 µg C) by using a gas ion source input that bypasses the graphitization step used for conventional 14C dating with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The ability to measure smaller samples, at reduced cost compared with graphitized samples, allows for greater dating density of sediments with low macrofossil concentrations. In this study, we use a section of varved sediments from Lake Żabińskie, NE Poland, as a case study to assess the usefulness of miniature samples from terrestrial plant macrofossils for dating lake sediments. Radiocarbon samples analyzed using gas-source techniques were measured from the same depths as larger graphitized samples to compare the reliability and precision of the two techniques directly. We find that the analytical precision of gas-source measurements decreases as sample mass decreases but is comparable with graphitized samples of a similar size (approximately 150 µg C). For samples larger than 40 µg C and younger than 6000 BP, the uncalibrated 1σ age uncertainty is consistently less than 150 years (±0.010 F14C). The reliability of 14C ages from both techniques is assessed via comparison with a best-age estimate for the sediment sequence, which is the result of an OxCal V sequence that integrates varve counts with 14C ages. No bias is evident in the ages produced by either gas-source input or graphitization. None of the 14C ages in our dataset are clear outliers; the 95 % confidence intervals of all 48 calibrated 14C ages overlap with the median best-age estimate. The effects of sample mass (which defines the expected analytical age uncertainty) and dating density on age–depth models are evaluated via simulated sets of 14C ages that are used as inputs for OxCal P-sequence age–depth models. Nine different sampling scenarios were simulated in which the mass of 14C samples and the number of samples were manipulated. The simulated age–depth models suggest that the lower analytical precision associated with miniature samples can be compensated for by increased dating density. The data presented in this paper can improve sampling strategies and can inform expectations of age uncertainty from miniature radiocarbon samples as well as age–depth model outcomes for lacustrine sediments.

Analysis of non-pollen palynomorphs supplemented by pollen analysis, microcharcoal analysis and geochemical data from laminated sediments from Lake Jaczno were used to establish different phases of land-use in the catchment between c.a. AD 1840 and AD 2013. The results show that during the first eighty years the vicinity of the lake was heavily deforested. During this period erosional inputs caused accumulation of abundant fungal spores, indicators of pastures and natural fertilizers (manure) as well as of corroded pollen grains and charcoal. Gradual regeneration of forest cover took place after World War II, when expansion of pioneer trees occurred (Betula, Salix, Carpinus, Populus). At the same time, a considerable increase in the lake trophy was observed, leading to the changes in phytoplankton and macrophyte communities: a decrease in the proportion of Botryococcus and an increase in the Nymphaea alba population. The non-pollen palynomorphs analyses indicate the substantial human impact that caused changing local environmental conditions, compatible with the results based on pollen analysis and geochemical data.

Varved lake sediments are well known archives used for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. They provide continuous, high-resolution and calendar-year chronologies of past environmental changes. From lakes Kamenduł and Perty, located in the Suwałki Landscape Park, short cores of laminated sediments were collected and investigated using microfacies analysis and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scanning. Sediments of Lake Kamenduł form biogenic (calcite) varves with pale lamina containing precipitated calcite and dark lamina composed of mixed organic and clastic material. There is a visible difference between varves in the lower and the topmost part of the core. The varve thickness and clastic material content decrease upcore. Analysed sediments of Lake Perty also show laminated structures which are biogenic varves composed of calcite laminas interbedded with layers of mixed material and dark laminas containing mostly organic material with some clastic particles. Our study shows that further analysis of sediments from these lakes may provide valuable information about past land use changes in their catchments as well as changes in the water column, i.e. mixing regimes and redox conditions.