A multi-proxy approach to understanding complex responses of salt-lake catchments to climate variability and human pressure: A Late Quaternary case study from south-eastern, Spain

Jones, Samantha Elsie; Burjachs, Francesc; Ferrer-García, Carlos; Giralt, Santiago; Schulte, Lothar; Pablo, Javier Fernández‐López de

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.12.015

Cited by 18 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…Both vertical and horizontal shoreline displacement rates are rapid enough to be perceptible by human communities, at a level of 1 to 2 generations only, as it has been also suggested during the Early Holocene inundation of North-Western Europe (Sturt et al, 2013). More than the vertical rate, the rapidity with which the shoreline came closer may have also increased vulnerability to short high-energy marine events (Leary, 2009). Taking into account that Mesolithic occupation of El Collado has spanned 1022-1965 years (Fernández-López de Pablo, 2016); this context of highly changing landscapes must have been perceptible by the last hunter-gatherers.…”

Section: Socio-ecological Adaptation During the Early To Mid-holocenementioning

confidence: 83%

“…BP, with the extinction of previously exploited ecosystems, and abandonment of the El Collado implantation. The hypothesis of a convergence of environmental events rendering populations more sensitive could be made (Leary, 2009). Based on this case-study, it may have resulted in the superimposition of the repercussion of the long-term sea-level rise on the coastal geomorphology and ecosystems, with the abrupt aridity event that has occurred at 8200 cal.…”

Section: Socio-ecological Adaptation During the Early To Mid-holocenementioning

confidence: 93%

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Socio-ecological adaptation to Early-Holocene sea-level rise in the western Mediterranean

Brisset

Burjachs

Ballesteros

et al. 2018

Global and Planetary Change

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Consecutively to the global sea-level rise, coastal landscapes significantly changed during the Early Holocene. We explored how coastal mutations have affected ancient human systems in the western Mediterranean. The Pego-Oliva basin (Spain) provides a thick sediment sequence located in proximity to two well-studied Mesolithic and Neolithic archaeological sites. Based on 16 sediment cores, sedimentological analyses, 14 C dates, and integration of previous works, we reconstructed the architecture of the sedimentary facies and the chronology of deposition for the last 9500 years. From 9500 to 8200 cal. BP, the stepwise inland migration of the coastline is characterised by the deposition of peat layers at distinct depths indicating four phases of barrier-lagoon systems development. The marine transgression caused the disappearance of the lagoon at 8200 cal. BP, and reached a maximum inland position at 7300 cal. BP. Since 5800 cal. BP, sea-level stabilisation induced coastal progradation and barrier-lagoon system construction. Five marine flooding phases dated at 9500, 9100-9000, 8750-8650, 8450-8200, and 8100-7300 cal. BP match Atlantic meltwater pulses. Comparison to archaeology shows that the long-lasting Mesolithic occupation corresponds to the presence of coastal offering easily exploitable local intertidal resources. In contrast, during the Late Mesolithic, we observe a lagoon contraction and the reduction of lagoon bivalves size arguing for a decrease in resource productivity. This changes in the lagoon ecosystems negatively impacted to Late Mesolithic populations leading to a less intense occupation of this area. Therefore, the 700 years' temporal hiatus between the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers occupying this area is explained by the disappearance of the formerly exploited biotopes because of sea-level rise, a situation that may have been aggravated by coincidence of the 8200 cal. BP climate event. The maximal sea transgression corresponded to a shift from intertidal to infralittoral species between the Impressa/Precardial and the Postcardial Neolithic, indicating a good adaptation to changing environments at that time. However, comparison between Late Mesolithic to Early Neolithic suggests that communities with different cultural baggage have had a different perception of the same environment. By the past perspective, it emphasises that perception of the ecosystem value as a benefit or constraint, and of the risks associated with sea-level rise, relies first on the local and regional scales adaptive capacity of society to global changes.

