Apichaya Englong, Paramita Punwong, R. Marchant, T. Seelanan, S. Wynne-Jones, P. Chirawatkul
A high-resolution multiproxy sedimentary record comprising pollen, charcoal, trace element, stratigraphy and particle size data is used to reveal environmental changes from the mangrove ecosystem at Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar, Tanzania, over the last 5000 years. Historical human–environment interactions over the last millennia are explored by a comparison of the stratigraphic and archaeological data. The area was characterised by a mixture of mangrove forest and beaches, indicating a low level of tidal inundation to at least 3300 BCE. From 2750 BCE, mangrove forest expanded as the area experienced sea-level rise. Further sea-level rise is recorded between 600 and 1100 CE, indicated by the pollen record, particle size analysis and the presence of shell fragments. After 1100 CE, mangrove forest decreased with back mangrove species increasing, indicating a falling sea level. Cocos nucifera decreased after 1900 CE, which reflects a recent sea-level rise and possibly a phase of exploitation. Cereal pollen shows a high presence at around 1500 CE, which coincided with the arrival of the Portuguese on Zanzibar and the transition to Omani colonisation. The sedimentation rate in the core top indicates that mangroves in Unguja Ukuu cannot keep pace with the current rate of sea-level rise.
{"title":"High-Resolution Multiproxy Record of Environmental Changes and Anthropogenic Activities at Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar, Tanzania during the Last 5000 Years","authors":"Apichaya Englong, Paramita Punwong, R. Marchant, T. Seelanan, S. Wynne-Jones, P. Chirawatkul","doi":"10.3390/quat6010021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010021","url":null,"abstract":"A high-resolution multiproxy sedimentary record comprising pollen, charcoal, trace element, stratigraphy and particle size data is used to reveal environmental changes from the mangrove ecosystem at Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar, Tanzania, over the last 5000 years. Historical human–environment interactions over the last millennia are explored by a comparison of the stratigraphic and archaeological data. The area was characterised by a mixture of mangrove forest and beaches, indicating a low level of tidal inundation to at least 3300 BCE. From 2750 BCE, mangrove forest expanded as the area experienced sea-level rise. Further sea-level rise is recorded between 600 and 1100 CE, indicated by the pollen record, particle size analysis and the presence of shell fragments. After 1100 CE, mangrove forest decreased with back mangrove species increasing, indicating a falling sea level. Cocos nucifera decreased after 1900 CE, which reflects a recent sea-level rise and possibly a phase of exploitation. Cereal pollen shows a high presence at around 1500 CE, which coincided with the arrival of the Portuguese on Zanzibar and the transition to Omani colonisation. The sedimentation rate in the core top indicates that mangroves in Unguja Ukuu cannot keep pace with the current rate of sea-level rise.","PeriodicalId":54131,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47468397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The acquisition of large prey by hominins living during the Marine Isotope Stage 3, including Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans, had nutritional and bioenergetic implications: these contain high fat amounts, provide a high energy return, and the strategies and skills required to acquire small prey were different from those required to acquire the former. Vitamin C availability at several MIS 3 periods could have had a strong seasonal variability and would have been decisive for hominin groups’ survival. During the cold periods of the MIS 3, Paleolithic hominins had variable available amounts of vitamin C-containing plants only in the short summers, and for the remainder of the year, viscera would have been their best source of vitamin C. Meanwhile, the dependence on small mammals could have caused an erratic distribution of viscera to be consumed by such hominins, thus leading to chronic scurvy, and compromising their survival. Then, the hunting of large mammals would have helped to meet the daily vitamin C needs, besides an efficient energy supply. Therefore, the decline of large prey during the MIS 3 could have been critical for hominins survival, and thus the efficient exploitation of alternative vitamin C-rich food resources such as birds and aquatic animals could have favored the evolutionary success of hominin populations.
