scholarly journals Impacts of climate and humans on the vegetation in NW Turkey: palynological insights from Lake Iznik since the Last Glacial

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 5157-5201 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Miebach ◽  
P. Niestrath ◽  
P. Roeser ◽  
T. Litt

Abstract. The Marmara region in northwestern Turkey provides a unique opportunity for studying the vegetation history in response to climate changes and anthropogenic impacts because of its location between different climate and vegetation zones and its long settlement history. Geochemical and mineralogical investigations of the largest lake in the region, Lake Iznik, already registered climate related changes of the lake level and the lake mixing. However, a palynological investigation encompassing the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene was still missing. Here, we present the first pollen record of the last ca. 31 ka cal BP (calibrated kilo years before 1950) inferred from Lake Iznik sediments as an independent proxy for paleoecological reconstructions. Our study reveals that the vegetation in the Iznik area changed generally between steppe during glacial/stadial conditions, forest-steppe during interstadial conditions, and oak dominated mesic forest during interglacial conditions. Moreover, a pronounced succession of pioneer trees, cold temperate, warm temperate, and Mediterranean trees appeared since the Lateglacial. Rapid climate changes, which are reflected by vegetation changes, can be correlated with Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) events such as DO-4, DO-3, and DO-1, the Younger Dryas, and probably also the 8.2 event. Since the mid-Holocene, the vegetation was influenced by anthropogenic activities. During early settlement phases, the distinction between climate-induced and human-induced changes of the vegetation is challenging. Still, evidence for human activities consolidates since the Early Bronze Age (ca. 4.8 ka cal BP): cultivated trees, crops, and secondary human indicator taxa appeared, and forests got cleared. Subsequent fluctuations between extensive agricultural use and regeneration of the natural vegetation become apparent.

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 575-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Miebach ◽  
Phoebe Niestrath ◽  
Patricia Roeser ◽  
Thomas Litt

Abstract. The Marmara region in northwestern Turkey provides a unique opportunity for studying the vegetation history in response to climate changes and anthropogenic impacts because of its location between different climate and vegetation zones and its long settlement history. Geochemical and mineralogical investigations of the largest lake in the region, Lake Iznik, already registered climate-related changes of the lake level and the lake mixing. However, a palynological investigation encompassing the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene was still missing. Here, we present the first pollen record of the last ca. 31 ka cal BP (calibrated kilo years before 1950) inferred from Lake Iznik sediments as an independent proxy for paleoecological reconstructions. Our study reveals that the vegetation in the Iznik area changed generally between (a) steppe during glacials and stadials indicating dry and cold climatic conditions, (b) forest-steppe during interstadials indicating milder and moister climatic conditions, and (c) oak-dominated mesic forest during interglacials indicating warm and moist climatic conditions. Moreover, a pronounced succession of pioneer trees, cold temperate, warm temperate, and Mediterranean trees appeared since the Lateglacial. Rapid climate changes, which are reflected by vegetation changes, can be correlated with Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events such as DO-4, DO-3, and DO-1, the Younger Dryas, and probably also the 8.2 event. Since the mid-Holocene, the vegetation was influenced by anthropogenic activities. During early settlement phases, the distinction between climate-induced and human-induced changes of the vegetation is challenging. Still, evidence for human activities consolidates since the Early Bronze Age (ca. 4.8 ka cal BP): cultivated trees, crops, and secondary human indicator taxa appeared, and forests were cleared. Subsequent fluctuations between extensive agricultural uses and regenerations of the natural vegetation become apparent.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 4505-4567 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Gambin ◽  
V. Andrieu-Ponel ◽  
F. Médail ◽  
N. Marriner ◽  
O. Peyron ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper investigates the Holocene vegetation dynamics for Burmarrad in north-west Malta and provides a pollen-based quantitative palaeoclimatic reconstruction for this centrally located Mediterranean archipelago. The pollen record from this site provides new insight into the vegetation changes from 7280 to 1730 cal BP which correspond well with other regional records. The climate reconstruction for the area also provides strong correlation with southern (below 40° N) Mediterranean sites. Our interpretation suggests an initially open landscape during the early Neolithic, surrounding a large palaeobay, developing into a dense Pistacia scrubland ca. 6700 cal BP. From about 4450 cal BP the landscape once again becomes open, coinciding with the start of the Bronze Age on the archipelago. This period is concurrent with increased climatic instability (between 4500 and 3700 cal BP) which is followed by a gradual decrease in summer moisture availability in the late Holocene. During the early Roman occupation period (1972 to 1730 cal BP) the landscape remains generally open with a moderate increase in Olea. This increase, corresponds to archaeological evidence for olive oil production in the area, along with increases in cultivated crop taxa and associated ruderal species, as well as a rise in fire events. The Maltese archipelago provides important insight into vegetation, human impacts and climatic changes in an island context during the Holocene.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Gambin ◽  
V. Andrieu-Ponel ◽  
F. Médail ◽  
N. Marriner ◽  
O. Peyron ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper investigates the Holocene vegetation dynamics for Burmarrad in Northwest Malta and provides a pollen-based quantitative palaeoclimatic reconstruction for this centrally located Mediterranean archipelago. The pollen record from this site provides new insight into the vegetation changes from 7280 to 1730 cal BP which correspond well with other regional records. The climate reconstruction for the area also provides strong correlation with southern (below 40° N) Mediterranean sites. Our interpretation suggests an initially open landscape during the early Neolithic, surrounding a large palaeobay, developing into a dense Pistacia scrubland ca. 6700 cal BP. From about 4450 cal BP the landscape once again becomes open, coinciding with the start of the Bronze Age on the archipelago. This period is concurrent with increased climatic instability (between 4500 and 3700 cal BP) which is followed by a gradual decrease in summer moisture availability in the late Holocene. During the early Roman occupation period (1972–1730 cal BP) the landscape remains generally open with a moderate increase in Olea. This increase corresponds to archaeological evidence for olive oil production in the area, along with increases in cultivated crop taxa and associated ruderal species, as well as a rise in fire events. The Maltese archipelago provides important insight into vegetation, human impacts, and climatic changes in an island context during the Holocene.