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Section: Socio-ecological Adaptation During the Early To Mid-holocenementioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Socio-ecological Adaptation During the Early To Mid-holocenementioning

confidence: 93%

Socio-ecological adaptation to Early-Holocene sea-level rise in the western Mediterranean

Brisset

Burjachs

Ballesteros

et al. 2018

Global and Planetary Change

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“…The blocking effects of the North Atlantic high-pressure system on atmospheric circulation would have prevented Atlantic moisture from reaching latitudes north of 40 • N, and would thus have resulted in drier-than-present environments throughout most of the region [63,64]. Conversely, wetter-than-today conditions punctuated by periods of drought [65] would have been brought about by cyclic Atlantic flow south of this latitude ( [62] and references therein).…”

Section: Regional Trends In Ecosystem Dynamics During the Holocenementioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence and Evolution of Anthropogenic Landscapes in the Western Mediterranean and Adjacent Atlantic Regions

Iglesias

Vannière

Jouffroy‐Bapicot

2019

Fire

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Socio-ecological systems are complex, dynamic structures driven by cross-scale interactions between climate, disturbance and subsistence strategies. We synthetize paleoecological data to explore the emergence and evolution of anthropogenic landscapes in southwestern Europe and northern Africa. Specifically, we estimate trends in vegetation and fire, and assess how changes in climate and resource exploitation altered ecosystem dynamics over the last 10,000 years. Pollen data reveal that a complex vegetation mosaic resulted from the conversion of forests into areas suitable for crops, especially after 7000 cal yr BP. Cross-scale analysis shows a progressive decoupling of climate and ecosystem trajectories, which displayed an overall south-to-north time-transgressive pattern consistent with models of population expansion. As human impact increased, so did the use of fire, and after 4000 cal yr BP, levels of biomass burning became homogeneous across the region. This region-wide rise in burning suggests that land-management overrode the effects of climate, fuel and topography. Thus, while increasing the returns and predictability of resources, rapidly-growing communities created a new form of frequent and extensive disturbance that led to profound and persistent changes in the landscape, including shrub encroachment, increased erosion and soil impoverishment.

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“…However, no significant statistical correlation of δD prec values with precipitation amount (R = 0.228, p = 0.112) and atmospheric temperature (R = 0.200, p = 0.166) exists during modern times on the annual scale (Fig 1). Moreover, there is also no significant correlation between all three compound-specific hydrogen isotope records and their concentration as well as with other ODP-161-976A data such as the ACL [29][30][31][32][33][34][35] (reflecting changes in regional aridity [58]) and alkenone-based annual mean SST (Table 3), which are closely coupled to atmospheric temperature variability in southeast Iberia [6]. However, correlations between the δD Cx records appear to increase with chain length (Table 3).…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, correlations between the δD Cx records appear to increase with chain length (Table 3). Overall, a moderate correlation of ACL [29][30][31][32][33][34][35] and the δD WMA record suggests that regional aridity may have had a minor influence on the hydrogen isotopic records. Aridity is closely related to evapotranspiration, which is potentially an important parameter to be considered, when interpreting δD Cx data in semi-arid climates such as southeast Iberia.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Fossil leaf wax hydrogen isotopes reveal variability of Atlantic and Mediterranean climate forcing on the southeast Iberian Peninsula between 6000 to 3000 cal. BP

et al. 2020

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Many recently published papers have investigated the spatial and temporal manifestation of the 4.2 ka BP climate event at regional and global scales. However, questions with regard to the potential drivers of the associated climate change remain open. Here, we investigate the interaction between Atlantic and Mediterranean climate forcing on the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula during the mid- to late Holocene using compound-specific hydrogen isotopes from fossil leaf waxes preserved in marine sediments. Variability of hydrogen isotope values in the study area is primarily related to changes in the precipitation source and indicates three phases of increased Mediterranean sourced precipitation from 5450 to 5350 cal. BP, from 5150 to 4300 cal. BP including a short-term interruption around 4800 cal. BP, and from 3400 to 3000 cal. BP interrupted around 3200 cal. BP. These phases are in good agreement with times of prevailing positive modes of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and reduced storm activity in the Western Mediterranean suggesting that the NAO was the dominant modulator of relative variability in precipitation sources. However, as previously suggested other modes such as the Western Mediterranean Oscillation (WeMO) may have altered this overall relationship. In this regard, a decrease in Mediterranean moisture source coincident with a rapid reduction in warm season precipitation during the 4.2 ka BP event at the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula might have been related to negative WeMO conditions.

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A multi-proxy approach to understanding complex responses of salt-lake catchments to climate variability and human pressure: A Late Quaternary case study from south-eastern, Spain

Cited by 18 publications

References 92 publications

Socio-ecological adaptation to Early-Holocene sea-level rise in the western Mediterranean

Socio-ecological adaptation to Early-Holocene sea-level rise in the western Mediterranean

Emergence and Evolution of Anthropogenic Landscapes in the Western Mediterranean and Adjacent Atlantic Regions

Fossil leaf wax hydrogen isotopes reveal variability of Atlantic and Mediterranean climate forcing on the southeast Iberian Peninsula between 6000 to 3000 cal. BP

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