Contemporary a geographical imbalance of where palaeoclimatological studies have been undertaken exists, where the majority of palaeodata is based on studies from the northernhemisphere. Multiproxy analysis was performed on a peat core from Lydenburg, north-eastern Mpumalanga, covering the last 1.600 years. Proxy focus was put on fossil grassphytoliths. A general drying trend can be noted from AD 400 to 1000, followed by moremesic conditions around AD 1200. The increasingly mesic conditions were interrupted by asignificantly drier period between c. AD 1250 to 1350. This part of the Lydenburg sequenceoccurs in the end of a climate event termed “Medieval warm period” (MWP), suggested tohave been warmer and variable but mostly wetter in southern Africa. The results are in lineregarding the increased temperature and suggested variability. However, in contrast withearlier findings, significantly drier conditions seem to have prevailed at the Lydenburg fenat the end of “MWP” as interpreted by multiple proxies. Following AD 1400 increasinglymesic conditions was recorded as interpreted by several of the analysed proxies. Morepalaeoenvironmental studies needs to be performed in the area in order to elaborate on thedriving factors of palaeoenvironmental change in the region, as well as to establish if thesignals from the Lydenburg fen record local or regional changes. The results support earlierphytolith studies suggesting that small rondels should be excluded from phytolithassemblages in tropical and sub-tropical areas in Africa. / People, Land, and Time in Africa (PLATINA) / Bokoni project. This MA thesis is part of a transdisciplinary project involving scholars from Sweden and South Africa aiming to understand traces of pre-colonial terraces found in north-easter Mpumalanga, South Africa.

A series of small mounds (&lt; 3m) were sampled in the foreland of Midtdalsbreen outlet glacier, southern Norway. These landforms were interesting, especially at site number 1 because they were located very close to a higher Little Ice Age (LIA) moraine (&gt; 5 m), thereby informing the dynamic of the glacier after the LIA at this location. It was yet to determine if these specific mounds are controlled moraines. If they are controlled moraines, then this would have implication for the glacier dynamics and the geometry of the snout after the LIA. It could be determined, based on the landform record evidence, whether the ice at the snout of Midtdalsbreen was thin and cold shortly after the LIA. Furthermore, whether the landscape was deglaciated by downwasting and then by backwasting was the main question addressed in relation to the nature of the mound and the thickness of ice at the snout during and after the LIA. In order to better understand the nature of the landform record and the mounds near the LIA moraine, satellite imagery coupled with careful field investigations were used in the foreland of the Midtdalsbreen outlet glacier. A geomorphological map was produced, and it was useful to put the mounds in a geographical context. Further sedimentological investigation; including clast-shape analyze, produced more evidence about the inner nature of these landforms. Both few controlled moraines and other landforms throughout the glacier foreland indicate that the ice geometry for Midtdalsbreen, shortly after the LIA was such that the snout of the glacier was a thin sheet of ice flowing against the previously deposited LIA moraine. The sedimentology of the controlled moraine is such that the sediments are deposited in steeply dipping layers, and they could even be misinterpreted as permafrost terrains at first glimpse. However, other sedimentological evidences such as the presence of sorted sand and sometimes dipping beds of gravels in addition to the geomorphological mapping make it meaningful to interpret few of the mounds as controlled moraines. A modern analogue to these controlled moraines is dirt cones present on top of the glacier snout as well as controlled moraines a few hundred of meter from the snout. Observations both on the glacier snout and on the foreland involve that dirt-cones later evolve into these sedimentological hummocky units with steeply dipping layers within the paleo-landscape. These observations constrain the thickness of ice at the snout of Midtdalsbreen after the LIA as well as the glacier dynamic during its melt: for controlled moraines to be generated by glaciers, these accumulations of sediments would have to thaw by downwasting and then by backwasting, directly at the glacier snout. This process -comprising of different stages- allows enough time to deposit controlled moraine. It is then a thin, cold-based sheet of ice which is by the end responsible for the deposition of such a landform record. There was even dead-ice present on the landscape at that point. After deposition of dirt cones on top of the ice, important meltwater action is contributing to the glacifluvial origin of these hummocks which evolve from dirt-cones onto the glacier, to ice-cored moraines, and then to controlled moraines onto the foreland. Details about the multistage processes leading to the formation of controlled moraines is also at the center of the investigations. / <p>Updated version, september 2019.</p>

