Radiocarbon-Dated Subfossil Pines from Finnish Lapland

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Abstract
A total of 64 subfossil pine samples from the pine tree limit zone or beyond the present limit of pine in Finnish Lapland have been 14C dated. Ten new dates from the Enontekiö region in northwestern Finnish Lapland are reported in the present paper. The majority of the dates from that region falls between approx. 6000 and 4000 B.P., showing that the pine area reached its maximum extent during that period. The dates from Inari and Utsjoki in the northernmost part of Finland are scattered between a few hundred and about 7000 years B.P., indicating that the retreat of the pine limit was a gradual process. Pine reached its maximum distribution during the postglacial climatic optimum, when the outermost occurrences were far beyond its present limit. The slow climatic deterioration since about 5000 B.P. has been the main reason for the decline of northernmost pine forests. The present material does not allow oscillations in the pine limit to be detected, but presumbly some variations did occur within the general long-term cooling trend.

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