scholarly journals Periodic input of dust over the Eastern Carpathians during the Holocene linked with Saharan desertification and human impact

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Longman ◽  
Daniel Veres ◽  
Vasile Ersek ◽  
Ulrich Salzmann ◽  
Katalin Hubay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Testate Amoeba ◽  
Dust Deposition ◽  
Geochemical Composition ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Carpathian Region ◽  
Dust Flux ◽  
Eastern Carpathians ◽  
Periodic Input ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Reconstructions of dust flux have been used to produce valuable global records of changes in atmospheric circulation and aridity. These studies have highlighted the importance of atmospheric dust in marine and terrestrial biogeochemistry and nutrient cycling. By investigating a 10 800-year long paleoclimate archive from the Eastern Carpathians (Romania) we present the first peat record of changing dust deposition over the Holocene for the Carpathian-Balkan region. Using qualitative (XRF core scanning) and quantitative (ICP-OES) measurements of lithogenic (Fe, K, Si, Ti) elements, we identify 11 periods of major dust deposition between: 9500–9100, 8400–8100, 7720–7250, 6350–6000, 5450–5050, 4130–3770, 3450–2850, 2100–1450, 800–620, and 60 cal yr BP to present. In addition, we used testate amoeba assemblages preserved within the peat to infer local palaeohydroclimate conditions. Our record highlights several discrepancies between eastern and western European dust depositional records, and the impact of highly complex hydrological regimes in the Carpathian region. After 6100 cal yr BP, we find that the geochemical indicators of dust flux become uncoupled from the local hydrology. This coincides with the appearance of millennial-scale cycles in the dust input and changes in geochemical composition of dust. We suggest this is indicative of a shift in dust provenance from local/regional (likely loess-related) to distal (Saharan) sources which coincide with the end of the African Humid Period and the onset of Saharan desertification.

scholarly journals Periodic input of dust over the Eastern Carpathians during the Holocene linked with Saharan desertification and human impact

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 897-917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Longman ◽  
Daniel Veres ◽  
Vasile Ersek ◽  
Ulrich Salzmann ◽  
Katalin Hubay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inductively Coupled Plasma ◽  
Optical Emission ◽  
Testate Amoeba ◽  
Dust Deposition ◽  
Geochemical Composition ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Inductively Coupled ◽  
Dust Flux ◽  
Eastern Carpathians ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Reconstructions of dust flux have been used to produce valuable global records of changes in atmospheric circulation and aridity. These studies have highlighted the importance of atmospheric dust in marine and terrestrial biogeochemistry and nutrient cycling. By investigating a 10 800-year-long paleoclimate archive from the Eastern Carpathians (Romania) we present the first peat record of changing dust deposition over the Holocene for the Carpathian–Balkan region. Using qualitative (X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning) and quantitative inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer(ICP-OES) measurements of lithogenic (K, Si, Ti) elements, we identify 10 periods of major dust deposition between 9500–9200, 8400–8100, 7720–7250, 6350–5950, 5450–5050, 4130–3770, 3450–2850, 2000–1450, 800–620, and 60 cal yr BP to present. In addition, we used testate amoeba assemblages preserved within the peat to infer local palaeohydroclimatic conditions. Our record highlights several discrepancies between eastern and western European dust depositional records and the impact of highly complex hydrological regimes in the Carpathian region. Since 6100 cal yr BP, we find that the geochemical indicators of dust flux have become uncoupled from the local hydrology. This coincides with the appearance of millennial-scale cycles in the dust input and changes in geochemical composition of dust. We suggest that this is indicative of a shift in dust provenance from local–regional (likely loess-related) to distal (Saharan) sources, which coincide with the end of the African Humid Period and the onset of Saharan desertification.

