scholarly journals History of Vegetation of Ulyanovsk City and Its Surroundings

Author(s):  
N. V. Blagoveshenskaya ◽  
Ch. T. Zamaldinova ◽  
G. V. Funk

The vegetation evolution on the modern territory of the Ulyanovsk City and its surroundings, beginning from the late glacial period, can be presented as follows. 11,000– 10,300 years ago: a “tundra-steppe” with wormwood-mazy, horsetail, fern, shrubbygreen-green communities. 10,300–9,500 years ago: wormwood-haze-cenotic cenoses, isolated islets of sparse pine forests. 9,500–8,500 years ago: sagebrush-cerebral, cereal steppes and pine forests. 8,500–8,000 years ago: turf-grass, grass-meadow-grass meadow steppes and pine forests. 8,000–6,000 years ago: forbred-cereal, less often turfgrass meadow steppes, birch, and birch-pine forests, the appearance of deciduous species. 6,000–4,500 years ago: pine-broad-leaved, broad-leaved forests, mixed-grassgrass meadow steppes, and the maximum afforestation. 4,500–3,200 years ago: broadleaved, pine-broadleaf forests, and the appearance of agrocenoses. 3200–2500 years ago: pine, pine-birch forests, reduction of broad-leaved species, the expansion of turfgrass steppes and agrocenoses. 2,500–700 years ago: the emergence of secondary forests and meadow steppes (fescue, wormwood-cereal), the expansion of agrocenoses. 700–350 years ago: pine, pine-birch, pine-broadleaf forests, reduction of agrocenoses. 350 years ago till the present time: a sharp decline in forests, the predomination of secondary pine, broad-leaved, small-leaved, mixed forests and secondary meadow steppes, the expansion of agrocenoses and residential areas. Thus, the vegetation of the territory of the Ulyanovsk City and its environs since the late glacial period varied from the steppe one (11,000–8,000 years ago) to the forest-steppe one (8,000–700 years ago) and again to the steppe one (700 years ago – modern time). The least afforestation of the territory was observed from 11,000 to 9,500 years ago (3–4%) and from 350 years ago to the present (6–7%). The greatest afforestation of the forest-steppe was from 6,000 to 3,200 years ago, when the forest-to-steppe ratio was equal.

The stratigraphy of sediments in two lake basins in the Caernarvonshire mountains at 600 and 900 ft. O.D. is described and it is shown that the basal layers were deposited in the Late-glacial Period. The deposits of a third site occupying a kettle-hole in morainic gravels at 1223 ft. O.D. are described and here the Late-glacial Period is not represented. The relation of these sites to the youngest corrie moraines of the district indicates that the latter were formed during the post-Allerod climatic regression (Zone III). The vegetation history of the district was studied by means of pollen analysis of lacustrine deposits from the two first-mentioned sites (above). The vegetation of the Late-glacial Period at first formed tundra (Zone I) in which arctic-alpines, notably Betula , flourished together with species of oceanic and oceanic-northern distribution and calcicolous, eutrophic and moderately thermophilous plants. The spread of juniper scrub preceded the arrival of tree birches, which form ‘park-tundra’ in Zone II at Nant Ffrancon but failed to grow as high as Llyn Dwythwch. The birch ‘ parktundra’ is considered to have covered Britain south of the Forth-Clyde at low altitudes and to have occupied central and eastern Ireland at this time. The climatic deterioration of Zone III is clearly registered by the decline of juniper and tree birch and the local severity of conditions is demonstrated by the increased abundance of the chianophilous fern, Cryptogramma crispa, Lycopodium selago, Saussurea alpina and other montane herbs. The extensive occurrence of solifluxion, augmented by glacier streams, brought down silt and clay into the lakes. The ensuing amelioration in climate and the course of forest development through the Post-glacial Period is briefly traced and the persistence of certain elements of the present mountain flora from the Late-glacial Period demonstrated. A description is given of the spores of Cryptogramma crispa which together with Lycopodium annotinum and Saussurea alpina are new to British Late-glacial records.


