The Chironomidae of Gróthúsvatn, Sandoy, Faroe Islands: climatic and lake-phosphorus reconstructions, and the impact of human settlement

Chironomids were examined as part of a multiproxy palaeolimnological study of Gróthúsvatn, Sandoy, Faroe Islands. A total of 37 taxa was found in the top 1 m of the core. Chironomid-inferred total phosphorus and temperature reconstructions indicate that after landnám (the Norse settlement period) to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Holocene
Main Authors: Gathorne-Hardy, F.J., Lawson, I.T., Church, M.J., Brooks, S.J., Buckland, P.C., Edwards, K.J.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publications 2007
Subjects:
Paleontology
Earth-Surface Processes
Ecology
Archeology
Global and Planetary Change
Faroe Islands
Sandoy
Gróthúsvatn
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683607085133
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683607085133
Description
Summary:Chironomids were examined as part of a multiproxy palaeolimnological study of Gróthúsvatn, Sandoy, Faroe Islands. A total of 37 taxa was found in the top 1 m of the core. Chironomid-inferred total phosphorus and temperature reconstructions indicate that after landnám (the Norse settlement period) total phosphorus levels rose slightly, then peaked at a temperature minimum (interpreted as the `Little Ice Age'). Total phosphorus levels subsequently fell to only slightly above pre-settlement levels at the sediment surface. Little indication of increased erosion in the catchment after landnám was found, and it is likely that the impacts of human settlement on Gróthúsvatn and its catchment were slight. We therefore propose that the temperature decrease caused the increase in the lake's productivity.

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