Holocene environmental change in southwestern Crimea (Ukraine) in pollen and soil records

Abstract

Pollen records and soil development sequences from the Heraklean Peninsula and the Chyornaya Valley provide information on climatic change and fluctuation of ecological boundaries (mesic forests, steppes and sub-Mediterranean shrublands) in southwestern Crimea during the Holocene. Forests of Quercus, Ulmus, Corylus and Carpinus existed in the Heraklean Peninsula between 12 ka and 11 ka. The subsequent reduction of arboreal pollen and the expansion of Artemisia and Knautia, in conjunction with chernozem soil development, indicate prevailing steppe conditions between 11 ka and 7.5 ka. An increase in arboreal pollen, dominated by sub-Mediterranean and Mediterranean taxa, and the development of brown cinnamonic (calfersic) soil suggest higher temperatures and summer drought between 7.5 ka and 5 ka. An increase in arboreal pollen and the development of a meadow cinnamonic soil suggest an increase in moisture between 5.4 ka and 4.6 ka. A subsequent decrease in AP and the development of calcic horizons in cinnamonic soils indicate that a dry phase occurred between 4.2 ka and 3.5 ka. Woodland expansion occurred again after 3.2 ka, only to be interrupted by the establishment of Greek farms in the fifth century BC. An increase in AP on or after the first century BC was the result of climatic amelioration in conjunction with farm abandonment prompted by political crisis and steppe warrior raids. Although Holocene pollen and soil records from the Ukrainian steppes present climate trends similar to the Heraklean Peninsula, differences in plant taxa and soil response to climatic changes exist due to their different position with respect to marine influences.

Black Sea nitrogen cycling and the preservation of phytoplankton δ15N signals during the Holocene

“…The C and N isotope curves are 10-point moving averages. The climate data include: (a) Black Sea level relative to modern-solid line [Chepalyga, 1985], dashed line [Fedorov, 1978]; (b) Caspian sea level relative to modern [Chepalyga, 1985]; (c) estimates for relative temperature and precipitation based on pollen records and soils for the Crimean Peninsula [Cordova and Lehman, 2005]; and (d) mean annual precipitation (MAP) estimates for Romania based on pollen records [Feurdean et al, 2008]. and À0.6‰ ( Figure 5) [Freudenthal et al, 2001].…”

“…High Caspian Sea levels, pollen records from Romania and the Crimean Peninsula, and the interruption of scytonemin deposition in the Black Sea illustrate that a warm and wet climate regime was in place in the Black Sea region at that time (Figure 3) [Chepalyga, 1985;Cordova and Lehman, 2005;Feurdean et al, 2008;Fulton et al, 2012]. High influx of fresh river water to the SML maintained the salinity gradient and ultimately strengthened stratification, likely inhibiting upwelling of SOL waters.…”

Post-agrogenic evolution of soils in ancient Greek land use areas in the Herakleian Peninsula, southwestern Crimea

“…In a chronological sequence of soils aged from 500 to 11,500 (according to Cordova and Lehman, 2005) yr (Sections 2-4, 6, Table 2), the amount of humus in the upper horizon increases from 4.1% to 7.0% under steppe vegetation and up to Red cinnamonic soil on limestone hillwash, horizon A (3-12 cm). National park 'Mys Martyan' (Atlas, 1979).…”

Indicators of agricultural soil genesis under varying conditions of land use, Steppe Crimea

“…Multidisciplinary investigations of the soil agrogenesis influenced by ancient arable agriculture have a very wide geography: Western Europe and particularly the Mediterranean (Ruecker et al, 1998;Sanchez-Maranon et al, 2002;Scalenghe et al, 2002;Delgado et al, 2007;Freppaz et al, 2008;Bellin et al, 2009;Stanchia et al, 2012); Eastern Europe, including its central part (Dolotov, 1984;Karavaeva, 2000;Polyakova and Platonycheva, 2012), the regions of Greco-Roman land use in Southern Ukraine (Lisetskii, 2008;Lisetskii and Rodionova, 2012) and the Crimea (Cordova and Lehman, 2005;Lisetskii et al, 2013) as well as the northern Caucasus (Korobov and Borisov, 2013); Asia Kostyuchenko and Lisitsyna, 1976;Gong et al, 2000;Wilkinson, 2003;Miyaji, 2003;Pietsch and Mabit, 2012); Africa (Mighall et al, 2012;Nyberg et al, 2012) and the New World (Sandor et al, 1990;Dick et al, 1994;Eash and Sandor, 1995;Sandor and Eash, 1995;Harden, 1996;Sandor, 2006;Goodman-Elgar, 2008;Londono, 2008;Homburg and Sandor, 2011;Fonte et al, 2012).…”