A complete Holocene climate and environment record for the Western Carpathians (Slovakia) derived from a tufa deposit

Abstract

Calcareous tufas are great archives of geochemical information for the reconstruction of past climate. Their importance increases in the regions where other proxies are rare, such as Western Carpathians. Here, we present the first whole-Holocene palaeoclimatic reconstruction for this region based on geochemical proxies. We analysed δ18O, δ13C and Mg/Ca ratio on tufa calcite of the Mituchovci site (White Carpathian Mountains, W Slovakia) and compared these with pollen, plant macrofossil and mollusc data. According to δ18O, two distinct thermal maxima occurred in the region, around 11.4 ka and between 7.3 and 6.9 ka BP. According to δ13C and Mg/Ca ratio, a steep increase in moisture and rainfall took place around 8.5 ka cal. BP, preceded by a cold and dry event. These events are well reflected in the biotic proxies and are suggested also by other palaeoenvironmental studies from the Carpathians. We found some later fluctuations, with dry and warm Bronze Age (ca. 3.6 ka cal. BP), cold and wet Urnfield period (ca. 2.8 ka cal. BP), warm Roman period (ca. 2 ka cal. BP) and cold but humid Migration period (ca. 1.5 ka cal. BP). We observed extreme abruptness and amplitude of the variation in all geochemical proxies in the last 500 years, when biotic proxies imply a very intense human deforestation. Land-use changes may have altered both the temperature regime in the studied fen and the carbon cycle in the recharge area.

The tale of springs and streams: how different aquatic ecosystems impacted the mtDNA population structure of two riffle beetles in the Western Carpathians

“…In contrast, the populations of L. perrisi, occurring predominantly in streams, began to expand rapidly after the LGP. At the beginning of the Holocene (about 11.5-7.5 ka), a thermal maximum was recorded, which probably enhanced the expansion of species (Dabkowski et al, 2019), which corresponds to sudden expansion of L. perrisi. At that time, local W Carpathian glaciers disappeared completely (Lindner et al, 2003), which led to opening of new migration routes and likely also accelerated species dispersal.…”

Soil charcoal elucidates the role of humans in the development of landscape of extreme biodiversity

“…Fagus is considered a climax tree over large portions of the study area also nowadays (Neuhäuslová‐Novotná, ). In the north‐eastern part of the White Carpathians, a conspicuous moisture increase and spread of moisture‐demanding broad‐leaved trees have been documented for the period since ca 6,600 bc , using both biotic (Hájek et al, ) and abiotic (Dabkowski et al, ) proxies. Such an increase seems to be common for the entire Western Carpathians between 6,600 and 6,400 bc , as also indicated by high tufa accumulation in southern Slovakia (Šolcová et al, ), initiation of high deposition of speleothems and calcareous tufa in Poland (Starkel et al, ), and abrupt decrease in tufa δ13C in the Malá Fatra Mts (Juřičková et al, ).…”

“…When all five outlying dates (Table 2) were excluded, the relationship was even stronger (p = .0001, R 2 = .39; see also Supporting Information 5). Approximate developmental pathways of the studied sites were reconstructed using DCA plots with soil samples interconnected within a particular soil profile (Figure 3b) abiotic (Dabkowski et al, 2019) proxies. Such an increase seems to be common for the entire Western Carpathians between 6,600 and 6,400 BC, as also indicated by high tufa accumulation in southern…”

Wooden Well at the First Farmers’ Settlement Area in Uničov, Czech Republic

“…The climate of the LBK period was reconstructed with the same annual average temperature as today, but with milder winters and lower precipitation rates. This led to higher evaporation and an increasing importance of drought stress (Dabkowski et al 2019). This corresponds to plant species associated with deciduous woodlands, mainly their herbaceous undergrowth, and several saproxylophages, but species with lower environmental demands prevailed.…”

“…Klima období LBK bylo rekonstruováno se stejnou roční průměrnou teplotou jako dnes, ale s mírnějšími zimami a nižšími srážkami. To vedlo k vyššímu odpařování a rostoucímu stresu ze sucha (Dabkowski et al 2019). Takové klima odpovídá druhům rostlin spojeným s listnatými lesy, zejména jejich bylinným podrostem.…”