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:30:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sani D L Paisani.pdf: 6362942 bytes, checksum: 15bf41d54006101dfbd35d5ee0516b1d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-02 / This study aimed to identify the meaning of the phytholith palaeoenvironmental record in pedostratigraphic sequences of colluvial ramps and paleovalley head on the geomorphic surface Palmas / Água Doce. In particular it sought to: a) distinguish phytholith record incorporated into colluvium by modern vegetation of the areas studied in relation to the registration of paleovegetation area source of colluvium; b) understand the phenomenon of absense of phytholith records on the basis of colluvial deposits; c) characterize the taphonomical morphotypes; d) search current homologous in the first centimeters of soil, regarding the impact of pastoral activity; e) systematize the stratigraphic information from colluvial deposits in the study area, and f) establish the carbon isotopic signal to the sections of phytholith record for mutual comparison of paleovegetation of information obtained by phytholith analysis. To achieve the objectives two pedostratigraphic sections were chosen, a representation of pedostratigraphic sequence of colluvial ramp (HS18) and a paleovalley head (HS13), both in geomorphic surface Palmas / Água Doce. In the colluvium ramp feces from cattles were analyzed, since the pastoral activity is recurrent in the study areas since the late nineteenth century and until now no one knew of its their role as a developer of phytoliths to pedostratigraphic sequences. By integrating the records of phytoliths from both geomorphic units it can be said that: a) phytholith in pedostratigraphic sequences of colluvium ramps and paleovalley head of the geomorphic surface of Palmas/ Água Doce are both autochthonous and allochthonous; where the first represents the occupation of the graaslands vegetation over time along with the surfaces and paleosurfaces; b) the allochthonous also represents the graaslands vegetation, but from the slopes that surround the colluvium ramp and paleovalley head; c) the activity of current and past grazing is a taphonomy process of incorporation of allochthonous morphotypes into the soil and degradation as a result of chewing and digestion; d) the absence of phytoliths with preserved morphologies in both pedostratigrafic units shows the degradation of these corpuscles both naturally and by digestion of herbivorous animals; e) morphotypes are common taphonomy chemically, physically as well as both. / O presente trabalho objetivou identificar o significado paleoambiental do registro fitolítico em sequências pedoestratigráficas de rampas de colúvio e paleocabeceiras de drenagem da superfície geomórfica de Palmas/Água Doce. Em específico procurou-se: a) distinguir o registro silicofitolítico incorporado aos colúvios pela vegetação moderna das áreas estudadas em relação ao registro da paleovegetação da área fonte dos colúvios; b) compreender o fenômeno de ausência de registro silicofitolítico na base dos depósitos de colúvio; c) caracterizar os morfotipos tafonomizados; d) levantar homólogo atual nos primeiros centímetros de solo, em relação ao impacto da atividade pastoril; e) sistematizar as informações estratigráficas dos depósitos de colúvio estudados na área e f) estabelecer o sinal isotópico do carbono para as seções do registro silicofitolítico para cotejamento das informações da paleovegetação obtidas pela análise fitolítica. Para atingir os objetivos foram escolhidas duas seções pedoestratigráficas, sendo uma representativa da sequência pedoestratigráfica de rampa de colúvio (HS18) e outra de paleocabeceira de drenagem (HS13), ambas na Superfície Geomórfica de Palmas/Água. Na rampa de colúvio foram analisadas as fezes de vacas, uma vez que a atividade pastoril é recorrente nas áreas de estudo desde o final do século XIX e até o momento não se sabia de seu papel enquanto incorporadora de fitólitos às sequências pedoestratigráficas. Integrando os registros de silicofitólitos de ambas as unidades geomórficas pode-se dizer que: a) os silicofitólitos em sequências pedoestratigráficas de rampas de colúvio e paleocabeceiras de drenagem da Superfície Geomórfica de Palmas/Água Doce são tanto autóctones quanto alóctones, onde os primeiros representam a ocupação da vegetação de campo ao longo do tempo junto à superfície e paleosuperfícies; b) os alóctones também representam a vegetação de campo, porém das encostas que circundam a rampa de colúvio e a paleocabeceira de drenagem; c) a atividade do pastoreio atual e passada é um processo tafonômico de incorporação de morfotipos alóctones no solo e de degradação por efeito da mastigação e digestão; d) a ausência de silicofitólitos com morfologias preservadas em ambas as unidades pedoestratigráficas mostram a degradação desses corpúsculos tanto naturalmente quanto pela digestão de animais herbívoros; e) são comuns morfotipos tafonomizados química, fisicamente, bem como ambas.