Climate, vegetation and ecology during Harappan period: excavations at Kanjetar and Kaj, mid-Saurashtra coast, Gujarat

Farooqui, Anjum; Gaur, A.S.; Prasad, Vandana

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.02.005

Cited by 39 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental shifts observed in the Bolgoda Lake record align with observations from other climate archives for Late Holocene changes in South Asia. Significantly, aridity noted in Zone 2 between 2334 and 2061 cal a bp , closely correlates with a record based on pollen and microfossils reported in Kodina, India, that is located in the core monsoon region (Farooqui et al, 2013). In addition, regional records including the peat deposit from Horton plains (Premathilake and Risberg, 2003), Pookode Lake (Veena et al, 2014) and Lonar Lake (Prasad et al, 2014) show a climatic transition from wet to dry conditions around 2000 yrs bp (also see comparison of regional Late Holocene climate records in Gayantha et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Reconstruction of the Late Holocene climate and environmental history from North Bolgoda Lake, Sri Lanka, using lipid biomarkers and pollen records

Gayantha

Routh

Anupama

et al. 2020

J Quaternary Science

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The catastrophic impact and unpredictability of the Indian Ocean Monsoon (IOM) over South Asia are evident from devastating floods, mudslides and droughts in one of the most densely populated regions of the globe. However, our understanding as to how the IOM has varied in the past, as well as its impact on local environments, remains limited. This is particularly the case for Sri Lanka, where erosional landscapes have limited the availability of well-stratified, high-resolution terrestrial archives. Here, we present novel data from an undisturbed sediment core retrieved from the coastal Bolgoda Lake. This includes the presentation of a revised Late Holocene age model as well as an innovative combination of pollen, source-specific biomarkers, and compound-specific stable carbon isotopes of n-alkanes to reconstruct the shifts in precipitation, salinity and vegetation cover. Our record documents variable climate between 3000 years and the present, with arid conditions c. 2334 and 2067 cal a BP. This extreme dry period was preceded and followed by more wet conditions. The high-resolution palaeoenvironmental reconstruction fills a major gap in our knowledge on the ramifications of IOM shifts across South Asia and provides insights during a time of major redistribution of dense human settlements across Sri Lanka.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Reconstruction of the Late Holocene climate and environmental history from North Bolgoda Lake, Sri Lanka, using lipid biomarkers and pollen records

Gayantha

Routh

Anupama

et al. 2020

J Quaternary Science

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“…The recovered pollen taxa were categorized as arboreal taxa (tree and shrub), non-arboreal taxa (marshy and terrestrial herb), and ferns. For the identification of pollen grains, we consulted the reference slides in the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP) herbarium of Lucknow (India) as well as published papers and photographs [30,31].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern botanical analogue of endangered Yak (Bos mutus) dung from India: Plausible linkage with living and extinct megaherbivores

