Weichselian and Holocene lake sediments, peat deposits and molar folds as environmental archives in the North Sea area

During the Weichselian the sea level was much lower than today because enormous quantities of water were stored as ice caps on land. In western Europe the southern limit of the ice cap connected northern Britain with southern Scandinavia. The present day North Sea mainly consisted of dry land. During the coldest periods the landscape was a polar desert without vegetation and therefore without fauna. Sandy deposits were mainly prone to aeolian transport. During periods of less extreme climatic conditions, vegetation could develop and thus the landscape became a habitat for a variety of mammal species. Soils were dry in upland areas, but lakes and peatlands could develop on top of permafrost in depressions in the landscape. Wind erosion and sand deposition played a minor role during periods with a relatively mild climate; because soils were covered with vegetation.
In areas with dry sandy soils, plant remains completely decomposed, but in peat deposits and lake sediments pollen grains, fruits, seeds, vegetative plant remains and fungal spores were fossilized. These fossils formed archives of the former vegetation and landscape development. In addition, molar embedded pollen grains represent habitats and diets of large herbivore species.