scholarly journals Geoarchaeological and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Late Quaternary climate- environmental-human nexus in the Kurdistan region of Iraq

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Forti ◽  
Eleonora Regattieri ◽  
Anna Maria Mercuri ◽  
Ilaria Mazzini ◽  
Andrea Pezzotta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Quaternary Climate ◽  
Geochemical Analyses ◽  
Sandy Sediments ◽  
Origin Of Agriculture

<p>During the late Quaternary, Iraqi Kurdistan was the scenario of several fundamental human-related<br>events including the dispersion of Homo in Asia and Europe, the origin of agriculture, the beginning<br>of urbanization, and the formation of the first state entities. We present the initial results of a<br>geoarchaeological investigation in this area, which aims to reconstruct a detailed framework of the<br>relationship between climatic changes, landscape responses, human adaptation, and settlement<br>distribution during the Late Quaternary. Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic data were collected<br>from two key areas: the territory of the Navkur and Faideh plains, in northern Kurdistan, and a portion<br>of the Erbil plain, in southern Kurdistan. In the two regions, the Land of Niniveh and MAIPE<br>archaeological missions are operating. Remote sensing, GIS analyses, and geomorphological survey<br>are the tools used for the geomorphological reconstruction of ancient hydrology (fluvial pattern) and<br>the evolution of distinct landforms. Geochemical and geochronological analyses on speleothems from<br>the Zagros piedmont caves of same region provide information on Holocene climatic variability in<br>the area. Whereas environmental settings and human land use are investigated on the basis of<br>sedimentological, palynological, micropaleontological, and geochemical analyses of a fluvio-<br>lacustrine sequences preliminary dated between 40 and 9 ka BP. The lacustrine sequence is composed<br>by clayey and silt-sandy sediments alternating calcareous and organic matter-rich layers.<br>Environmental and geomorphological data have been compared with archaeological information<br>(mostly the chronological distribution of the archaeological sites) to interpret exploitation of natural<br>resources, the settlement dynamics and shift in land use. </p>

Southern African hydroclimate during the Late Quaternary: integrating source to sink and multi-archive studies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Hahn ◽  
Hayley Cawthra ◽  
Green Andrew ◽  
Humphries Marc ◽  
Schefuß Enno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Ocean Current ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Quaternary Climate ◽  
Source To Sink

<p>Southern Africa is located at the interface of sub-tropical and temperate climate zones as well as between two major warm and cold ocean current systems (Agulhas and Benguela), respectively. This makes it a key region for understanding global climate dynamics and highly sensitive to future climatic change. A growing number of paleo-archives have revealed small-scale climatic dipoles in this region and the driving mechanisms of the complex climatic variability often in this region remain unclear. Several regional studies have suggested a synchronicity with the southern hemisphere and thus inferred a direct insolation forcing while others have observed a synchronicity with northern hemispheric climate and associated this with a teleconnection mechanism. In order to decipher the complex climatic processes affecting this region it is necessary to integrate on- and offshore paleo-archives as well as various paleo-environmental indicators (proxies). For the correct interpretation of the various proxies a source to sink approach is necessary determining the origin of the different terrestrial sedimentary components and their potential alterations during transport and deposition. With a focus on marine and lacustrine sedimentary archives along the west, south, and east coast of southern Africa we are now able to reconstruct Late Quaternary climate variability on regional scales. We propose a new conceptual model describing latitudinal shifts of rainfall zones as tropical and temperate climate systems shift over glacial and interglacial cycles. New insights allow us to resolve some of the apparent contradictions between paleoclimate records from the region. </p><p> </p>

Late Quaternary climate variability as recorded by micropalaeontological diatom data and geochemical data in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 804-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Tolotti ◽  
C. Salvi ◽  
G. Salvi ◽  
M.C. Bonci
Keyword(s):  
Continental Slope ◽  
Ross Sea ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Flow Paths ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Quaternary Climate ◽  
History Of ◽  
Geochemical Analyses