{"title":"The Role of Large Mammals as Vitamin C Sources for MIS 3 Hominins","authors":"J. Guil‐Guerrero","doi":"10.3390/quat6010020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010020","url":null,"abstract":"The acquisition of large prey by hominins living during the Marine Isotope Stage 3, including Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans, had nutritional and bioenergetic implications: these contain high fat amounts, provide a high energy return, and the strategies and skills required to acquire small prey were different from those required to acquire the former. Vitamin C availability at several MIS 3 periods could have had a strong seasonal variability and would have been decisive for hominin groups’ survival. During the cold periods of the MIS 3, Paleolithic hominins had variable available amounts of vitamin C-containing plants only in the short summers, and for the remainder of the year, viscera would have been their best source of vitamin C. Meanwhile, the dependence on small mammals could have caused an erratic distribution of viscera to be consumed by such hominins, thus leading to chronic scurvy, and compromising their survival. Then, the hunting of large mammals would have helped to meet the daily vitamin C needs, besides an efficient energy supply. Therefore, the decline of large prey during the MIS 3 could have been critical for hominins survival, and thus the efficient exploitation of alternative vitamin C-rich food resources such as birds and aquatic animals could have favored the evolutionary success of hominin populations.","PeriodicalId":54131,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69807996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The vegetation history of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain in the Holocene is considered according to pollen evidence from three coring sites where both terrestrial and marine ecology are reconstructed. These pollen sites record oscillations in the limit of the Southeastern US Forest zone in relation to climate changes, with a major, southward migration of the forest limit and expansion of the range limit of Betula nigra being recorded in the 6th millennium BP and a northward migration in the 4th millennium BP. The appearance of Rhizophora pollen also indicates increased tropical influence in the Middle Holocene. Moreover, changes in the salinity profiles of estuaries are reconstructed in relation to broader coastal environmental changes, such as sea-level oscillations and the formation of barrier islands, with a major sea-level transgression phase being recorded in the 4th millennium BP and still-stand conditions after the 3rd millennium BP. These vegetation changes are finally compared to occupational evidence of prehistoric humans in the Central Texas Gulf Coastal Plain region in relation to ecological factors. Here, human occupation of the coastal zone is correlated with afforestation, the proliferation of pecan and the emergence of low-salinity estuaries.
{"title":"Vegetation History and Estuarine Ecology of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain in Relation to Climate and Sea-Level Changes According to Three Pollen Cores","authors":"B. Albert","doi":"10.3390/quat6010019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010019","url":null,"abstract":"The vegetation history of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain in the Holocene is considered according to pollen evidence from three coring sites where both terrestrial and marine ecology are reconstructed. These pollen sites record oscillations in the limit of the Southeastern US Forest zone in relation to climate changes, with a major, southward migration of the forest limit and expansion of the range limit of Betula nigra being recorded in the 6th millennium BP and a northward migration in the 4th millennium BP. The appearance of Rhizophora pollen also indicates increased tropical influence in the Middle Holocene. Moreover, changes in the salinity profiles of estuaries are reconstructed in relation to broader coastal environmental changes, such as sea-level oscillations and the formation of barrier islands, with a major sea-level transgression phase being recorded in the 4th millennium BP and still-stand conditions after the 3rd millennium BP. These vegetation changes are finally compared to occupational evidence of prehistoric humans in the Central Texas Gulf Coastal Plain region in relation to ecological factors. Here, human occupation of the coastal zone is correlated with afforestation, the proliferation of pecan and the emergence of low-salinity estuaries.","PeriodicalId":54131,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48531169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Virgilio Vecchio, Maurizio Cannatà, E. Proverbio, E. Piperopoulos, L. Torrisi, L. Silipigni
With the name ‘Temesa’ (Latin Tempsa), the ancients identified a settlement located along the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, cited by sources as an international metal exchange emporium. The town is mentioned by Homer as being famous in the ancient world for the production of bronze, and in the I century A.D. Strabo wrote that there were rich copper mines near the city. Many years of study led to the recognition of Temesa as a complex urban system located between the Oliva and Savuto rivers, near Amantea. To confirm this hypothesis, we searched, in the surrounding rocky outcrops, for the presence of minerals useful for the extraction of iron and copper. Samples of 3 different rock stratifications were taken near the protohistoric settlement of Serra Aiello. The observation under an polarized reflected light microscope and the X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the presence of many minerals useful for the extraction of iron and copper in every sample. The heating of samples under both oxidizing and reducing conditions helped us to better quantify copper and iron minerals content causing, at the same time, the appearance of a marked paramagnetic behavior that could be associated with the presence of goethite. X ray fluorescence analysis showed a high concentration of iron and a low copper content.