Basumatary¹,

Singh²,

McDonald

et al. 2018

Preprint

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12The study present to document the micro and macrobotanical remain on wild Yak dung to 13 understand the diet, habitat, and ecology in relation to determining possible ecological 14 relationships with extant and extinct megaherbivores. Grasses are the primary diet of the yak as 15 indicated by the abundance of grass pollen and phytoliths, though it is obvious. The other 16 associates non-arboreal and arboreal taxa namely, Cyperacaeae, Rosaceae, Chenopodiaceae, 17 Artemisia, Prunus, and Rhododendron are also important dietary plants for their survival. The 18 observation of plant macrobotanical remains especially the vegetative part and seed of the 19 grasses and Cyperaceae also indicates good agreement with the palynodata. The documented 20 micro and macrobotanical data is indicative of both Alpine meadow and steppe vegetation under 21 cold and dry climate which exactly reflected the current vegetation composition and climate in 22 the region. The recovery of Botryococcus, Arcella, and diatom was marked though in trace 23 values and suggestive of the perennial water system in the region which incorporated through the 2 24 ingestion of water. Energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis marked that the element contained in 25 dung samples has variation in relation to the summer and winter which might be the availability 26 of the food plants and vegetation. This generated multiproxy data serves as a strong 27 supplementary data for modern pollen and vegetation relationship based on surface soil samples 28 in the region. The recorded multiproxy data could be useful to interpret the coprolites of 29 herbivorous fauna in relation to the palaeodietary and paleoecology in the region and to correlate 30 with other mega herbivores in a global context. 31 32 33Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the study of pollen and non-pollen 35 palynomorphs preserved in herbivore dung and how dung can serve as a substrate for their 36 preservation. This added information on the plant community aids in better understanding the 37 dietary habits of herbivores in relation to local vegetation composition and climate in a region. It 38 also provides a measure as to how dependent herbivorous animals are on the availability of 39 different plant species within their habitat. The diversity of available plants and their relative 40 abundance, in turn, reflects the climate of the region. The study of the modern pollen deposition 41 on the landscape forms a critical dataset and a prerequisite to understanding the palaeovegetation 42 and climate in the region [1-5]. 43 The systematic study of the relationship between modern pollen and vegetation in the 44 higher parts of the Himalayan Mountains is very difficult due to hilly terrain and limited 45 availability of soil samples. Consequently, it may not serve as a modern analogue that would 46 permit an accurate interpretation of the palaeoecology in the region. Previously, some workers 3 47have only examined surface soil samples in order to understand the modern pollen and 48 vegetatio...

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“…Along the coast of Saurashtra towards the east, locally extensive mudflats are observed near Jaffrabad. Climatically, the Saurashtra experiences a mean rainfall of 600 mm and the region comes under the influence of Southwest monsoon (Farooqui et al, 2013).…”

Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentary Records of Paleoredox Conditions at Relict Mudflat of Vasoj, Southern Saurashtra Coast, Gujarat, India

Banerji¹,

Bhushan²,

Maurya³

2016

Earth Science India

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Coastal lagoons form the most productive regions, in addition to receiving sediments from terrestrial and anthropogenic sources. High productivity results in oxygen deficiency thereby forming reducing conditions in the water column and sediment water interface. The present study is an attempt to reconstruct paleoredox conditions that persisted in the paleolagoon of Vasoj village near southern Saurashtra coast of Gujarat, India. Towards this, various redox sensitive elements such as Mo, V, Zn, Ni were investigated along with CaCO 3 , CaO and total organic carbon (TOC). The temporal variability in the concentrations suggest that anoxic conditions persisted during 47104000 cal yr BP, followed by euxinic conditions from 40003200 cal yr BP. However, post 3200 cal yr BP the water column remained oxic till 1500 cal yr BP, when the sedimentation ceased. This study further points that the euxinic conditions during 40003200 cal yr BP was not triggered by the intense TOC degradation but was a resultant of sea level lowering, caused by stagnation of water or reduced ventilation of water and thereby developed euxinic conditions. The results further suggest that it was after 3200 cal yr BP that the lagoon got transformed into coast/mudflat. The present study reveals the importance of redox sensitive proxies for the reconstruction of the paleolagoonal conditions of Vasoj village near southern Saurashtra coast of Gujarat, India.

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Climate, vegetation and ecology during Harappan period: excavations at Kanjetar and Kaj, mid-Saurashtra coast, Gujarat

Cited by 39 publications

References 29 publications

Reconstruction of the Late Holocene climate and environmental history from North Bolgoda Lake, Sri Lanka, using lipid biomarkers and pollen records

Reconstruction of the Late Holocene climate and environmental history from North Bolgoda Lake, Sri Lanka, using lipid biomarkers and pollen records

Modern botanical analogue of endangered Yak (Bos mutus) dung from India: Plausible linkage with living and extinct megaherbivores

Sedimentary Records of Paleoredox Conditions at Relict Mudflat of Vasoj, Southern Saurashtra Coast, Gujarat, India

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