ULVS XXVI: Sedimentological and Palynological Studies of Holocene Environmental Changes from a Plateau Basin Infill Sequence at Grerat D'nar Salem, near Beni Ulid, in the Tripolitanian Pre-desert

1993 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. D. Gilbertson ◽  
C. O. Hunt ◽  
N. R. J. Fieller
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Shrub Species ◽  
North West ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Modern Landscape ◽  
Early And Middle Holocene ◽  
The Town

AbstractThis paper describes an integrated series of sedimentological and palynological studies of the arenaceous deposits which infill the large alluvial basin of Grerat D'nar Salem, which is located on a limestone plateau in the semi-arid pre-desert of Tripolitania north-west of the town of Beni Ulid. This research shows that in the early and middle Holocene this depression was occupied by a large semi-permanent or permanent water body which was surrounded by a grass-steppe vegetation with some tree and shrub species, perhaps growing in wetter stream- and wadi-beds. Sometime in the mid-Holocene the region became much more arid, the lake disappeared, matching the pattern of environmental change observed elsewhere in northern Africa. The geomor-phic environment became dominated by aeolian processes, interrupted by occasional winter floods, in a landscape dominated by grass steppe — essentially the situation that has continued to the present day. It is clear from general biogeographical and geomorphic considerations that Romano-Libyan floodwater farming in the region must have brought about significant changes in the character of wadi floors. Field survey indicates that it has also left a legacy in the contemporary distribution of plants, animals and runoff in the modern landscape. Nevertheless, no clear evidence has emerged from this study that the widespread and intensive flood-water farming, evidenced by the archaeological remains in the area, was associated with either a climate or a landscape notably different from that of today. The new palynological evidence suggests that the nature of the related ancient cultivation at Grerat is better viewed as a monoculture, rather than the mixed farming deduced previously for wadi-floor areas. There is no evidence that any naturally-occurring environmental change was associated with the introduction or loss of floodwater farming in the region. There is some sedimentological evidence that such activity might have led to problems of soil salinity in this basin.

A reinterpretation of Scottish ‘hummocky moraine’ and its significance for the deglaciation of the Scottish Highlands during the Younger Dryas or Loch Lomond Stadial

1993 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Bennett ◽  
Geoffrey S. Boulton
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Younger Dryas ◽  
North West ◽  
Scottish Highlands ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
The North ◽  
Loch Lomond

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to demonstrate that much of the ‘hummocky moraine’ present within the northern part of the LochLomond Readvance ice cap formerly situated in the North West Scottish Highlands may be interpreted as suites of ice-front moraines deposited during active decay. These landforms can be used to reconstruct ice cap decay, whichleads to important insights into the shrinking form of the ice cap and associated environmental conditions. Evidence has been collected from 10803 airphotographs and from detailed field survey. It is presented at three spatial scales.

Pleistocene–Holocene environmental change in the Canary Archipelago as inferred from the stable isotope composition of land snail shells

2011 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 658-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yurena Yanes ◽  
Crayton J. Yapp ◽  
Miguel Ibáñez ◽  
María R. Alonso ◽  
Julio De-la-Nuez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Canary Islands ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Moving Average ◽  
Land Snail ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
The Times

AbstractThe isotopic composition of land snail shells was analyzed to investigate environmental changes in the eastern Canary Islands (28–29°N) over the last ~ 50 ka. Shell δ13C values range from −8.9‰ to 3.8‰. At various times during the glacial interval (~ 15 to ~ 50 ka), moving average shell δ13C values were 3‰ higher than today, suggesting a larger proportion of C4 plants at those periods. Shell δ18O values range from −1.9‰ to 4.5‰, with moving average δ18O values exhibiting a noisy but long-term increase from 0.1‰ at ~ 50 ka to 1.6–1.8‰ during the LGM (~ 15–22 ka). Subsequently, the moving average δ18O values range from 0.0‰ at ~ 12 ka to 0.9‰ at present. Calculations using a published snail flux balance model for δ18O, constrained by regional temperatures and ocean δ18O values, suggest that relative humidity at the times of snail activity fluctuated but exhibited a long-term decline over the last ~ 50 ka, eventually resulting in the current semiarid conditions of the eastern Canary Islands (consistent with the aridification process in the nearby Sahara). Thus, low-latitude oceanic island land snail shells may be isotopic archives of glacial to interglacial and tropical/subtropical environmental change.

scholarly journals Rock art and the prehistoric landscape of Galicia: the results of field survey 1992–1994

1995 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 347-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Felipe Criado Boado ◽  
Ramón Fábregas Valcarce
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Outer Edge ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Age ◽  
North West ◽  
Abrupt Changes ◽  
Ground Conditions ◽  
The Relationship

This paper discusses the relationship between the earlier prehistoric pattern of settlement in Atlantic Europe and the creation of rock art. It investigates the organisation of the Copper Age and Early Bronze Age landscape of north-west Spain using the evidence provided by the distribution, siting, and composition of rock carvings. It presents the results of field survey in three sample areas extending from the centre to the outer edge of their distribution. Although these drawings cannot be interpreted as illustrations of daily life, they may have helped to define rights to particular resources in an area which experienced abrupt changes of ground conditions over the course of the year.