{"title":"Evidence of Copper and Iron Deposits of the Protohistoric City of Temesa","authors":"Virgilio Vecchio, Maurizio Cannatà, E. Proverbio, E. Piperopoulos, L. Torrisi, L. Silipigni","doi":"10.3390/quat6010018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010018","url":null,"abstract":"With the name ‘Temesa’ (Latin Tempsa), the ancients identified a settlement located along the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, cited by sources as an international metal exchange emporium. The town is mentioned by Homer as being famous in the ancient world for the production of bronze, and in the I century A.D. Strabo wrote that there were rich copper mines near the city. Many years of study led to the recognition of Temesa as a complex urban system located between the Oliva and Savuto rivers, near Amantea. To confirm this hypothesis, we searched, in the surrounding rocky outcrops, for the presence of minerals useful for the extraction of iron and copper. Samples of 3 different rock stratifications were taken near the protohistoric settlement of Serra Aiello. The observation under an polarized reflected light microscope and the X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the presence of many minerals useful for the extraction of iron and copper in every sample. The heating of samples under both oxidizing and reducing conditions helped us to better quantify copper and iron minerals content causing, at the same time, the appearance of a marked paramagnetic behavior that could be associated with the presence of goethite. X ray fluorescence analysis showed a high concentration of iron and a low copper content.","PeriodicalId":54131,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46697999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There are many opinions and arguments about the types of weapons that Neanderthals may have used. We list five assumptions about Neanderthal weapon-assisted hunting and suggest that the tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) approach may be used to assess these, and to provide a hypothetical overview of stone-tipped weaponry used in south eastern France between MIS 7 and MIS 3. We analysed stone points from Abri du Maras, Saint-Marcel, Grotte du Figuier, and Payre, and discuss possible hunting strategies in tandem with faunal evidence. Our results suggest that early Neanderthals may have hunted with bimanual thrusting spears in combination with one-handed stabbing spears, but that later groups possibly introduced javelin hunting to the Neanderthal arsenal. Stone-tipped assegais or one-handed stabbing spears, however, stand out as the Neanderthal weapons of choice throughout the Middle Palaeolithic, and we discuss the adaptive advantages of hunting with these weapons. Comparative results that include assemblages from elsewhere in the Old World suggest similarities in hunting with stone-tipped weapons between Neanderthal and H. sapiens before MIS 5, marked differences during MIS 5–4, but similarities again during MIS 3. We suggest that caution is needed when attributing MIS 3 point assemblages to Neanderthals based on age and/or technology only.
