Historical Variations in Lead Fluxes in the Pyrenees (Northeast Spain) from a Dated Lake Sediment Core

Camarero, Lluís; Masqué, Pere; Devos, Wim; Ani-Ragolta, I.; Catalán, Jordi; Moor, Helen; Pla, Sergi; Sánchez-Cabeza, Joan-Albert

doi:10.1007/978-94-017-0906-4_40

Cited by 40 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…• También se ha podido identificar y confirmar una importante contaminación por plomo en torno a los primeros siglos de nuestra era, durante el periodo Tardo-Romano, en concordancia con lo que ya habían señalado otros estudios (Camarero et al, 1998;Galop et al, 2001;Monna et al, 2004;Irabien et al, 2012). …”

Section: Resultados Obtenidos a Partir De Los Depósitos Sedimentariosunclassified

Charcoal and pollen analysis: Examples of Holocene fire dynamics in Mediterranean Iberian Peninsula

Burjachs

Expósito

2015

CATENA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ResumenEl fuego juega un papel esencial en la configuración de los paisajes vegetales, aunque nuestro conocimiento de su incidencia a lo largo del tiempo es muy fragmentario y suele basarse en un escaso número de fuentes. Con objeto de indagar las limitaciones y complementariedad de éstas, se confrontan los resultados de algunas técnicas analíticas (estudio de los carbones sedimentarios y de suelo, del polen, del levoglucosán, de isótopos de plomo y de metales pesados presentes en las turberas para periodos que van hasta el Tardiglacial) con la información de los archivos históricos, hemerotecas y bases de datos climáticas y de incendios (que nos permiten llegar hasta la Edad Moderna, siglo XIX y segunda mitad del XX respectivamente). Los resultados prueban que las diferentes técnicas se complementan muy bien y que su combinación permite paliar parte de sus limitaciones individuales. Los datos más recientes, precisos y fiables, facilitan la interpretación de los antiguos que, a su vez, resultan necesarios para la comprensión de los procesos a largo plazo, generando retroalimentaciones muy útiles para la reconstrucción de la geografía histórica de los fuegos y para entender el papel que han desempeñado en la instalación de la cubierta vegetal actual.Palabras clave: Holoceno, historia de los incendios, fuentes geohistóricas y paleoambientales. Abstract Sources for a historical geography of forest fires. Some methodological considerationsFire plays an essential role in the configuration of the mountain landscapes. However, our knowledge of its incidence over time is very fragmentary and often based on a small number of sources. In order to explore their limitations and complementarity, we discuss the results of some analytical techniques (study of sedimentary charcoal, pollen, pedoanthracology, levoglucosan and isotopes of lead and heavy metals collected in peatlands for periods ranging up to Lateglacial) with information from historical archives, newspapers and climate and forest fires databases (which provide information up to the fifteenth, nineteenth and mid-twentieth respectively).The results prove the complementarity of the different techniques and their combination mitigates some of their individual limitations. The most recent, accurate and reliable data facilitate the interpretation of the former which, in turn, are necessary for the understanding of long-term processes, generating useful feedbacks for the reconstruction of the historical geography of the fire sand to understand the role they have played in the installation of the current vegetation cover. Grupo de Estudio y Gestión del Medio Natural (GIMENA

show abstract

Section: Resultados Obtenidos a Partir De Los Depósitos Sedimentariosunclassified

Charcoal and pollen analysis: Examples of Holocene fire dynamics in Mediterranean Iberian Peninsula

Burjachs

Expósito

2015

CATENA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…1a). The age model of the sequence is based on 210 Pb dating and 12 radiocarbon dates, covering the entire Holocene (Camarero et al, 1998 are used as proxies of winter-spring temperatures (Pla and Catalán, 2005) and diatoms for water alkalinity (Catalan et al, 2009), which eventually can be related to air temperature of the snow-free period (summer and autumn). For both proxies, transfer functions were developed, based on calibration sets of more than one hundred lakes.…”

Section: Lake Redonmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-proxy perspective on millennium-long climate variability in the Southern Pyrenees