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-12T14:42:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sani D L Paisani.pdf: 6362942 bytes, checksum: 15bf41d54006101dfbd35d5ee0516b1d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-02 / This study aimed to identify the meaning of the phytholith palaeoenvironmental record in pedostratigraphic sequences of colluvial ramps and paleovalley head on the geomorphic surface Palmas / Água Doce. In particular it sought to: a) distinguish phytholith record incorporated into colluvium by modern vegetation of the areas studied in relation to the registration of paleovegetation area source of colluvium; b) understand the phenomenon of absense of phytholith records on the basis of colluvial deposits; c) characterize the taphonomical morphotypes; d) search current homologous in the first centimeters of soil, regarding the impact of pastoral activity; e) systematize the stratigraphic information from colluvial deposits in the study area, and f) establish the carbon isotopic signal to the sections of phytholith record for mutual comparison of paleovegetation of information obtained by phytholith analysis. To achieve the objectives two pedostratigraphic sections were chosen, a representation of pedostratigraphic sequence of colluvial ramp (HS18) and a paleovalley head (HS13), both in geomorphic surface Palmas / Água Doce. In the colluvium ramp feces from cattles were analyzed, since the pastoral activity is recurrent in the study areas since the late nineteenth century and until now no one knew of its their role as a developer of phytoliths to pedostratigraphic sequences. By integrating the records of phytoliths from both geomorphic units it can be said that: a) phytholith in pedostratigraphic sequences of colluvium ramps and paleovalley head of the geomorphic surface of Palmas/ Água Doce are both autochthonous and allochthonous; where the first represents the occupation of the graaslands vegetation over time along with the surfaces and paleosurfaces; b) the allochthonous also represents the graaslands vegetation, but from the slopes that surround the colluvium ramp and paleovalley head; c) the activity of current and past grazing is a taphonomy process of incorporation of allochthonous morphotypes into the soil and degradation as a result of chewing and digestion; d) the absence of phytoliths with preserved morphologies in both pedostratigrafic units shows the degradation of these corpuscles both naturally and by digestion of herbivorous animals; e) morphotypes are common taphonomy chemically, physically as well as both. / O presente trabalho objetivou identificar o significado paleoambiental do registro fitolítico em sequências pedoestratigráficas de rampas de colúvio e paleocabeceiras de drenagem da superfície geomórfica de Palmas/Água Doce. Em específico procurou-se: a) distinguir o registro silicofitolítico incorporado aos colúvios pela vegetação moderna das áreas estudadas em relação ao registro da paleovegetação da área fonte dos colúvios; b) compreender o fenômeno de ausência de registro silicofitolítico na base dos depósitos de colúvio; c) caracterizar os morfotipos tafonomizados; d) levantar homólogo atual nos primeiros centímetros de solo, em relação ao impacto da atividade pastoril; e) sistematizar as informações estratigráficas dos depósitos de colúvio estudados na área e f) estabelecer o sinal isotópico do carbono para as seções do registro silicofitolítico para cotejamento das informações da paleovegetação obtidas pela análise fitolítica. Para atingir os objetivos foram escolhidas duas seções pedoestratigráficas, sendo uma representativa da sequência pedoestratigráfica de rampa de colúvio (HS18) e outra de paleocabeceira de drenagem (HS13), ambas na Superfície Geomórfica de Palmas/Água. Na rampa de colúvio foram analisadas as fezes de vacas, uma vez que a atividade pastoril é recorrente nas áreas de estudo desde o final do século XIX e até o momento não se sabia de seu papel enquanto incorporadora de fitólitos às sequências pedoestratigráficas. Integrando os registros de silicofitólitos de ambas as unidades geomórficas pode-se dizer que: a) os silicofitólitos em sequências pedoestratigráficas de rampas de colúvio e paleocabeceiras de drenagem da Superfície Geomórfica de Palmas/Água Doce são tanto autóctones quanto alóctones, onde os primeiros representam a ocupação da vegetação de campo ao longo do tempo junto à superfície e paleosuperfícies; b) os alóctones também representam a vegetação de campo, porém das encostas que circundam a rampa de colúvio e a paleocabeceira de drenagem; c) a atividade do pastoreio atual e passada é um processo tafonômico de incorporação de morfotipos alóctones no solo e de degradação por efeito da mastigação e digestão; d) a ausência de silicofitólitos com morfologias preservadas em ambas as unidades pedoestratigráficas mostram a degradação desses corpúsculos tanto naturalmente quanto pela digestão de animais herbívoros; e) são comuns morfotipos tafonomizados química, fisicamente, bem como ambas.