Chironomid-based summer temperature reconstruction of the Eemian–Weichselian transition at Lichtenberg, northern Germany

Understanding the temperature variability of past interglacial cycles is essential to predict future climates. We present a new summer temperature reconstruction, based on the subfossil chironomid record from a small palaeolake adjacent to the Middle Palaeolithic site of Lichtenberg, northern Germany. The record spans from the Saalian late glacial over the Eemian (Marine Isotope Stage 5e) to the Early Weichselian. The Eemian interglacial is dominated by warm-preferring chironomid taxa such as Cladopelma sp. and Glyptotendipes pallens/severini-type, suggesting a productive, littoral environment with July air temperatures between 17 and 20 °C. In the beginning of the Early Weichselian cold-stenothermal, oligo-mesotrophic taxa, such as Tanytarsus lugens-type, Sergentia coracina-type and Micropsectra radialis-type occur, which represent a colder regime characterized by summer temperatures between 12 and 17 °C. We tentatively assign this period to the Herning Stadial. A subsequent warmer period within the Early Weichselian, probably reflecting the Brörup interstadial, is characterized by Eemian-like chironomid assemblages, reconstructing warmer temperatures (16–20 °C). Our palaeotemperature reconstruction from Lichtenberg agrees with other temperature reconstructions from mid-Europe covering the same time period, testifying that the inferences drawn from the chironomid response complement the information inferred from other proxy indicators.