Greek Coastal Mires: A Preliminary Study of the Agoulinitsa Peatland, Western Peloponnese

Abstract

The Agoulinitsa peatland formed on the western shore of the homonymous lake, which was drained in 1969 because of the emerging demand for agricultural land. This study is a preliminary attempt to determine the conditions that prevailed during peat formation. Shallow cores were obtained from the peatland and initial physical, chemical and mineralogical analyses were carried out. High ash yield and pH values indicate that peat accumulated under alkaline conditions with periods of high clastic material influx, while high electric conductivity values indicate increased influx of dissolved solids into the mire. The mineral matter consists mainly of clay minerals, quartz, calcite, halite, sylvite and pyrite. The distribution of these minerals with depth indicates that fresh-water conditions prevailed for a long period during peat accumulation at the central part of the peatland, whereas the sea-water influence was more intense to the south establishing slightly brackish conditions. All data suggest that the Agoulinitsa peatland was developed as a back-barrier mire formed at the southwestern part of the Agoulinitsa Lake, and hence it can be considered as a modern analogue of the Neogene lignite deposits occurring along the west coast of Péloponnèse

Archaeometric evidence for the earliest exploitation of lignite from the bronze age Eastern Mediterranean

“…lacustrine) input 48 and the relative abundance of the regular steranes, combined with the absence of marine-derived C 30 steranes 47 , suggest a wet environment with terrestrial and planktonic inputs 48 . This is consistent with a paralic-freshwater swamp source for the lignite 48 , as observed for the Taxodium -dominated conifer swamps constituting the telmato-deltaic lignite deposits of the western Peloponnese around Pyrgos and Olympia 31 , 49 . The lignites identified in the three calculus samples from Chania are chemically distinct from the Tiryns lignite source and derive from two different sources (see Table S2 b).…”

“…Moreover, the relative abundances of the ααα-20R C 27 , C 28 and C 29 regular steranes (63%, 22% and 15% respectively) indicate a predominantly marine input, corroborated by the additional presence of the more unusual C 30 steranes, which are indicative of a marine source 47 . Interestingly, secosteranes, specifically the C 27 , C 28 and C 29 8,14-secosteranes, were identified; these are believed to derive from sponge lipid membranes and their symbiotic bacteria, as previously reported in marine-derived fossil fuels 49 . The decreasing C 31 -C 35 homohopanes and the diasteranes, being in similar abundance to the regular steranes, also suggests a clastic input for the lignite 54 .…”

Geological study for a wetland restoration: the case of the drained Mouria Lake (W. Peloponnese).

“…This practice was applied in the next decades all over the country until late 1960's when the last lakes were drained, namely these of Mouria and Agoulinitsa in Western Peloponnese. The areas of both lakes were converted into urban and agricultural land (Manariotis and Yannopoulos, 2004;Sofikitis et al, 2007;Chatziapostolou et al, 2008) (Figure 1a).…”