关于尼安德特人可能使用的武器类型，有很多观点和争论。我们列出了关于尼安德特人武器辅助狩猎的五个假设，并建议可以使用尖端横截面积（TCSA）方法来评估这些假设，并提供法国东南部MIS 7和MIS 3之间使用的石头尖端武器的假设概述。我们分析了Abri du Maras、Saint Marcel、Grotte du Figuier和Payre的石点，并结合动物群证据讨论了可能的狩猎策略。我们的研究结果表明，早期的尼安德特人可能使用双手刺矛和单手刺矛进行狩猎，但后来的群体可能将标枪狩猎引入尼安德特人的武器库。然而，在整个旧石器时代中期，石头尖的assegais或单手刺矛是尼安德特人的首选武器，我们讨论了使用这些武器狩猎的适应性优势。包括旧世界其他地方的组合在内的比较结果表明，在MIS 5之前，尼安德特人和智人在使用石头尖端武器狩猎方面有相似之处，在MIS 5-4期间有显著差异，但在MIS 3期间再次有相似之处。我们建议，仅根据年龄和/或技术将MIS 3点组合归因于尼安德特人时需要谨慎。
{"title":"Neanderthal Hunting Weapons Re-Assessed: A Tip Cross-Sectional Area Analysis of Middle Palaeolithic Point Assemblages from South Eastern France","authors":"M. Lombard, M. Moncel","doi":"10.3390/quat6010017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010017","url":null,"abstract":"There are many opinions and arguments about the types of weapons that Neanderthals may have used. We list five assumptions about Neanderthal weapon-assisted hunting and suggest that the tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) approach may be used to assess these, and to provide a hypothetical overview of stone-tipped weaponry used in south eastern France between MIS 7 and MIS 3. We analysed stone points from Abri du Maras, Saint-Marcel, Grotte du Figuier, and Payre, and discuss possible hunting strategies in tandem with faunal evidence. Our results suggest that early Neanderthals may have hunted with bimanual thrusting spears in combination with one-handed stabbing spears, but that later groups possibly introduced javelin hunting to the Neanderthal arsenal. Stone-tipped assegais or one-handed stabbing spears, however, stand out as the Neanderthal weapons of choice throughout the Middle Palaeolithic, and we discuss the adaptive advantages of hunting with these weapons. Comparative results that include assemblages from elsewhere in the Old World suggest similarities in hunting with stone-tipped weapons between Neanderthal and H. sapiens before MIS 5, marked differences during MIS 5–4, but similarities again during MIS 3. We suggest that caution is needed when attributing MIS 3 point assemblages to Neanderthals based on age and/or technology only.","PeriodicalId":54131,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42920344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The dispersal of primitive elephantines and monodactyl equids in Eurasia has long been regarded as representative of a substantial turnover in mammal faunas, denoting the spread of open environments linked to the onset of cold and dry conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. During the 1980s, this event was named the “Elephant-Equus event” and it was correlated with the Gauss-Matuyama reversal, today corresponding to the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition and the beginning of the Quaternary, dated at ~2.6 Ma. Therefore, the Elephant-Equus event became a concept of prominent biochronological and paleoecological significance, especially in western Europe. Yet, uncertainties surrounding the taxonomy and chronology of early “elephant” and “Equus”, as well as conceptual differences in adopting (or understanding) the Elephant-Equus event as an intercontinental dispersal event or as a stratigraphic datum, engendered ambiguity and debate. Here, we provide a succinct review of the Elephant-Equus event, considering separately the available evidence on the “elephant” and the “Equus”. Elephantines dispersed out of Africa during the Pliocene (Piacenzian). Their earliest calibrated occurrences from eastern Europe date at ~3.2 Ma and they are usually referred to Mammuthus rumanus, although the allocation of several samples to this species is tentative. Available dating constraints for other localities do not resolve whether the dispersal of Mammuthus was synchronous across Eurasia, but this possibility cannot be ruled out. The spread of Mammuthus was part of an intercontinental faunal exchange between Africa and Eurasia that occurred during the Piacenzian, but in this scenario, Mammuthus is quite unique in being the only genus of African origin dispersing to western Eurasia. The arrival of monodactyl equids from North America coincides with the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, with several occurrences dated or calibrated at ~2.6 Ma and no compelling evidence prior to this age. In Europe, early monodactyl equids are often aligned to Equus livenzovensis, but the material from the type locality of this species is chronologically time-averaged and taxonomically heterogeneous, and western European samples are seldom abundant or informative. Regardless, this does not diminish the biochronological significance of the “Equus event”. Indeed, while the term “Elephant-Equus event” should no longer be used, as the appearance of elephantines in the European fossil record markedly precedes that of monodactyl equids, we endorse the use of the “Equus event” as a valid alternative to refer to the intercontinental dispersal event that characterizes the middle Villafranchian faunal turnover, epitomized by but not limited to monodactyl equids.