scholarly journals Silver ore exploration in the Southern Urals

2020 ◽  
pp. 110-119
Author(s):  
Evgenii A. Kurlaev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Field Survey ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Geological Survey ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Town ◽  
Ore Exploration

Introduction. Native historiography associates the beginning of Southern Ural industrialization with the construction of first metallurgical works in the 1740s. Historians paid attention to geological exploration in the Urals in the 17th century but they had no idea about the survey areas. Historical archeological study on the edge of the town of Zlatoust in the Southern Urals has managed to find the trace of the largest geological survey expedition aimed at silver ore exploration as far back as 1669–1673. Expedition at that time represented a major military autonomous formation (regiment) under a voivode’s (Slavic title for a war-leader) command. A large number of participants was due to the need for great manpower and protection from hostile nomads Research aim is to introduce unique discoveries in the history of mining into professional scientific use. Methodology. When analyzing the historical material, the methods of field survey and investigation on the documents of ancient mining remains have been developed. Results. The sequence of events has been retraced in the article, geological survey and mining areas and stages have been determined. Organizational structure, quantity, aims and results of the largest geological survey expedition in the history of Russia have been defined. Mining traces have been discovered being a unique monument to the history of mining in the 17th century.

scholarly journals Expressions of climate perturbations in western Ugandan crater lake sediment records during the last 1000 yr

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 5183-5226 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Mills ◽  
D. B. Ryves ◽  
N. J. Anderson ◽  
C. L. Bryant ◽  
J. J. Tyler
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Ecosystem Response ◽  
Large Lakes ◽  
Crater Lakes ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Western Uganda

Abstract. Equatorial East Africa has a complex, regional patchwork of climate regimes, with multiple interacting drivers. Recent studies have focussed on large lakes and reveal signals that are smoothed in both space and time, and, whilst useful at a continental scale, are of less relevance when understanding short-term, abrupt or immediate impacts of climate and environmental changes. Smaller-scale studies have highlighted spatial complexity and regional heterogeneity of tropical palaeoenvironments in terms of responses to climatic forcing (e.g. the Little Ice Age [LIA]) and questions remain over the spatial extent and synchroneity of climatic changes seen in East African records. Sediment cores from paired crater lakes in western Uganda were examined to assess ecosystem response to long-term climate and environmental change as well as testing responses to multiple drivers using redundancy analysis. These archives provide annual to sub-decadal records of environmental change. The records from the two lakes demonstrate an individualistic response to external (e.g. climatic) drivers, however, some of the broader patterns observed across East Africa suggest that the lakes are indeed sensitive to climatic perturbations such as a dry Mediaeval Climate Anomaly (MCA; 1000–1200 AD) and a relatively drier climate during the main phase of the LIA (1500–1800 AD); though lake levels in western Uganda do fluctuate. The relationship of Ugandan lakes to regional climate drivers breaks down c. 1800 AD, when major changes in the ecosystems appear to be a response to sediment and nutrient influxes as a result of increasing cultural impacts within the lake catchments. The data highlight the complexity of individual lake response to climate forcing, indicating shifting drivers through time. This research also highlights the importance of using multi-lake studies within a landscape to allow for rigorous testing of climate reconstructions, forcing and ecosystem response.

Crafting Country

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Bird ◽  
James Rhoads
Keyword(s):  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Building Structures ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
North West ◽  
Broad View ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Compliance Archaeology ◽  
Rock Shelters

Based on ten years of surveys and excavations in Nyiyaparli country in the eastern Chichester Ranges, north-west Australia, Crafting Country provides a unique synthesis of Holocene archaeology in the Pilbara region. The analysis of about 1000 sites, including surface artefact scatters and 19 excavated rock shelters, as well as thousands of isolated artefacts, takes a broad view of the landscape, examining the distribution of archaeological remains in time and space. Heritage compliance archaeology commonly focuses on individual sites, but this study reconsiders the evidence at different scales – at the level of artefact, site, locality, and region – to show how Aboriginal people interacted with the land and made their mark on it. Crafting Country shows that the Nyiyaparli ‘crafted’ their country, building structures and supplying key sites with grindstones, raw material and flaked stone cores. In so doing, they created a taskscape of interwoven activities linked by paths of movement.

