The pollen record from Elk Lake is interpreted in climatic terms by three different numerical approaches. The paleoclimatic record inferred for Elk Lake can be described as a sequence of climatic zones, separated by short transitional intervals: (1) the cold and dry late glacial zone (11,600–11,000 varve yr), (2) the cool and moist early Holocene zone (10,000–8500 varve yr), (3) the warm and dry middle Holocene zone (7800–4500 varve yr), and (4) the warm and moist late Holocene zone (3500 varve yr to present).

Two large-scale controls of this climatic sequence can be inferred from paleoclimatic model experiments. The first...