Development and degradation of a submontane forest in the Beskid Wyspowy Mountains (Polish Western Carpathians) during the Holocene

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110332
Author(s):  
Piotr Kołaczek ◽  
Krzysztof Buczek ◽  
Włodzimierz Margielewski ◽  
Mariusz Gałka ◽  
Aleksandra Rycerz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Size Fraction ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Western Carpathians ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Forest Belt ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Parasitic Fungi ◽  
Carpathian Region ◽  
Fire Activity

Mountain regions harbour high biodiversity; however, in numerous areas, they are strongly degraded by human activity. Our study reconstructs the development of the submontane forest belt (400 and 650 m a.s.l.) in the Beskid Wyspowy Mountains (Western Carpathians, Central Europe) affected by climate, humans, fire, and parasitic fungi during the Holocene. This forest belt is considered the most transformed by the human in the Carpathian region. Our multi-proxy study included analyses of pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), plant macrofossils, micro- and macrocharcoal (size fraction >100 µm, analysed in contiguous sampling), geochemical, and sedimentological markers. The results revealed that Picea abies dominated on the fen subjected to study at ca. 8510–5010 cal. BP. Tilia cordata was a substantial component of the submontane forest between ca. 8510 and 2970 cal. BP and it survived a probable Kretzschmaria deusta outbreak, as well as a period of increased fire activity (ca. 6000 cal. BP). The final retreat of forests with a substantial contribution of Tilia was induced by the expansion of Abies alba, Fagus sylvatica, and partly Carpinus betulus and was preceded by the period of increased fire activity and erosion. From ca. 900 cal. BP human-induced deforestations and agricultural and pastoral activity increased. The modern presence of woodlands with Pinus sylvestris and Larix decidua, in the submontane zone in the Beskid Wyspowy Mountains, is a result of sub-recent anthropogenic afforestation on overgrazed areas. The example of the Zbludza site reveals that changes related to fire and pathogen infections, if they have low magnitudes and new competitive taxa are absent, may be reversible in a forest composed of fire-intolerant tree taxa as Tilia. Nonetheless, the widespread submontane ecosystem degradation and the introduction of alien species hamper the regeneration of forest vegetation typical of the submontane zone.

scholarly journals Impact of Industrial Pollution on Radial Growth of Conifers in a Former Mining Area in the Eastern Carpathians (Northern Romania)

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 640
Author(s):  
Cristian Gheorghe Sidor ◽  
Radu Vlad ◽  
Ionel Popa ◽  
Anca Semeniuc ◽  
Ecaterina Apostol ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Industrial Pollution ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
Mining Operation ◽  
Mining Area ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Local Pollution ◽  
Eastern Carpathians ◽  
The Impact

The research aims to evaluate the impact of local industrial pollution on radial growth in affected Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) stands in the Tarnița study area in Suceava. For northeastern Romania, the Tarnița mining operation constituted a hotspot of industrial pollution. The primary processing of non-ferrous ores containing heavy metals in the form of complex sulfides was the main cause of pollution in the Tarnița region from 1968 to 1990. Air pollution of Tarnița induced substantial tree growth reduction from 1978 to 1990, causing a decline in tree health and vitality. Growth decline in stands located over 6 km from the pollution source was weaker or absent. Spruce trees were much less affected by the phenomenon of local pollution than fir trees. We analyzed the dynamics of resilience indices and average radial growth indices and found that the period in which the trees suffered the most from local pollution was between 1978 and 1984. Growth recovery of the intensively polluted stand was observed after the 1990s when the environmental condition improved because of a significant reduction in air pollution.

Middle Holocene environmental reconstruction and climatic inferences through multi-proxy records from Seymareh lake sediments (Zagros Mts., Iran)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Delchiaro ◽  
Giulia Iacobucci ◽  
Francesco Troiani ◽  
Marta Della Seta ◽  
Paolo Ballato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentation Rate ◽  
Water Discharge ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Grain Size Analysis ◽  
Size Analysis ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
Lake System ◽  
Proxy Records ◽  
The Impact