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The records of environmental change in Australia’s arid zone can be greatly enriched by employing a multi-proxy approach and landscape-scale analysis. This research uses these tools to construct a palaeoenvironmental history of the Paroo/Warrego Region. While the Region’s flow regimes and water balances are characterised by medium-term (decadal) variability (Young, 1999), its hydrological records are inadequately brief. Subsequently, land and water management decisions are based on short term data, risking irreversible damage, desertification or loss of diversity. A better understanding of this highly dynamic landscape can thus improve the land and resource management outcomes. While dating was constrained by a lack of funds, the Paroo/Warrego history reconstructed from fluvial and aeolian deposits correlated well with events recorded from other inland regions of the Australian continent. In summary, this new research provided evidence of high lake water levels prior to the Last Glacial. The extreme aridity at the onset of Last Glacial caused long term drying of the lakes and mobilisation of the red sand dunes. In latter stages of the glacial phase the aridity gave way to periodic fluctuations between flood and drought events that probably lasted until 16 000 - 14 000 BP. The new climatic regime resulted in formation of gypsum lunettes and later, following reduction in gypsum supply, clay lunettes. The orientation of red sand dunes and lunettes indicates a more northerly extent of the westerlies than in modern times. Around the late Pleistocene-early Holocene boundary the climate became more stable and wetter, but still somewhat drier than during the pre-Last Glacial lacustrine phase. As a result, the region’s lakes reverted to a permanent and semi-permanent status. A strong aridity signal, comparable to the semi-regular droughts of the Last Glacial, was recorded in the Paroo/Warrego lakes during the late 1890s-1940s period of below average rainfall. It was followed by 50 years of wetter conditions with two extremely wet phases in the 1950s and the 1970s. Finally, the most recent records suggest a new drying trend. The semi-arid vegetation appears to have adapted to climate variability, with herbs and grasses expanding with the onset of wet conditions before being replaced by Chenopodiaceae as the landscape started to dry. The fresher lake basins and water courses were likely to provide refuge during prolonged arid phases and dispersal foci during intervening wetter periods, thus enabling greater flexibility in response to changes and enhancing resilience. The European land use interfered with the natural cycles and balances, leading to decrease in ground cover, suppression of fire, increase in runoff and catchment erosion, acceleration of sediment accumulation rates in wetlands, resulting in decline of their water holding capacity, and expansion of woody vegetation. The research improved the processing protocols, reference databases, and transfer of methods to enable greater sample processing efficiency and improve results. The use of multiple proxies (including biotic and abiotic components) and sites, as well as different depositional features, provided access to a broader picture of environmental change than was previously possible. It also facilitated multi-scale resolution, allowing discrimination between localised responses of individual lakes and regional trends. The full value of this research will come from informing natural resource managers, whose actions will shape the future landscapes of the Paroo and Warrego Region.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The records of environmental change in Australia’s arid zone can be greatly enriched by employing a multi-proxy approach and landscape-scale analysis. This research uses these tools to construct a palaeoenvironmental history of the Paroo/Warrego Region. While the Region’s flow regimes and water balances are characterised by medium-term (decadal) variability (Young, 1999), its hydrological records are inadequately brief. Subsequently, land and water management decisions are based on short term data, risking irreversible damage, desertification or loss of diversity. A better understanding of this highly dynamic landscape can thus improve the land and resource management outcomes. While dating was constrained by a lack of funds, the Paroo/Warrego history reconstructed from fluvial and aeolian deposits correlated well with events recorded from other inland regions of the Australian continent. In summary, this new research provided evidence of high lake water levels prior to the Last Glacial. The extreme aridity at the onset of Last Glacial caused long term drying of the lakes and mobilisation of the red sand dunes. In latter stages of the glacial