Between the mountains and the sea: Late Holocene Caspian Sea level fluctuations and vegetation history of the lowland forests of northern Iran

Pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating of a core from northern Iran enable reconstructing the past three millennia of vegetation dynamics of the Caspian lowlands and Alborz foothills of central northern Iran as a function of Caspian Sea level oscillations, climate change and human impact. The high values of Alnus pollen and a diverse assemblage of non-pollen palynomorphs indicate that during most of the time span covered by the record a wet...