Latest Holocene paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate reconstruction from an alpine bog in the Western Mediterranean region: The Borreguil de los Lavaderos de la Reina record (Sierra Nevada)
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López Avilés, Alejandro Jesús; García-Alix Daroca, Antonio; Jiménez Moreno, Gonzalo; Mesa Fernández, José Manuel; Jiménez Espejo, Francisco J.Editorial
Elsevier
Materia
Geochemistry Alpine wetland Iberian Peninsula Late Holocene Climate change
Date
2021-04-24Referencia bibliográfica
Alejandro López-Avilés... [et al.]. Latest Holocene paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate reconstruction from an alpine bog in the Western Mediterranean region: The Borreguil de los Lavaderos de la Reina record (Sierra Nevada), Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Volume 573, 2021, 110434, ISSN 0031-0182, [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110434]
Sponsorship
Spanish Government CGL2013-47038-R CGL2017-85415-R; European Commission; Spanish Government; Junta de Andalucia FEDER Project B-RNM-144-UGR18; Spanish Government BES-2018-084293; Ramon y Cajal fellowship by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of the Spanish Government RYC-2015-18966; Fundacion Seneca 20788/PI/18; Junta de Andalucia; Proyectos I + D + i del Programa Operativo FEDER 2018Abstract
Several organic and inorganic geochemical analyses have been carried out in the sedimentary record of the
Borreguil de los Lavaderos de la Reina (BdlR-03), an alpine peat bog located on the north face of the Sierra
Nevada (southern Iberian Peninsula). This study permitted a high-resolution reconstruction of paleoenvironmental
evolution for the last ~2700 cal yr BP in the highest mountain range of southern Iberian Peninsula. An
overall trend towards a climatic aridification and a reduction of aquatic environments is observed in this record.
Insolation and long-term positive North Atlantic Oscillation trends were the most important factors controlling
this aridification, forcing regional and local environmental changes. Four phases are differentiated within the
paleoenvironmental evolution of BdlR-03: (1) a pre-bog environment from 2700 to 2600 cal yr BP with
important siliciclastic sedimentation and low organic content; (2) a bog environment with important presence of
terrestrial vascular plant, water availability and maximum humid conditions between ~2600 and ~1870 cal yr
BP, coinciding with the Iberian-Roman Humid Period; (3) a subsequent drier bog environment, between ~1870
and ~300 cal yr BP during the Dark Ages, the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the first stages of the Little Ice Age,
characterized by lower productivity that affected the development of terrestrial vascular plants and aquatic
environments; and (4) a wetland environment with an increase of aquatic algae, development of ephemeral pools
and unstable climate conditions between ~300 cal yr BP and the present, coinciding with the final stages of the
Little Ice Age and the Modern Global Warming. This recent environmental pattern, which is opposite to the
general aridification trend in the western Mediterranean, is likely explained by the gradual melting of the
perennial ice and/or snow packs at higher elevations in the last centuries. Aeolian inputs would have continuously
contributed nutrients to these nutrient-impoverished alpine environments. High dust inputs are especially
noticed during the last ~200 years, which can be explained by human-induced enhanced aridification and the
development of the commercial agriculture in some North African regions. In addition, the environmental signal
in the last century seems to be significantly affected by human activities.