Future Environments of South America

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas T. Veblen ◽  
Kenneth R. Young
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Tierra Del Fuego ◽  
South American ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
Natural Processes

An important goal of this book has been to provide a comprehensive understanding of the physical geography and landscape origins of South America as important background to assessing the probabilities and consequences of future environmental changes. Such background is essential to informed discussions of environmental management and the development of policy options designed to prepare local, national, and international societies for future changes. A unifying theme of this book has been the elucidation of how natural processes and human activities have interacted in the distant and recent past to create the modern landscapes of the continent. This retrospective appreciation of how the current landscapes have been shaped by nature and humans will guide our discussion of possible future trajectories of South American environments. There is abundant evidence from all regions of South America, from Tierra del Fuego to the Isthmus of Panama, that environmental change, not stasis, has been the norm. Given that fact, the history, timing, and recurrence intervals of this dynamism are all crucial pieces of information. The antiquity and widespread distribution of changes associated with the indigenous population are now well established. Rates and intensities of changes related to indigenous activities varied widely, but even in regions formerly believed to have experienced little or no pre-European impacts we now recognize the effects of early humans on features such as soils and vegetation. Colonization by Europeans mainly during the sixteenth century modified or in some cases replaced indigenous land-use practices and initiated changes that have continued to the present. Complementing these broad historical treatments of human impacts, other chapters have examined in detail the environmental impacts of agriculture (chapter 18) and urbanism (chapter 20), and the disruptions associated with El Niño–Southern Oscillation events. The goal of this final synthesis is to identify the major drivers of change and to discuss briefly their likely impacts on South American environments and resources in the near and medium-term future. Our intent is not to make or defend predictions, but rather to identify broad causes and specific drivers of environmental change to inform discussions of policy options for mitigating undesirable changes and to facilitate potential societal adaptations to them.

Can the planet be saved in Time? On the temporalities of socionature, the clock and the limits debate

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 904-926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijay Kolinjivadi ◽  
Diana Vela Almeida ◽  
Jonathan Martineau
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
System Change ◽  
Rice Production ◽  
Clock Time ◽  
Limits To Growth ◽  
Economic Productivity ◽  
Linear Representations ◽  
Political Act

The tendency of capitalist modernity to impose predictable, homogenous and linear representations of time for economic productivity has made it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to effectively respond to catastrophic environmental changes that are emergent, sudden, non-linear and unpredictable. A confusion between the actions and consequences of environmental change, and socialized representations of time and space within which humans must respond to such changes, not only paralyses possible solutions within fixed imaginaries but is also out of synch with the perpetual coming-into-being of socionature entanglements. The multiple temporalities coordinating interactions of humans and non-human natures are instead fetishized and made governable, commensurable and reproducible through the mechanistic intervals of the clock. We argue that the desire for transformative system change can be found in temporal desynchronizations to clock Time (capital T) and that political strategies to responding to socio-ecological crises reside in alter-temporalities (lower t time) of emergent socionature relations. Through an example of the desynchronized temporalities of tinawon rice production, we show how alter-temporalities emerge to reclaim cultural and food sovereignty from the otherwise flattening effects of modernity. We highlight the futuring potentials of such temporalities and their implication within ongoing debates between ecomodernists and those advocating limits to growth. Given that continuing to act in the Time of capital evidently fails to bring about system change and even aids in perpetuating our crises, we claim that responding in time (lower t) is itself a political act in raising the possibility for more convivial and life-affirming futures.

Holocene vegetation history and environmental change in the Lăpuş Mountains, north-west Romania

Palynology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-452
Author(s):  
Michael Peters ◽  
Arne Friedmann ◽  
Philipp Stojakowits ◽  
Carola Metzner-Nebelsick
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
North West

scholarly journals Farmers’ Perspective on Agriculture and Environmental Change in the Circumpolar North of Europe and America

Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Poeplau ◽  
Julia Schroeder ◽  
Ed Gregorich ◽  
Irina Kurganova
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Biogeochemical Cycles ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Food Transport ◽  
Circumpolar North ◽  
Global Biogeochemical Cycles

Climate change may increase the importance of agriculture in the global Circumpolar North with potentially critical implications for pristine northern ecosystems and global biogeochemical cycles. With this in mind, a global online survey was conducted to understand northern agriculture and farmers’ perspective on environmental change north of 60° N. In the obtained dataset with 67 valid answers, Alaska and the Canadian territories were dominated by small-scale vegetable, herbs, hay, and flower farms; the Atlantic Islands were dominated by sheep farms; and Fennoscandia was dominated by cereal farming. In Alaska and Canada, farmers had mostly immigrated with hardly any background in farming, while farmers in Fennoscandia and on the Atlantic Islands mostly continued family traditions. Accordingly, the average time since conversion from native land was 28 ± 28 and 25 ± 12 years in Alaska and Canada, respectively, but 301 ± 291 and 255 ± 155 years on the Atlantic Islands and in Fennoscandia, respectively, revealing that American northern agriculture is expanding. Climate change was observed by 84% of all farmers, of which 67% have already started adapting their farming practices, by introducing new varieties or altering timings. Fourteen farmers reported permafrost on their land, with 50% observing more shallow permafrost on uncultivated land than on cultivated land. Cultivation might thus accelerate permafrost thawing, potentially with associated consequences for biogeochemical cycles and greenhouse gas emissions. About 87% of the surveyed farmers produced for the local market, reducing emissions of food transport. The dynamics of northern land-use change and agriculture with associated environmental changes should be closely monitored. The dataset is available for further investigations.

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