AbstractCores acquired from the Ross Sea continental shelf and continental slope during the XXX Italian Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA) were analysed and yielded interesting micropalaeontological, biostratigraphic diatom results and palaeoceanographic implications. These multi-proxy analyses enabled us to reconstruct the glacial/deglacial history of this sector of the Ross embayment over the last 40 000 years, advancing our understanding of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) environmental and sedimentological processes linked to the Ross Sea ice sheet/ice shelf fluctuations in a basin and continental-slope environment, and allowed us to measure some of the palaeoceanographic dynamics. The central sector of the Ross Sea and part of its coast (south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue) enjoyed open marine conditions in the pre-LGM era (27 500–24 000 years bp). The retreat of the ice sheet could have been influenced by a southward shift of a branch of the Ross gyre, which triggered early deglaciation at c. 18 600 cal bp with a significant Modified Circumpolar Deep Water inflow over the continental slope at c. 14 380 cal BP. We assume that a lack of depositional material in each core, although at different times, represents a hiatus. Other than problems in core collection, this could be due to the onset of modern oceanographic conditions, with strong gravity currents and strong High Salinity Shelf Water exportation. Moreover, we presume that improvements in biostratigraphy, study of reworked diatom taxa, and lithological and geochemical analyses will provide important constraints for the reconstruction of the LGM grounding line, ice-flow lines and ice-flow paths and an interesting tool for reconstructing palaeo-sub-bottom currents in this sector of the Ross embayment.

A late Holocene paleoenvironmental reconstruction from Agua Caliente, southern Belize, linked to regional climate variability and cultural change at the Maya polity of Uxbenká

2014 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan K. Walsh ◽  
Keith M. Prufer ◽  
Brendan J. Culleton ◽  
Douglas J. Kennett
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Climate Interactions ◽  
Initial Clearance ◽  
Maya Collapse

AbstractWe report high-resolution macroscopic charcoal, pollen and sedimentological data for Agua Caliente, a freshwater lagoon located in southern Belize, and infer a late Holocene record of human land-use/climate interactions for the nearby prehistoric Maya center of Uxbenká. Land-use activities spanning the initial clearance of forests for agriculture through the drought-linked Maya collapse and continuing into the historic recolonization of the region are all reflected in the record. Human land alteration in association with swidden agriculture is evident early in the record during the Middle Preclassic starting ca. 2600 cal yr BP. Fire slowly tapered off during the Late and Terminal Classic, consistent with the gradual political demise and depopulation of the Uxbenká polity sometime between ca. 1150 and 950 cal yr BP, during a period of multiple droughts evident in a nearby speleothem record. Fire activity was at its lowest during the Maya Postclassic ca. 950–430 cal yr BP, but rose consistent with increasing recolonization of the region between ca. 430 cal yr BP and present. These data suggest that this environmental record provides both a proxy for 2800 years of cultural change, including colonization, growth, decline, and reorganization of regional populations, and an independent confirmation of recent paleoclimate reconstructions from the same region.

The sensitivity of Neotoma to climate change and biodiversity loss over the late Quaternary

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Catalina P. Tomé ◽  
S. Kathleen Lyons ◽  
Seth D. Newsome ◽  
Felisa A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Cam Plants ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Terminal Pleistocene

Abstract The late Quaternary in North America was marked by highly variable climate and considerable biodiversity loss including a megafaunal extinction event at the terminal Pleistocene. Here, we focus on changes in body size and diet in Neotoma (woodrats) in response to these ecological perturbations using the fossil record from the Edwards Plateau (Texas) across the past 20,000 years. Body mass was estimated using measurements of fossil teeth and diet was quantified using stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen from fossil bone collagen. Prior to ca. 7000 cal yr BP, maximum mass was positively correlated to precipitation and negatively correlated to temperature. Independently, mass was negatively correlated to community composition, becoming more similar to modern over time. Neotoma diet in the Pleistocene was primarily sourced from C3 plants, but became progressively more reliant on C4 (and potentially CAM) plants through the Holocene. Decreasing population mass and higher C4/CAM consumption was associated with a transition from a mesic to xeric landscape. Our results suggest that Neotoma responded to climatic variability during the terminal Pleistocene through changes in body size, while changes in resource availability during the Holocene likely led to shifts in the relative abundance of different Neotoma species in the community.

