Paleoclimate reconstruction and mire development in the Eastern Great Hungarian Plain for the last 20,000 years

• Published in: Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology
• Main Authors: Vincze, Ildikó, Finsinger, Walter, Jakab, Gusztáv, Braun, Mihály, Hubay, Katalin, Veres, Daniel, Deli, Tamás, Szalai, Zoltán, Szabó, Zoltan, Magyari, Enikő
• Other Authors: Department of Environmental and Landscape Geography, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), MTA-MTM-ELTE Research Group for Paleontology, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)-Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), GINOP Sustainable Ecosystem Research Group, MTA Centre for Ecological Research Tihany, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA)-Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm (KTH )
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: envir; geo; Betula nana; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2019.104112; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02279803/file/Vincze_etal_RevPalPal_PreProof.pdf; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02279803

International audience We present the reconstruction of mire vegetation changes and fire history recorded in a continuous sediment profile that spans the last 20,000 cal yr BP from the Late Pleniglacial to Holocene in North-eastern Hungary. We also aimed to reveal past climate changes by using ecological requirements of specific aquatic plants as summer temperature indicators. Our results suggest the formation of a mesotrophic mire around 20,000 cal yr BP with brown moss, Betula sp. and Selaginella selaginoides cover beside the occurrence of Phragmites australis, Typha latifolia and T. angustifolia suggesting base-rich fen and tundra-like wet-ground habitats on the lakeshore. This community shifted to reed dominated swamp at c. 18,300 cal yr BP with inferred min. July temperatures of 12–15.7°C. Pinus sp., Betula nana, B. pendula/pubescens, Hippuris vulgaris and P. australis dominated until 16,600 cal yr BP pointing to shallow muddy stagnant water and colder climatic conditions than in the preceding interval. The most warmth-demanding species, T. latifolia and T. angustifolia indicated July mean temperatures > 14-15.7°C soon after the LGM. The formation of biogenic carbonate also started at an early stage; major accumulation occurred between 15,200 and 10,000 cal yr BP. In the Early Holocene, environmental indicator species (e.g. Phragmites australis and T. latifolia) pointed to warmer and shallower conditions, while the late Holocene was characterised by strong eutrophication and reed swamp dominance on the lakeshore. Elevated macrocharcoal concentration, wood fragments and remains of Typha species suggested frequent local fires and dry mire surface conditions during the last 1700 years.