Morellón

Pérez-Sanz²,

Corella

et al. 2012

Clim. Past

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. This paper reviews multi-proxy paleoclimatic reconstructions with robust age-control derived from lacustrine, dendrochronological and geomorphological records and characterizes the main environmental changes that occurred in the Southern Pyrenees during the last millennium. Warmer and relatively arid conditions prevailed during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, ca. 900-1300 AD), with a significant development of xerophytes and Mediterranean vegetation and limited deciduous tree formations (mesophytes). The Little Ice Age (LIA, 1300-1800 AD) was generally colder and moister, with an expansion of deciduous taxa and cold-adapted montane conifers. Two major phases occurred within this period: (i) a transition MCA-LIA, characterized by fluctuating, moist conditions and relatively cold temperatures (ca. 1300 and 1600 AD); and (ii) a second period, characterized by the coldest and most humid conditions, coinciding with maximum (recent) glacier advances (ca. 1600-1800 AD). Glaciers retreated after the LIA when warmer and more arid conditions dominated, interrupted by a short-living cooling episode during the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Some records suggest a response to solar activity with colder and slightly moister conditions during solar minima. Centennial-scale hydrological fluctuations are in phase with reconstructions of NAO variability, which appears to be one of the main climate mechanisms influencing rainfall variations in the region during the last millennium.

show abstract

“…The efficiency of such an environmental approach has been successfully demonstrated at least for lead, at continental scale as well as at local scale, in sediments (Brannvall et al, 1997;Schettler and Romer, 1998;Camarero et al, 1998;Brannvall eẗ al., 1999;Monna et al, 2000a;Renberg et al, 2000Renberg et al, , 2001Aries, 2001;Eades et al, 2002;Degryse et al, 2003), polar ice (Hong et al, 1994;Rosman et al, 1997), and peatlands (Glooschenko et al, 1986;Van Geel et al, 1989;Kempter et al, 1997;Weiss et al, 1997;Farmer et al, 1997;Kempter and Frenzel, 2000;Shotyk et al, 1998Shotyk et al, , 2001Mighall et al, 2002;Martınez-Cortizas et al, 1997, 2002. Concerning peatlands, it is generally accepted that the most appropriate media are ombrotrophic peat bogs because their chemistry and hydrology tend to promote the immobility of metals deposited (Lee and Tallis, 1973;Jones and Hao, 1993;Shotyk, 1996a;Norton et al, 1997;Martınez-Cortizas et al, 1997;Shotyk et al, 1998;MacKenzie et al, 1998a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental impact of early Basque mining and smelting recorded in a high ash minerogenic peat deposit

Monna

Galop

Carozza

et al. 2004

Science of The Total Environment

116

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

More than four metres of core, covering almost 5000 years of deposition, were collected in a high ash minerogenic peat deposit located in the High Aldudes valley (Basque country), an area well known for its mineral abundance, exploited from Roman Times at least. Although minerogenic peatlands are not generally considered as the best archives to reconstruct past atmospheric metal deposition history, lead isotopic geochemistry demonstrates the integrity of the Pb record at least within the three upper meters; that is to say over the last four millennia. Zn, Cd and Cu may have been widely redistributed either by biological cycling, advective groundwater movements, or diffusional processes. Anthropogenic lead input phases are clearly pinpointed by positive shifts in Pb/Sc ratios with concomitant sharp drops in (206)Pb/(207)Pb ratios. They are often accompanied by significant declines in tree taxa, interpreted as increasing demand for wood to supply energy for local mining and/or metallurgical operations. Periods of mining and/or smelting activity are identified during Antiquity and Modern Times, and are also confirmed by textual and field evidence. Inputs from the Rio Tinto (Southern Spain), often invoked as a major lead contributor to the European atmosphere during Roman Times, were not detected here. This remote source was probably masked by local inputs. Other mining and/or smelting phases, only suspected by archaeologists, are here identified as early as the Bronze Age. Although the durations of these phases are possibly overestimated because of detrital inputs consequent to the release of lead from polluted soils over a long period of time after major pollutant inputs, the periods at which pollution peaks occur are in good agreement with archaeological knowledge and palaeo-botanical data. The combination of geochemical and palaeo-botanical techniques with field archaeology, therefore provides a powerful tool in studying the interaction of early human societies with their environment, as regards early mining and smelting.

show abstract

Historical Variations in Lead Fluxes in the Pyrenees (Northeast Spain) from a Dated Lake Sediment Core

Cited by 40 publications

References 16 publications

Charcoal and pollen analysis: Examples of Holocene fire dynamics in Mediterranean Iberian Peninsula

Charcoal and pollen analysis: Examples of Holocene fire dynamics in Mediterranean Iberian Peninsula

A multi-proxy perspective on millennium-long climate variability in the Southern Pyrenees

Environmental impact of early Basque mining and smelting recorded in a high ash minerogenic peat deposit

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About