{"title":"What Does the “Elephant-Equus” Event Mean Today? Reflections on Mammal Dispersal Events around the Pliocene-Pleistocene Boundary and the Flexible Ambiguity of Biochronology","authors":"A. Iannucci, R. Sardella","doi":"10.3390/quat6010016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010016","url":null,"abstract":"The dispersal of primitive elephantines and monodactyl equids in Eurasia has long been regarded as representative of a substantial turnover in mammal faunas, denoting the spread of open environments linked to the onset of cold and dry conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. During the 1980s, this event was named the “Elephant-Equus event” and it was correlated with the Gauss-Matuyama reversal, today corresponding to the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition and the beginning of the Quaternary, dated at ~2.6 Ma. Therefore, the Elephant-Equus event became a concept of prominent biochronological and paleoecological significance, especially in western Europe. Yet, uncertainties surrounding the taxonomy and chronology of early “elephant” and “Equus”, as well as conceptual differences in adopting (or understanding) the Elephant-Equus event as an intercontinental dispersal event or as a stratigraphic datum, engendered ambiguity and debate. Here, we provide a succinct review of the Elephant-Equus event, considering separately the available evidence on the “elephant” and the “Equus”. Elephantines dispersed out of Africa during the Pliocene (Piacenzian). Their earliest calibrated occurrences from eastern Europe date at ~3.2 Ma and they are usually referred to Mammuthus rumanus, although the allocation of several samples to this species is tentative. Available dating constraints for other localities do not resolve whether the dispersal of Mammuthus was synchronous across Eurasia, but this possibility cannot be ruled out. The spread of Mammuthus was part of an intercontinental faunal exchange between Africa and Eurasia that occurred during the Piacenzian, but in this scenario, Mammuthus is quite unique in being the only genus of African origin dispersing to western Eurasia. The arrival of monodactyl equids from North America coincides with the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, with several occurrences dated or calibrated at ~2.6 Ma and no compelling evidence prior to this age. In Europe, early monodactyl equids are often aligned to Equus livenzovensis, but the material from the type locality of this species is chronologically time-averaged and taxonomically heterogeneous, and western European samples are seldom abundant or informative. Regardless, this does not diminish the biochronological significance of the “Equus event”. Indeed, while the term “Elephant-Equus event” should no longer be used, as the appearance of elephantines in the European fossil record markedly precedes that of monodactyl equids, we endorse the use of the “Equus event” as a valid alternative to refer to the intercontinental dispersal event that characterizes the middle Villafranchian faunal turnover, epitomized by but not limited to monodactyl equids.","PeriodicalId":54131,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46697769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pollen and sediment data from a 10.5 m-deep alluvial exposure and a secondary tributary exposure at Upper Arroyo, a seasonal river, in Saltillo, Mexico, were examined with the aim of reconstructing the vegetation and environmental history during the Holocene as a whole. The role of climate change in Chihuahuan Desert flora development after 8800 BP was assessed, in addition to more local physiographic factors, such as erosion and accumulation, soil development and denudation, and hydrological entrenchment. Climate change appeared to have been a principal agent of vegetation change in the Early and Middle Holocene, with a periodic expansion of desert vegetation. A reduction in the environmental carrying capacities for mesophytic flora according to physiographic factors, such as soil erosion and channel entrenchment, was then identified after 2300 BP, also promoting azonal ecological niches for xerophytic vegetation in southern Coahuila, Mexico, that persist despite modern variations in precipitation.