1985 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy W. Barnosky

A 33,000-yr pollen record from Carp Lake provides information on the vegetation history of the forest/steppe border in the southwestern Columbia Basin. The site is located in the Pinus ponderosa Zone but through much of late Quaternary time the area was probably treeless. Pollen assemblages in sediments dating from 33,000 to 23,500 yr B.P. suggest a period of temperate climate and steppe coinciding with the end of the Olympia Interglaciation. The Fraser Glaciation (ca. 25,000–10,000 yr B.P.) was a period of periglacial steppe or tundra vegetation and conditions too dry and cold to support forests at low altitudes. Aridity is also inferred from the low level of the lake between 21,000 and 8500 yr B.P., and especially after about 13,500 yr B.P. About 10,000 yr B.P. Chenopodiineae and other temperate taxa spread locally, providing palynological evidence for a shift from cold, dry to warm, dry conditions. Pine woodland developed at the site with the onset of humid conditions at 8500 yr B.P.; further cooling is suggested at 4000 yr B.P., when Pseudotsuga and Abies were established locally.


Author(s):  
Lyudmila Shumilovskikh ◽  
Pavel Sannikov ◽  
Elena Efimik ◽  
Igor Shestakov ◽  
Vitaliy V. Mingalev

AbstractThe Kungur forest-steppe is the northernmost outpost of European forest-steppe, located in the western pre-Urals within the boreal climatic zone. The co-existence of boreal, nemoral and steppe species with relicts and endemics results in a high plant diversity, making it an important biodiversity hotspot. Under current climate change and strong agricultural impacts, the Kungur forest-steppe is rapidly degrading. In order to develop sustainable management strategies, we studied the vegetation history over the last 3500 years in the natural reserve area Spasskaya Gora. Palynological data indicate that the territory of Spasskaya Gora was largely covered by hemiboreal forests with high proportion of elm during the late Holocene. An opening of the vegetation strongly correlates with erosion, both indicating anthropogenic activities such as lumbering, agriculture, grazing and hay making. The modern Pinus and Betula dominated forests combined with large areas dominated by grasses and herbs appear in the last 300 years and caused by human activity. The data support the ‘anthropogenic’ hypothesis of the Kungur forest-steppe development, suggesting that Pleistocene steppe was replaced by hemiboreal forests during the Holocene. Steppe elements survived on exposed rocks. The recent forest-steppe landscapes dominated by pioneer birch and poplar were formed due to anthropogenic deforestation. With respect to nature conservation, our data demonstrate that prohibition of any anthropogenic activities at Spasskaya Gora will lead to loss of diversity of steppe assemblages over the mid-term. We emphasize that conservation of the high plant diversity of the Kungur forest-steppe must include disturbance factors in the form of selective lumbering, prescribed burning, moderate grazing or traditional mowing.