scholarly journals Millennial-Scale Response of a Western Mediterranean River to Late Quaternary Climate Changes: A View from the Deep Sea

2014 ◽  
Vol 122 (6) ◽  
pp. 687-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucile Bonneau ◽  
Stéphan J. Jorry ◽  
Samuel Toucanne ◽  
Ricardo Silva Jacinto ◽  
Laurent Emmanuel
Keyword(s):  
Deep Sea ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Mediterranean River ◽  
Quaternary Climate ◽  
Scale Response ◽  
Quaternary Climate Changes ◽  
Millennial Scale

A Holocene Marine Climate Record in Mollusc Shells from the Southwest African Coast

1992 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne L. Cohen ◽  
John E. Parkington ◽  
Geoff B. Brundrit ◽  
Nikolaas J. van der Merwe
Keyword(s):  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Temperature Changes ◽  
Climate Record ◽  
Benguela Upwelling ◽  
Isotope Record ◽  
History Of ◽  
Glacial Expansion ◽  
Sediment Layers ◽  
Marine Climate

AbstractDetails of short-term climatic variability are often lost from marine sediments through bioturbation in the upper, aerobic sediment layers. Alternatively, a high-resolution and dated record of climatic events may be obtained using material preserved in archaeological deposits. The Holocene history of the southern Benguela upwelling regime has been constructed from the oxygen isotope and mineral analysis of midden shells. Three discrete episodes of significant isotope enrichment corresponded to periods of glacial expansion in the northern hemisphere. Significant changes in shell mineralogy, which is a response to sea-surface temperatures, were also recorded. The timing and duration of these changes approximated those in the isotope record and may provide a link between events affecting the subcontinent and global temperature changes of the late Quaternary.

scholarly journals Phytogeographical patterns of dry forests sensu stricto in northern Minas Gerais State, Brazil

2013 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 623-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL M. ARRUDA ◽  
WALNIR G. FERREIRA-JUNIOR ◽  
REINALDO DUQUE-BRASIL ◽  
CARLOS E.R. SCHAEFER
Keyword(s):  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Sensu Stricto ◽  
Minas Gerais ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Floristic Similarity ◽  
Humid Forest ◽  
Quaternary Climate ◽  
Dominant Soil ◽  
Minas Gerais State ◽  
Semi Arid

The Deciduous Complex that occurs in northern Minas Gerais State, Brazil, raises questions about the floristic affinities of these formations in relation to neighboring phytogeographical domains. Little is known about the identity of the seasonal forest formations that comprise this complex, or about its relationships to abiotic components, such as soils, topography and climate. This study aimed to recognize the patterns of floristic similarity of all studied fragments of dry forest of northern Minas Gerais with soil and climate attributes, based on the available database. Cluster analysis indicated the existence of two floristic groups that had clear associations with either the Koppen's BSh (semi-arid) or Aw (seasonal tropical) climates. Likewise, the subdivisions of these groups showed clear associations with the dominant soil classes in the region. The Red-Yellow Latosol is the dominant soil classes in the BSh climatic domain, seconded by alluvial areas associated with Fluvic Neosols. The Aw domain comprised a much varied set of soils: Nitosols, Argisols, Cambisols and Litholic Neosols, most derived from the Bambuí limestone/slate formation. The ecotonal nature of northern Minas Gerais State provides a complex interaction between the flora of neighboring phytogeographical domains. This, allied to pedogeomorphological factors, allowed a better understanding of the effects of late Quaternary climate changes for the Deciduous Complex evolution. We conclude that the Latosols under present-day semi-arid climates (BSh) are relicts of former wetter climates, during which humid forest (semideciduous) expansion took place. Later, these semideciduous forests were subjected to a much drier climate, when selection for deciduousness led to the present-days Deciduous Complex scenario.

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