phase the aridity gave way to periodic fluctuations between flood and drought events that probably lasted until 16 000 - 14 000 BP. The new climatic regime resulted in formation of gypsum lunettes and later, following reduction in gypsum supply, clay lunettes. The orientation of red sand dunes and lunettes indicates a more northerly extent of the westerlies than in modern times. Around the late Pleistocene-early Holocene boundary the climate became more stable and wetter, but still somewhat drier than during the pre-Last Glacial lacustrine phase. As a result, the region’s lakes reverted to a permanent and semi-permanent status. A strong aridity signal, comparable to the semi-regular droughts of the Last Glacial, was recorded in the Paroo/Warrego lakes during the late 1890s-1940s period of below average rainfall. It was followed by 50 years of wetter conditions with two extremely wet phases in the 1950s and the 1970s. Finally, the most recent records suggest a new drying trend. The semi-arid vegetation appears to have adapted to climate variability, with herbs and grasses expanding with the onset of wet conditions before being replaced by Chenopodiaceae as the landscape started to dry. The fresher lake basins and water courses were likely to provide refuge during prolonged arid phases and dispersal foci during intervening wetter periods, thus enabling greater flexibility in response to changes and enhancing resilience. The European land use interfered with the natural cycles and balances, leading to decrease in ground cover, suppression of fire, increase in runoff and catchment erosion, acceleration of sediment accumulation rates in wetlands, resulting in decline of their water holding capacity, and expansion of woody vegetation. The research improved the processing protocols, reference databases, and transfer of methods to enable greater sample processing efficiency and improve results. The use of multiple proxies (including biotic and abiotic components) and sites, as well as different depositional features, provided access to a broader picture of environmental change than was previously possible. It also facilitated multi-scale resolution, allowing discrimination between localised responses of individual lakes and regional trends. The full value of this research will come from informing natural resource managers, whose actions will shape the future landscapes of the Paroo and Warrego Region.

Advances, Problems and Prospects in Peruvian Archaic Period InvestigationsThe article doesn´t have an abstract / El artículo no presenta resumen

The Petrockstowe and Bovey basins are two similar pull apart (strike slip) basins located on the Sticklepath – Lustleigh Fault Zone (SLFZ) in Devon, SW England. The SLFZ is one of the several faults on the Cornubian Peninsula and may be linked to Variscan structures rejuvenated in Palaeogene times. The bulk of the basins’ fill consists of clays, silts, lignites and sands of Palaeogene age, comparable to the Lough Neagh Basin (Northern Ireland), which is also thought to be part of the SLFZ. In this study a multiproxy approach involving sedimentary facies analysis, palynological analysis, stable carbon isotope (δ13C) analysis and organic carbon palaeothermometer analyses were applied in an attempt to understand the depositional environment in both basins. A negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) with a magnitude of 2‰ was recorded at ~ 580 m in the siltstone, silty clay to clay lithofacies in the lower part of Petrockstowe Basin, with minimum δ13CTOC values of -28.6‰. The CIE spans a depth of 7 m. Palynological characteristics of this excursion are correlated with the Cogham Lignite in the southern UK, which is the only established PETM section in the UK, and other continental sections to test whether the palynology associated with this CIE can be used to date it. The age model proposed herein correlates the CIE to the Eocene Thermal Maximum -2 (ETM2; ~ 52.5Ma) event. Key pollen and spore assemblages found in the lower Petrockstowe Basin are Monocolpopollenites, Inaperturopollenites, Laevigatisporites, Bisaccate conifer pollen and Tricolporopollenites, which suggest an Eocene age, while those occurring in the upper part of the Petrockstowe and Bovey basins are Arecipites, Inaperturopollenites, Monocolpopollenites, Tricolporopollenites, Sequoiapollenites, and Pompeckjodaepollenites, which have suggested botanical affinities to modern tropical to sub-tropical genera signifying a climate that was frost-free at the time of sediment deposition. This assemblage further suggests that these sediments are Oligocene to middle Oligocene in age. In the upper part of the Petrockstowe Basin, reconstructed mean annual air temperatures (MAT) demonstrate a clear departure from the mean temperature of 24.5oC at 10 m to 19.5oC towards the top of the core, indicating a steady continuous decline similar to the temperature departures seen in the Solent Group in the Hampshire Basin, Isle of Wight, UK which has an established Eocene – Oligocene succession.