1955 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 769-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. Charlesworth

SynopsisFrom the abounding moraines, drainage features (fig. 21) and other marginal indications an attempt has been made to reconstruct the successive phases of the ice in its retreat into the corries of the Highlands and Islands (Pl. I). Two late-glacial stages are recognised. During the first, the Highland Glaciation, an ice-margin ran from the Orkney Islands across the mouth of the Moray Firth to the Buchan and out to sea north of Aberdeen. Twelve substages (A–L) of retreat, arbitrarily selected, have been traced through the country, except in the Moraineless West where they are unrepresented.At the maximum of the second stage, the Moraine Glaciation, the ice readvanced to the line stage M (beaded line in Pl. I). The retreat from this line, the inner boundary of the Moraineless West and of the 100-foot raised beach (Pl. I), is divided into nine substages (N–V), based upon a consideration of snowlines. Substage N corresponds to the 50-foot raised beach, substage P to an important readvance.The snowline throughout the late-glacial period ran in the west parallel with the meridians and rose eastwards. The disposition of the snowlines for stage M is given in fig. 22, p. 900.The distribution of the ice in the British Isles during the North British, Highland and Moraine Glaciations is represented in fig. 23, p. 923.


2009 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioan Tantau ◽  
Maurice Reille ◽  
Jacques-Louis de Beaulieu ◽  
Sorina Farcas ◽  
Simon Brewer

AbstractPollen analysis from a peat core 7.0 m in length, taken from a bog near Bisoca, in a mid-altitude area of the Buzăului Subcarpathian mountains, is used to reconstruct the postglacial vegetation history of the region. The vegetation record, which is supported by twelve 14C dates, starts at the end of the Late Glacial period. At the Late Glacial/Holocene transition, open vegetation was replaced by forest, suggesting a fast response to climatic warming. The Holocene began with the expansion of Betula, Pinus and Ulmus, followed, after 11,000 cal yr BP, by Fraxinus, Quercus, Tilia and Picea. The rapid expansion of these taxa may be due to their existence in the area during the Late Glacial period. At ca. 9200 cal yr BP, Corylus expanded, reaching a maximum after 7600 cal yr BP. The establishment of Carpinus occurred at ca. 7200 cal yr BP, with a maximum at ca. 5700 cal yr BP. Fagus pollen is regularly recorded after 7800 cal yr BP and became dominant at ca. 2000 cal yr BP. The first indications of human activities appear around 3800 cal yr BP.


2012 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 502-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Iglesias ◽  
Cathy Whitlock ◽  
María Martha Bianchi ◽  
Gustavo Villarosa ◽  
Valeria Outes

AbstractPatagonian vegetation has dramatically changed in composition and distribution over the last 16,000 yr. Although patterns of vegetation change are relatively clear, our understanding of the processes that produce them is limited. High-resolution pollen and charcoal records from two lakes located at lat 41°S provide new information on the postglacial history of vegetation and fire activity at the forest–steppe ecotone, and help clarify the relative importance of local and regional drivers of late-Holocene ecological change. Our results suggest that late-glacial parkland was colonized by shrubs at ca. 11,200 cal yr BP and this vegetation persisted until 4900 cal yr BP, when increased humidity allowed for the establishment of Nothofagus forest. The late Holocene is characterized by oscillations in forest dominance largely driven by changes in humidity, possibly associated with the onset or strengthening of ENSO. In the last 4900 yr, humid periods (4900–3800 and 2850–1350 cal yr BP) have promoted Nothofagus forest, whereas drier times (3800–2850 and 1350–450 cal yr BP) have favored Austrocedrus expansion. At intermediate moisture levels, however, the lower forest supported both taxa, and fire became an important control of community composition, with severe, infrequent fires facilitating Nothofagus regeneration and high fire frequency and intensity supporting Austrocedrus.