<p>The Seymareh landslide is the largest rock slope failure (44 Gm<sup>3</sup>) ever recorded on the exposed Earth surface. It detached ∼10 ka BP from the northeastern flank of the Kabir-Kuh anticline (Zagros Mts., Iran) originating the natural dam responsible for the formation of a three-lake system (Seymareh, Jaidar, and Balmak lakes, with an area of 259, 46, and 5 km<sup>2</sup>, respectively). The lake system persisted for ∼3000 yr during the Holocene before its emptying phase due to overflow. A sedimentation rate of 21 mm yr<sup>−1</sup> was estimated for the Seymareh lacustrine deposits, which increased during the early stage of lake emptying because of enhanced sediment yield from the lake tributaries. </p><p>To reconstruct the climatic and environmental impact on the lake infilling, we reviewed the geomorphology of the basins and combined the results with multi-proxy records from a 30 m thick lacustrine sequence in Seymareh Lake. Major analyses comprise grain size analysis, carbon and oxygen stable isotopes of carbonate-bearing sediments, and X-ray diffraction analysis of clay minerals.</p><p>Lake overflowing is largely accepted as the main response to variations in water discharge and sediment supply since the alternation from dry to wet phases enhances sediment mobilization along hillslopes decreasing the accommodation space in the downstream sedimentary basins. In this regard, during the early-middle Holocene, the Seymareh area, as well as the entire Middle East, was affected by short-term climate changes at the millennial-scale, as testified by both paleoecological and archaeological evidence. Indeed, several records from Iranian lakes (i.e., Mirabad, Zeribar, Urmia) well documented the temperature and the moisture conditions of the western Zagros Mountains during the Holocene. During the early Holocene, the precipitation remained low up to 6 ka BP, reaching the driest condition around 8-8.2 ka BP. The impact of this abrupt climate change is evident across West Asia, where the first large villages with domesticated cereals and sheeps disappeared, converting to small hamlets and starting habitat-tracking. As regards the Seymareh area, a more irregular distribution of rainfalls and their increasing seasonality may support rhexistasy conditions, during which the scarce vegetation cover enhances both the hillslope erosion and sedimentation rate in the basins, most likely contributing to the overflow of Seymareh Lake. </p>

scholarly journals The Holocene thermal maximum in the Nordic Seas: the impact of Greenland Ice Sheet melt and other forcings in a coupled atmosphere–sea-ice–ocean model

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1629-1643 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Blaschek ◽  
H. Renssen
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Surface Cooling ◽  
Holocene Climate ◽  
Nordic Seas ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Holocene Thermal Maximum ◽  
Thermal Maximum ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The relatively warm early Holocene climate in the Nordic Seas, known as the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM), is often associated with an orbitally forced summer insolation maximum at 10 ka BP. The spatial and temporal response recorded in proxy data in the North Atlantic and the Nordic Seas reveals a complex interaction of mechanisms active in the HTM. Previous studies have investigated the impact of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS), as a remnant from the previous glacial period, altering climate conditions with a continuous supply of melt water to the Labrador Sea and adjacent seas and with a downwind cooling effect from the remnant LIS. In our present work we extend this approach by investigating the impact of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) on the early Holocene climate and the HTM. Reconstructions suggest melt rates of 13 mSv for 9 ka BP, which result in our model in an ocean surface cooling of up to 2 K near Greenland. Reconstructed summer SST gradients agree best with our simulation including GIS melt, confirming that the impact of the early Holocene GIS is crucial for understanding the HTM characteristics in the Nordic Seas area. This implies that modern and near-future GIS melt can be expected to play an active role in the climate system in the centuries to come.

scholarly journals Reconstructing burnt area during the Holocene: an Iberian case study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yicheng Shen ◽  
Luke Sweeney ◽  
Mengmeng Liu ◽  
Jose Antonio Lopez Saez ◽  
Sebastián Pérez-Díaz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Weighted Averaging ◽  
Pollen Data ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Quantitative Estimates ◽  
In Fire ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Pollen Records

