Sediments of high mountain lakes as records of long-term environmental changes

A limnological and paleolimnological survey of high mountain lakes in North- and South- Tyrol was conducted within the Interreg Project Permaqua (Permafrost and its effects on water balance and mountain water ecology) aiming at reconstructing the ecological evolution of lakes in permafrost regions s...

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Main Authors: Tolotti, M., Nickus, U., Thaler, B., Thies, H.
Format: Conference Object
Language:English
Published: country:IT 2017
Subjects:
Ice
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10449/43857
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spelling ftiasma:oai:openpub.fmach.it:10449/43857 2024-01-28T10:06:24+01:00 Sediments of high mountain lakes as records of long-term environmental changes Tolotti, M. Nickus, U. Thaler, B. Thies, H. Tolotti, M. Nickus, U. Thaler, B. Thies, H. 2017 http://hdl.handle.net/10449/43857 eng eng country:IT ispartofbook:International Meeting on the Conservation of High Mountain Lakes, July 6-8th, 2017, Ceresole Reale (TO), Italy International Meeting on the Conservation of High Mountain Lakes firstpage:17 http://hdl.handle.net/10449/43857 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess High-mountain lakes Lake sedimets Climate change Permafrost Settore BIO/07 - ECOLOGIA info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject 2017 ftiasma 2024-01-02T23:24:36Z A limnological and paleolimnological survey of high mountain lakes in North- and South- Tyrol was conducted within the Interreg Project Permaqua (Permafrost and its effects on water balance and mountain water ecology) aiming at reconstructing the ecological evolution of lakes in permafrost regions since the end of the Little Ice Age (~1850), and investigating potential effects of permafrost thawing on lake geochemistry and biology. In fact, recent studies conducted in the Central Alps outlined potential effects of rock glacier thawing on the ecological quality of headwaters. Sediment cores from four lakes located above ~2500 m a.s.l. on crystalline bedrock were radioisotopically dated, and analysed for lithological, geochemical, and biological proxies. All cores studied showed major lithological and biological changes between the end of the Little Ice Age and the first decades of the 20th century. Concentrations of heavy metals increased in the studied cores during the last ~150 years and reached highest values after the 1990s. On the contrary, changes in diatom species composition which typically characterize many low-land lakes of the northern hemisphere after the economic development in the 1960s were not recorded in the lakes investigated. Although it is not possible to explain the observed changes as directly related to the presence of active rock glaciers in the lake catchments, it seems likely that long-term changes of biological and chemical indicators observed in the studied sediment cores are due to a combination of factors, such as geochemistry, weathering, or catchment characteristics. Conference Object Ice permafrost Fondazione Edmund Mach: IRIS-OpenPub Four Lakes ENVELOPE(-126.826,-126.826,54.858,54.858)
institution Open Polar
collection Fondazione Edmund Mach: IRIS-OpenPub
op_collection_id ftiasma
language English
topic High-mountain lakes
Lake sedimets
Climate change
Permafrost
Settore BIO/07 - ECOLOGIA
spellingShingle High-mountain lakes
Lake sedimets
Climate change
Permafrost
Settore BIO/07 - ECOLOGIA
Tolotti, M.
Nickus, U.
Thaler, B.
Thies, H.
Sediments of high mountain lakes as records of long-term environmental changes
topic_facet High-mountain lakes
Lake sedimets
Climate change
Permafrost
Settore BIO/07 - ECOLOGIA
description A limnological and paleolimnological survey of high mountain lakes in North- and South- Tyrol was conducted within the Interreg Project Permaqua (Permafrost and its effects on water balance and mountain water ecology) aiming at reconstructing the ecological evolution of lakes in permafrost regions since the end of the Little Ice Age (~1850), and investigating potential effects of permafrost thawing on lake geochemistry and biology. In fact, recent studies conducted in the Central Alps outlined potential effects of rock glacier thawing on the ecological quality of headwaters. Sediment cores from four lakes located above ~2500 m a.s.l. on crystalline bedrock were radioisotopically dated, and analysed for lithological, geochemical, and biological proxies. All cores studied showed major lithological and biological changes between the end of the Little Ice Age and the first decades of the 20th century. Concentrations of heavy metals increased in the studied cores during the last ~150 years and reached highest values after the 1990s. On the contrary, changes in diatom species composition which typically characterize many low-land lakes of the northern hemisphere after the economic development in the 1960s were not recorded in the lakes investigated. Although it is not possible to explain the observed changes as directly related to the presence of active rock glaciers in the lake catchments, it seems likely that long-term changes of biological and chemical indicators observed in the studied sediment cores are due to a combination of factors, such as geochemistry, weathering, or catchment characteristics.
author2 Tolotti, M.
Nickus, U.
Thaler, B.
Thies, H.
format Conference Object
author Tolotti, M.
Nickus, U.
Thaler, B.
Thies, H.
author_facet Tolotti, M.
Nickus, U.
Thaler, B.
Thies, H.
author_sort Tolotti, M.
title Sediments of high mountain lakes as records of long-term environmental changes
title_short Sediments of high mountain lakes as records of long-term environmental changes
title_full Sediments of high mountain lakes as records of long-term environmental changes
title_fullStr Sediments of high mountain lakes as records of long-term environmental changes
title_full_unstemmed Sediments of high mountain lakes as records of long-term environmental changes
title_sort sediments of high mountain lakes as records of long-term environmental changes
publisher country:IT
publishDate 2017
url http://hdl.handle.net/10449/43857
long_lat ENVELOPE(-126.826,-126.826,54.858,54.858)
geographic Four Lakes
geographic_facet Four Lakes
genre Ice
permafrost
genre_facet Ice
permafrost
op_relation ispartofbook:International Meeting on the Conservation of High Mountain Lakes, July 6-8th, 2017, Ceresole Reale (TO), Italy
International Meeting on the Conservation of High Mountain Lakes
firstpage:17
http://hdl.handle.net/10449/43857
op_rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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