ISSN:
1573-2932
Keywords:
pigments
;
diatoms
;
cladocera
;
ostracods
;
chironomids
;
chrysophytes
;
sediments
;
Late Pleistocene
;
Holocene
;
crater lake
;
Italy
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
Notes:
Abstract This paper reports the results of biological analyses (pigments, diatoms, chrysophyte cysts, cladocerans, chironomids and ostracods) of a ca. 14 m-long sediment core recovered from Lake Albano (Central Italy) in the course of the EU-funded project PALICLAS (PALaeoenvironmental analysis of Italian Crater Lake and Adriatic Sediments). A reconstruction of the environmental evolution and ecosystem response of Lake Albano during the last ca. 30 kyr was possible. Additional information on lake level oscillation is obtained from benthic and planktonic palaeocommunities. Several oscillations in the productivity and the level of the lake were detected in the oldest sediment layers (from ca. 30 kyr BP to ca. 17 kyr BP), followed by a long (ca. 5 kyr BP) period of low productivity in which cold, holomictic conditions prevailed. A period of high biological activity and, probably, meromictic conditions during the early-mid Holocene was detected. A clear impact of human activities in the catchment was found at ca. 4 kyr BP in the form of increased erosion, associated with a decline in the abundance of biological remains. Further signs of human impact on the lake ecosystem are recorded during the Roman period. Although large-scale environmental changes (e.g. regional climate changes) caused many of the observed biological changes, human activities were important during the mid-late Holocene.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02406899
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