This paper describes the morphology of a small piece of the Chalk escarpment near Brook in east Kent, and reconstructs its history since the end of the Last Glaciation. The escarpment contains a number of steep-sided valleys, or coombes, with which are associated deposits of chalk debris, filling their bottoms and extending as fans over the Gault Clay plain beyond. Here the fans overlie radiocarbon-dated marsh deposits of zone II (10 000 to 8800 B.C.) of the Late-glacial Period. The debris fans were formed and the coombes were cut very largely during the succeeding zone III (8800 to 8300 B.C.). The fans are the products of frost-shattering, probably transported by a combination of niveo-fluvial action and the release of spring waters; intercalated seams of loess also occur. The molluscs and plants preserved in the Late-glacial deposits give a fairly detailed picture of local conditions. The later history of one of the coombes, the Devil’s Kneadingtrough, is reconstructed. The springs have effected virtually no erosion and have probably always emerged more or less in their present position. In the floor of the coombe the periglacial chalk rubbles of zone III are covered by Postglacial deposits, mainly hillwashes. They are oxidized and yield no pollen, but contain rich faunas of land Mollusca, which are presented in the form of histograms revealing changing local ecological and climatic conditions. During most of the Post-glacial Period, from the end of zone III until about the beginning of zone VIII, very little accumulation took place on the coombe floor. But below the springs there are marsh deposits which span much of this interval. They yield faunas of considerable zoogeographical interest. The approximate beginning of zone VII a (Atlantic Period) is reflected by a calcareous tufa, which overlies a weathering horizon, and represents an increase in spring flow. Two clearance phases are deduced from the molluscan record. The first may have taken place at least as early as the Beaker Period (Late Neolithic/earliest Bronze Age); the second is probably of Iron Age ‘A’ date. In Iron Age times the subsoil was mobilized and a phase of rapid hillwashing began. As a result the valley floor became buried by humic chalk muds. The prime cause of this process was probably the beginning of intensive arable farming on the slopes above the coombe; a possible subsidiary factor may have been the Sub-Atlantic worsening of climate. The muds yield pottery ranging in date from Iron Age ‘Kentish first A’ ( ca . 500 to ca . 300 B.C.) to Romano-British ware of the first or second centuries A.D. Evidence is put forward for a possible climatic oscillation from dry to wet taking place at about the time of Christ. In the later stages of cultivation, possibly in the Roman Era, the valley floor was ploughed and given its present-day form.


2014 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Henri Blard ◽  
Jérôme Lave ◽  
Kenneth A. Farley ◽  
Victor Ramirez ◽  
Nestor Jimenez ◽  
...  

AbstractThis work presents the first reconstruction of late Pleistocene glacier fluctuations on Uturuncu volcano, in the Southern Tropical Andes. Cosmogenic 3He dating of glacial landforms provides constraints on ancient glacier position between 65 and 14 ka. Despite important scatter in the exposure ages on the oldest moraines, probably resulting from pre-exposure, these 3He data constrain the timing of the moraine deposits and subsequent glacier recessions: the Uturuncu glacier may have reached its maximum extent much before the global LGM, maybe as early as 65 ka, with an equilibrium line altitude (ELA) at 5280 m. Then, the glacier remained close to its maximum position, with a main stillstand identified around 40 ka, and another one between 35 and 17 ka, followed by a limited recession at 17 ka. Then, another glacial stillstand is identified upstream during the late glacial period, probably between 16 and 14 ka, with an ELA standing at 5350 m. This stillstand is synchronous with the paleolake Tauca highstand. This result indicates that this regionally wet and cold episode, during the Heinrich 1 event, also impacted the Southern Altiplano. The ELA rose above 5450 m after 14 ka, synchronously with the Bolling–Allerod.


Biologia ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 61 (20) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vlasta Jankovská

AbstractPollen analysis has been carried out on a 549 cm thick sediment profile from lake Plešné jezero (Plešné Lake) in the Bohemian Forest (Šumava, Czech Republic; 1090 m a.s.l.; 48°47′ N; 13°52′ E). Analyses of 67 samples characterise the development of the lake biotope and the surrounding landscape during the last ca. 14,000 years. The pollen diagram shows a very distinct transition between the Late Glacial and the Holocene biostratigraphic units at a depth of ca. 312 cm. In the surroundings of Plešné Lake the vegetation was treeless during the entire Late Glacial. The alpine tree limit, formed by Betula and Pinus with undergrowth of shrubs, might have been at ca. 500 m a.s.l. Pollen transported from long distances was significant due to the openness of the landscape, coming from southern Europe and even Africa, and including high numbers of Artemisia, Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae, and some other herbs and shrubs from steppe and forest-steppe areas in southern Europe or Africa (likely Ephedra, certainly Lygeum spartum). The expansion of shrubs, particularly Juniperus, preceded the expansion of trees near the end of the Late Glacial. Afforestation of the region by thin stands of Betula and Pinus occurred during the Preboreal. Significant warming in the Boreal resulted in the expansion of Corylus, Quercetum mixtum (QM) trees, and probably also Picea and Alnus. Picea as well as QM trees were further expanding during the Early Atlantic. Picea was the dominant tree during the Late Atlantic and Fagus started to spread towards its end. Abrupt expansion of Abies marks the Subboreal. A high degree of afforestation (Abies, Fagus, Picea) was characteristic for the Early Subatlantic. During Late Subatlantic, pollen of synanthropic plants appears. Phases of the lake biotope development were defined on the basis of coccal green algae and Isoëtes.


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