{"title":"Chihuahuan Desert Vegetation Development during the Past 10,000 Years According to Pollen and Sediment Data at Upper Arroyo, Saltillo, Mexico","authors":"B. Albert","doi":"10.3390/quat6010015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010015","url":null,"abstract":"Pollen and sediment data from a 10.5 m-deep alluvial exposure and a secondary tributary exposure at Upper Arroyo, a seasonal river, in Saltillo, Mexico, were examined with the aim of reconstructing the vegetation and environmental history during the Holocene as a whole. The role of climate change in Chihuahuan Desert flora development after 8800 BP was assessed, in addition to more local physiographic factors, such as erosion and accumulation, soil development and denudation, and hydrological entrenchment. Climate change appeared to have been a principal agent of vegetation change in the Early and Middle Holocene, with a periodic expansion of desert vegetation. A reduction in the environmental carrying capacities for mesophytic flora according to physiographic factors, such as soil erosion and channel entrenchment, was then identified after 2300 BP, also promoting azonal ecological niches for xerophytic vegetation in southern Coahuila, Mexico, that persist despite modern variations in precipitation.","PeriodicalId":54131,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42743318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We present a timeseries of flood and slumping phases in central Europe for the past 65,000 years from event layers in sediment cores from infilled Eifel maar basins (Germany). Palynological, petrographic and organic carbon (chlorins) records are used to understand the precise timing of these events. Periods of increased flood activity seem to coincide with Heinrich stadials in marine sediment records, which are associated with cold and more arid climate conditions, indicating a vegetation response within the maars’ catchment areas. This multi-proxy correlation reveals prominent slumps at different maar sites during Greenland Stadial (GS) 12. The stratigraphy is based on sediment records from the Auel infilled maar and we thus call this event Auel Cold Event (ACE). Frozen and fractured sediment packages within the slump suggest deep frost or permafrost conditions for the region during the stadial. The results agree well with sediment archives and archeological sites across Europe that report severely cold and arid conditions for the stadial. This supports the assumption that GS12 was indeed one of the coldest periods of the last glacial cycle rather than the Heinrich stadials. Based on our age model, the ACE occurred at 43,500 yr b2k (years before the year 2000), which coincides with the initial weakening of Earth’s magnetic field strength prior to the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion.
{"title":"Evidence for an Extreme Cooling Event Prior to the Laschamp Geomagnetic Excursion in Eifel Maar Sediments","authors":"Johannes Albert, F. Sirocko","doi":"10.3390/quat6010014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010014","url":null,"abstract":"We present a timeseries of flood and slumping phases in central Europe for the past 65,000 years from event layers in sediment cores from infilled Eifel maar basins (Germany). Palynological, petrographic and organic carbon (chlorins) records are used to understand the precise timing of these events. Periods of increased flood activity seem to coincide with Heinrich stadials in marine sediment records, which are associated with cold and more arid climate conditions, indicating a vegetation response within the maars’ catchment areas. This multi-proxy correlation reveals prominent slumps at different maar sites during Greenland Stadial (GS) 12. The stratigraphy is based on sediment records from the Auel infilled maar and we thus call this event Auel Cold Event (ACE). Frozen and fractured sediment packages within the slump suggest deep frost or permafrost conditions for the region during the stadial. The results agree well with sediment archives and archeological sites across Europe that report severely cold and arid conditions for the stadial. This supports the assumption that GS12 was indeed one of the coldest periods of the last glacial cycle rather than the Heinrich stadials. Based on our age model, the ACE occurred at 43,500 yr b2k (years before the year 2000), which coincides with the initial weakening of Earth’s magnetic field strength prior to the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion.","PeriodicalId":54131,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48575662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The global ecosystem services that are essential to sustaining life on the planet have been disrupted by different anthropogenic activities. This study’s objective is to examine how ecosystem services vary with changes in land use and land cover (LULC) across 29 years at the Matenchose watershed. Landsat images for 1991 (TM), 2003 (ETM+), and 2020 (OLI-8) were used for the categorization of LULC. To evaluate the changes in ecosystems service valuations (ESVs) as a result of LULC changes in combination with ArcGIS, the value transfer valuation approach was utilized. Farmlands, towns, and bare land exhibited growing trends among the five major LULC classes, but forest and grassland showed declining trends. From 1991 to 2020, ESVs decreased by a total of US $157.24 million due to the LULC modifications. In terms of ESV functions, provisional services (US $89.23 million) and cultural services (US $69.36 million) made up the majority of the loss of ESV. Overall, the reduction of ESV showed the environment is degrading because of existing LULC changes, this calls for immediate sustainable land management intervention by responsible actors. To attain sustainable development goals regarding food and life on the land, it is imperative to reverse the loss of ecosystem services.
