Multi-proxy evidence of Holocene climate variability in Volhynia Upland (SE Poland) recorded in spring-fed fen deposits from the Komarów site

Bibliographic Data

ID12266229
AuthorsRadosław Dobrowolski (0000-0002-6504-5643, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, corresponding author), Krystyna Bałaga (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University), Alicja Buczek (0000-0001-8032-9495, Faculty of Horticulture, University of Life Sciences, Poland), Stefan Witold Alexandrowicz (0000-0002-5403-6696, AGH University of Krakow), Witold Paweł Alexandrowicz (Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environment Protection, University of Science and Technology, Poland), Małgorzata Mazurek (0000-0002-9139-2462, Institute of Geoecology and Geoinformation, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland), Stanisław Hałas (0000-0002-0190-4314, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University), Natalia Piotrowska (0000-0002-8194-6767, Silesian University of Technology)
Year2016
Volume26
Issue9
Pages1406-1425
Publication date2016-04-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Holocene (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-6836 • E-ISSN: 1477-0911
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0959683616640038
OpenAlexW2333743868
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited68

Radiocarbon-dated spring-fed fen deposits from the Komarów site (Volhynia Upland, SE Poland) with its multi-proxy data (macrofossils, molluscs, geochemistry, pollen, stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon) enable us (1) to distinguish four main stages of fen evolution, which reflected a distinct variability of water supply conditions and (2) to reconstruct the Holocene humidity–temperature changes. The beginning of peat–tufa deposition took place in a Boreal phase, after a significant cool fluctuation of climate occurring ca. 9.4 ka cal. BP. We suggest that climate was the most important factor conditioning the development of the spring-fed fen. Permafrost degradation, and then wet periods, intensified the activity of ascending springs. The impact of humans was possible since the Neolithic period and increased during the Middle Ages: therefore, the anthropogenic influence could have partially overlapped with the regional tendencies of climate changes. Autogenic development of deposit succession in the studied fen was definitely conditioned by hydrological changes induced by climate. Based on the multi-proxy data, 12 cold events of different ranks were identified. They are also recorded in other Polish and European sites. A record of distinct variability of depositional conditions at ca. 9.4, 8.2, 5.9, 4.6, 2.8, 1.4 and 0.55 ka cal. BP corresponds to quasi-periodical global climate changes in the Holocene named the Bond events. The majority of the cold events recorded in δ 13 C and δ 18 O of carbonates can be correlated to the Greenland oxygen isotope curve

Archaeology · Boreal · Carbonate · Climate change · Geochemistry · Geography · Holocene · Holocene climatic optimum · Isotopes of oxygen · Macrofossil · Paleoclimatology · Peat · Period (music · Permafrost · Physical geography · Radiocarbon dating · Subfossil · Tufa · Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology · Geology · Oceanography · Paleontology