Author(s):  
Tiziana Pedrotta ◽  
Erika Gobet ◽  
Christoph Schwörer ◽  
Giorgia Beffa ◽  
Christoph Butz ◽  
...  

AbstractKnowledge about the vegetation history of Sardinia, the second largest island of the Mediterranean, is scanty. Here, we present a new sedimentary record covering the past ~ 8,000 years from Lago di Baratz, north-west Sardinia. Vegetation and fire history are reconstructed by pollen, spores, macrofossils and charcoal analyses and environmental dynamics by high-resolution element geochemistry together with pigment analyses. During the period 8,100–7,500 cal bp, when seasonality was high and fire and erosion were frequent, Erica arborea and E. scoparia woodlands dominated the coastal landscape. Subsequently, between 7,500 and 5,500 cal bp, seasonality gradually declined and thermo-mediterranean woodlands with Pistacia and Quercus ilex partially replaced Erica communities under diminished incidence of fire. After 5,500 cal bp, evergreen oak forests expanded markedly, erosion declined and lake levels increased, likely in response to increasing (summer) moisture availability. Increased anthropogenic fire disturbance triggered shrubland expansions (e.g. Tamarix and Pistacia) around 5,000–4,500 cal bp. Subsequently around 4,000–3,500 cal bp evergreen oak-olive forests expanded massively when fire activity declined and lake productivity and anoxia reached Holocene maxima. Land-use activities during the past 4,000 years (since the Bronze Age) gradually disrupted coastal forests, but relict stands persisted under rather stable environmental conditions until ca. 200 cal bp, when agricultural activities intensified and Pinus and Eucalyptus were planted to stabilize the sand dunes. Pervasive prehistoric land-use activities since at least the Bronze Age Nuraghi period included the cultivation of Prunus, Olea europaea and Juglans regia after 3,500–3,300 cal bp, and Quercus suber after 2,500 cal bp. We conclude that restoring less flammable native Q. ilex and O. europaea forest communities would markedly reduce fire risk and erodibility compared to recent forest plantations with flammable non-native trees (e.g. Pinus, Eucalyptus) and xerophytic shrubland (e.g. Cistus, Erica).


1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (14) ◽  
pp. 2733-2736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Horasan Gündüz ◽  
Kaşlilar-Özcan Ayşe ◽  
Boztepe-Güney Aysun ◽  
Türkelli Niyazi

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 2453-2472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Y. Novenko ◽  
Andrey N. Tsyganov ◽  
Olga V. Rudenko ◽  
Elena V. Volkova ◽  
Inna S. Zuyganova ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esref Yalcinkaya ◽  
Marco Bohnhoff ◽  
Patricia Martinez-Garzon ◽  
Ethem Görgün ◽  
Ali Pınar ◽  
...  

<p>Imaging and characterizing transform fault sections that are capable to produce large earthquakes is crucial for evaluating seismic hazard and subsequent risk for nearby population centers. The Marmara Fault near the megacity of Istanbul is one of the best defined seismic gaps in the world and its complexity is captured by seismological, geodetic and geological data. A local dense seismic array (MONGAN) provides a high resolution data set allowing to image the Ganos fault separating two different geological units in the western Marmara region. First results of the waveform analysis from this array present systematic early-phase arrivals at the seismic stations located on the northern block of the Ganos fault which comprises geological units including older and more compact materials than that of the southern block. This difference in the arrival times causes the earthquake epicenters to shift further north than the real locations. In this preliminary results, the early-arrivals will be evaluated according to source azimuths and distances, and possible earth models and wave paths will be discussed. The results have implications for rupture directivity during future earthquakes as input for hazard and risk models for the Marmara region.</p>


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