{"title":"Evaluation of the Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Land Use/Land Cover Changes in Matenchose Watershed, Rift Valley Basin, Ethiopia","authors":"M. Mathewos, Alemu O. Aga","doi":"10.3390/quat6010013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010013","url":null,"abstract":"The global ecosystem services that are essential to sustaining life on the planet have been disrupted by different anthropogenic activities. This study’s objective is to examine how ecosystem services vary with changes in land use and land cover (LULC) across 29 years at the Matenchose watershed. Landsat images for 1991 (TM), 2003 (ETM+), and 2020 (OLI-8) were used for the categorization of LULC. To evaluate the changes in ecosystems service valuations (ESVs) as a result of LULC changes in combination with ArcGIS, the value transfer valuation approach was utilized. Farmlands, towns, and bare land exhibited growing trends among the five major LULC classes, but forest and grassland showed declining trends. From 1991 to 2020, ESVs decreased by a total of US $157.24 million due to the LULC modifications. In terms of ESV functions, provisional services (US $89.23 million) and cultural services (US $69.36 million) made up the majority of the loss of ESV. Overall, the reduction of ESV showed the environment is degrading because of existing LULC changes, this calls for immediate sustainable land management intervention by responsible actors. To attain sustainable development goals regarding food and life on the land, it is imperative to reverse the loss of ecosystem services.","PeriodicalId":54131,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44837260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A dendrochronological investigation was undertaken on subfossil Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stumps following their discovery during conservation management at Wem Moss, a small (28 ha) former raised mire in Shropshire, UK. Two ring-width chronologies were constructed from 14 of the 17 trees sampled spanning 198 and 208 years, respectively. Whilst dendrochronological dating was not possible, radiocarbon assays provided an estimated age for this mire-rooting woodland of between 3015 and 2505 years cal. BCE, coinciding with the age traditionally associated with the widespread mortality of pine trees throughout much of the UK and Ireland, often referred to as the Pine Decline (ca. 4000 radiocarbon years BP). Placed in a wider geographical context, the Wem Moss pines are located within the lowland Meres and Mosses region, where previous studies on subfossil pine have demonstrated protracted declines in mire-rooting trees. These have included tree mortality significantly post-dating the Pine Decline, especially at larger peatland sites that exceed 5 km2. Such macrofossil evidence for the presence of Scots pine into the late Holocene is supported by continuous Pinus pollen representation at peatland sites in the Welsh Marches (English–Welsh border), suggesting the possible survival of native Scots pine trees in this area up to the present day. The investigation of Wem Moss bog pines and their wider geographical context highlights the incomplete and patchy nature of palaeo-vegetational records and also the need for future genetic research on living Scots pine in possible refugial areas in Britain and Ireland.
{"title":"‘Pine Decline or pine declines?’ Analysis and Interpretation of Bog-Pines from Wem Moss, Shropshire, UK","authors":"J. Lageard","doi":"10.3390/quat6010012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010012","url":null,"abstract":"A dendrochronological investigation was undertaken on subfossil Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stumps following their discovery during conservation management at Wem Moss, a small (28 ha) former raised mire in Shropshire, UK. Two ring-width chronologies were constructed from 14 of the 17 trees sampled spanning 198 and 208 years, respectively. Whilst dendrochronological dating was not possible, radiocarbon assays provided an estimated age for this mire-rooting woodland of between 3015 and 2505 years cal. BCE, coinciding with the age traditionally associated with the widespread mortality of pine trees throughout much of the UK and Ireland, often referred to as the Pine Decline (ca. 4000 radiocarbon years BP). Placed in a wider geographical context, the Wem Moss pines are located within the lowland Meres and Mosses region, where previous studies on subfossil pine have demonstrated protracted declines in mire-rooting trees. These have included tree mortality significantly post-dating the Pine Decline, especially at larger peatland sites that exceed 5 km2. Such macrofossil evidence for the presence of Scots pine into the late Holocene is supported by continuous Pinus pollen representation at peatland sites in the Welsh Marches (English–Welsh border), suggesting the possible survival of native Scots pine trees in this area up to the present day. The investigation of Wem Moss bog pines and their wider geographical context highlights the incomplete and patchy nature of palaeo-vegetational records and also the need for future genetic research on living Scots pine in possible refugial areas in Britain and Ireland.","PeriodicalId":54131,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44871144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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