Abstract. Charcoal accumulated in lake, bog or other anoxic sediments through time has been used to document the geographical patterns in changes in fire regimes. Such reconstructions are useful to explore the impact of climate and vegetation changes on fire during periods when the human influence was less prevalent than today. However, charcoal records only provide semi-quantitative estimates of change in biomass burning. Here we derive quantitative estimates of burnt area from vegetation data in two stages. First, we relate the modern charcoal abundance to burnt area using a conversion factor derived from a generalized linear model of burnt area probability based on eight environmental predictors. Then, we establish the relationship between fossil pollen assemblages and burnt area using Tolerance-weighted Weighted Averaging Partial Least-Squares with sampling frequency correction (fxTWA-PLS). We test this approach using the Iberian Peninsula as a case study because it is a fire-prone region with abundant pollen and charcoal records covering the Holocene. We derive the vegetation-burnt area relationship using the 29 records that have both modern and fossil charcoal and pollen data, and then reconstruct palaeo-burnt area for the 114 records with Holocene pollen records. The pollen data predict charcoal abundances through time relatively well (R2 = 0.47) and the changes in reconstructed burnt area are synchronous with known climate changes through the Holocene. This new method opens up the possibility of reconstructing changes in fire regimes quantitatively from pollen records, which are far more numerous than charcoal records.

scholarly journals The Ice-Rich Permafrost Sequences as a Paleoenvironmental Archive for the Kara Sea Region (Western Arctic)

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. D. Streletskaya ◽  
A. A. Pismeniuk ◽  
A. A. Vasiliev ◽  
E. A. Gusev ◽  
G. E. Oblogov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Marine Sediments ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Kara Sea ◽  
Coastal Sediments ◽  
Organic Carbon Content ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Geochemical Composition ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Mis 3

The Kara Sea coast and part of the shelf are characterized by wide presence of the ice-rich permafrost sequences containing massive tabular ground ice (MTGI) and ice wedges (IW). The investigations of distribution, morphology and isotopic composition of MTGI and IW allows paleoenvironmental reconstructions for Late Pleistocene and Holocene period in the Kara Sea Region. This work summarizes result of long-term research of ice-rich permafrost at eight key sites located in the Yamal, Gydan, Taimyr Peninsulas, and Sibiryakov Island. We identified several types of ground ice in the coastal sediments and summarized data on their isotopic and geochemical composition, and methane content. We summarized the available data on particle size distribution, ice chemical composition, including organic carbon content, and age of the enclosing ice sediments. The results show that Quaternary sediments of the region accumulated during MIS 5 – MIS 1 and generally consisted of two main stratigraphic parts. Ice-rich polygenetic continental sediments with syngenetic and epigenetic IW represent the upper part of geological sections (10–15 m). The IW formed in two stages: in the Late Pleistocene (MIS 3 – MIS 2) and in the Holocene cold periods. Oxygen isotope composition of IW formed during MIS 3 – MIS 2 is on average 6‰ lower than that of the Holocene IW. The saline clay with rare sand layers of the lower part of geological sections, formed in marine and shallow shelf anaerobic conditions. MTGI present in the lower part of the sections. The MTGI formed under epigenetic freezing of marine sediments immediately after sea regression and syngenetic freezing of marine sediments in the tidal zone and in the conditions of shallow sea.

scholarly journals Review of Some Procedural Witness Protective Measures at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (34) ◽  
pp. 251
Author(s):  
Romina Beqiri
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Given the spread terror and the abuses perpetrated in the Balkan region, many victims and witnesses of atrocities were deterred from testifying. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY or Tribunal) facilitated the appearance of witnesses and protected them in case of intimidation including by taking measures against those who would violate the confidentiality of the proceedings. This article aims to introduce some of the witness protective measures before the Tribunal, and particularly threats and risks they have faced in the context of the cases dealt with by the Tribunal. It reflects also upon groundbreaking measures of protection decided by the Tribunal and the challenges it has faced over the last two decades. It finally discusses the impact of such challenges on the right to a fair trial and how they were addressed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document