This thesis investigates whether lead mining can be detected using palaeoenvironmental data recovered from freshwater loch and marsh sediment. Using radiometric time-frames and geochernical analyses the environmental impact of 18th and 19th century mining on Islay, Inner Hebrides, Scotland, has been investigated. The model of known mining events thus produced has been used to assess previously unrecorded (early) lead mining activity. Previous mining in the area is suggested by 18th century accounts that record the presence of 1,000 "early" workings scattered over the north-east limestone region. While there is little to support the often repeated assertion that lead mining dates back to the Norse Period (circa lOll th centuries) it is clear that it may well have been an established industry prior to the time of the first historical records in the 16th century. In order to use a palaeoenvironmental approach to the question of mining history and its impact, the strategy has been to use integrated loch and catclunent units of study. The areas considered are; Loch Finlaggan, Loch Lossit, Loch Bharradail and a control site at Loch Leathann. Soil and sediment geochemical mapping has been used to assess the distribution of lead, zinc and copper within the catchments. Environmental pathways have been identified and influx of lead, zinc and copper to the loch sediment has been detennined through the analyses of cores from each loch basin. Archaeological fieldsurvey and the re-examination of the results from mineral prospecting data across the study region provides new evidence on the geographical extent and contaminatory effects of leadmining in this area. This study shows how the effect of lead mining can be identified in the palaeoenvironrnental record from circa 1367 AD onwards, so mining in Islay does indeed predate the earliest known archaeological and historical records.

This thesis offers the first detailed palaeoenvironmental analysis of wetland areas within sub-Arctic enclosed homefield’s. Significance of meadows were previously mentioned only briefly in the literature, suggesting influences in settlement site selection as well as importance in quality fodder production, producing up to two thirds of total hay resources in a somewhat marginal agricultural landscape. Given the importance of hay resources in Iceland it seems unusual these areas have received so little attention to date, despite extensive research on all other aspects of the Norse farm system. The organic sediments within the meadows, given their development in-situ over extended time periods, have the ability to record aspects of the intimate relationship between societal and environmental change, and so in a robust and holistic way our methods set integrates radiocarbon measurement, tephrochronology, palynology and thin section micromorphology from the same core; reflecting these findings against existing paleoclimate and archaeological site data. This combined application of the core techniques – palynology and soil micromorphology, has proven successful in creating effective human ecodynamic records from each of the study farms. Records obtained from the three farm sites in northwest and northern Iceland exposed the varying importance and differing utilisation of these wetland areas. Meadows would appear to have played an import role in choice of settlement site across northern Iceland, through the provision of open areas, and additional and immediately available fodder resources at settlement, in a landscape dominated by dense scrub. Meadows were found to have been in continuous use, albeit at varying levels of intensity, from settlement to the present day. In this respect the semi-natural resources are found to be remarkably resilient, demonstrating little alterations to their composition following severe climatic downturns, including that of the Little Ice Age, and volcanic eruption. Acting as a robust resource and safety buffer for settlements, contributing to fodder resources where reliability of other resources is jeopardised by environmental conditions. Research in the more marginal northwest peninsula provides the first evidence of artificially created wet meadows in Iceland, developed to give sustained fodder production for over-wintering livestock in an environment that inherently had a short growing season and lacked soil fertility. A further example of the nuanced land management practices adopted in the agriculturally fragile farmscapes of the Norse North Atlantic. The findings of the thesis have wider implications for understanding the emergence of resilient and sustainable communities in agriculturally marginal environments; to this end there remains many opportunities to use palaeoenvironmental research to study ecosystem responses to natural and anthropogenic stresses, giving us a better understanding of capacities to withstand future stresses.