Evolución local del paisaje relacionada con impacto humano de un centro pre-urbano del medievo temprano en la región elevada del Dnieper (planicie central rusa): Una experiencia interdisciplinaria

Los cambios en el paisaje subatlántico se reconstruyeron correlacionando registros independientes, tanto pedológicos como de polen, fitolitos y análisis micropaleontológicos de la planicie de inundación pedo-sedimentaria y de secciones sedimentarias en la región superior del Dnieper, dentro de un centro pre-urbano del Medioevo temprano y en sus vecindades cercanas. Las fases mayores de evolución del paisaje subatlántico se definieron como sigue: Una fase de impacto humano bajo y disperso (aproximadamente 3,000 AP-1,100 AP), notable por la extensión de ecosistemas forestales zonificados y aumentos ligeros y periódicos de plantas cultivadas y otras de tipo cultural. La fase incluyó una etapa de sedimentación activa en la planicie de inundación, que cambió debido a un periodo más seco (no anterior a 2,400 AP), de no sedimentación y formación de Luvisoles en dicha planicie. La siguiente fase de intenso impacto humano local ocurrió durante el asentamiento medieval temprano (1,100-1,000 AP) y se caracteriza por deforestación extensa, amplia introducción de varias plantas relacionadas con la humanidad y profunda transformación de los suelos originales dentro del área de asentamiento: formación de Regosoles Urbi-Anthropic. Otra fase sin impacto humano local, pero generalmente con más alta presión antropogénica, en la región (no después de 1,000 AP) inició después de la declinación del asentamiento. El número de asentamientos aumentó fuertemente en la región en los siglos XI-XIII. Esto provocó una amplia deforestación antropogénica y el restablecimiento de indicadores de impacto humano, después de una ligera invasión forestal y aguda así como un ligero decremento de plantas relacionadas con el hombre. La sedimentación en la planicie de inundación aumentó intensamente. Los materiales garbic-urbic del asentamiento y los Luvisoles ubicados fuera de los límites del mismo, quedaron sepultados bajo aluvión de la planicie inundada en 1,000-800 AP. Al final de esta fase, tuvo lugar la formación de Fluvisoles contemporáneos debido a la disminución de los promedios de sedimentación (200-250 AP)

Evolución local del paisaje relacionada con impacto humano de un centro pre-urbano del medievo temprano en la región elevada del Dnieper (planicie central rusa): Una experiencia interdisciplinaria

Los cambios en el paisaje subatlántico se reconstruyeron correlacionando registros independientes, tanto pedológicos como de polen, fitolitos y análisis micropaleontológicos de la planicie de inundación pedo-sedimentaria y de secciones sedimentarias en la región superior del Dnieper, dentro de un centro pre-urbano del Medioevo temprano y en sus vecindades cercanas. Las fases mayores de evolución del paisaje subatlántico se definieron como sigue: Una fase de impacto humano bajo y disperso (aproximadamente 3,000 AP-1,100 AP), notable por la extensión de ecosistemas forestales zonificados y aumentos ligeros y periódicos de plantas cultivadas y otras de tipo cultural. La fase incluyó una etapa de sedimentación activa en la planicie de inundación, que cambió debido a un periodo más seco (no anterior a 2,400 AP), de no sedimentación y formación de Luvisoles en dicha planicie. La siguiente fase de intenso impacto humano local ocurrió durante el asentamiento medieval temprano (1,100-1,000 AP) y se caracteriza por deforestación extensa, amplia introducción de varias plantas relacionadas con la humanidad y profunda transformación de los suelos originales dentro del área de asentamiento: formación de Regosoles Urbi-Anthropic. Otra fase sin impacto humano local, pero generalmente con más alta presión antropogénica, en la región (no después de 1,000 AP) inició después de la declinación del asentamiento. El número de asentamientos aumentó fuertemente en la región en los siglos XI-XIII. Esto provocó una amplia deforestación antropogénica y el restablecimiento de indicadores de impacto humano, después de una ligera invasión forestal y aguda así como un ligero decremento de plantas relacionadas con el hombre. La sedimentación en la planicie de inundación aumentó intensamente. Los materiales garbic-urbic del asentamiento y los Luvisoles ubicados fuera de los límites del mismo, quedaron sepultados bajo aluvión de la planicie inundada en 1,000-800 AP. Al final de esta fase, tuvo lugar la formación de Fluvisoles contemporáneos debido a la disminución de los promedios de sedimentación (200-250 AP)

Radiocarbon Dating of the Bronze Age Bone Pins from Eurasian Steppe

Bone catapult and hammer-headed pins played one of very specific roles in funerary offerings in the Bronze Age graves uncovered in the Eurasian Steppes and the North Caucasus. Scholars used different types of pins as key grave offerings for numerous chronological models. For the first time eight pins have been radiocarbon dated. 14C dating of bone pins identified the catapult type pin as the earliest one. They marked the period of the Yamnaya culture formation. Then Yamnaya population produced hammer-headed pins which became very popular in other cultural environments and spread very quickly across the Steppe and the Caucasus during 2900-2650 cal BC. But according to radiocarbon dating bone pins almost disappeared after 2600 cal BC.

Polyarenes Distribution in the Soil-Plant System of Reindeer Pastures in the Polar Urals

Humic substances of soils consist of various organic compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Soil as a fairly stable medium allows the correct use of polyarenes as markers of the humus formation process. Monitoring of the accumulation of PAHs as resistant organic toxicants is also necessary due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Natural plant resources serve as the feed base of northern reindeer husbandry. In this study, high-performance liquid chromatography in a gradient mode and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry methods were used to estimate the content of PAHs in mountain tundra and meadows of the Polar Urals (Russia). The accumulation of polyarenes in soils on carbonate rocks of the Bolshoi Paipudynsky ridge occurs mainly in the process of soil formation and largely depends on factors such as productivity of plant communities, the composition of standing biomass, the site’s position in relief, the granulometric composition of soils, cryogenesis process and pyrogenesis. According to the set of polyarenes, their number, and ratio, the studied objects were classified into separate groups by discriminant analysis. The most typical representatives of pedogenic origin are naphthalene and phenanthrene. The accumulation features of dibenz[a,h]anthracene and benz[b]-, benz[k]fluoranthene, benz[ghi]perylene, and benz[a]perylene are shown. In mountain tundra landscapes, the characteristics of PAHs can be used to diagnose the intensity and direction of soil formation processes in general and humification in particular

Soils in Karst Sinkholes Record the Holocene History of Local Forest Fires at the North of European Russia

Despite the abundance of charcoal material entrapped in soils, they remain relatively less studied pyrogenic archives in comparison to the sedimentary paleofire records (e.g., lacustrine and peat deposits), and that is especially the case in most of Russia’s territory. We report here on the deep soil archives of the Holocene forest fires from the Pinega District of the Arkhangelsk region (64.747° N, 43.387° E). Series of buried soil profiles separated by charcoal layers and clusters were revealed in specific geomorphological traps represented by the active and paleokarst subsidence sinkholes on sulfate rocks overlaid by glacial and fluvial deposits. We combine the study of soil morphology and stratigraphy with a set of radiocarbon data on charcoal and soil organic matter, as well as the anthracomass analysis, to extract a set of paleoenvironmental data. A total of 45 radiocarbon dates were obtained for the macrocharcoal material and the soil organic matter. The maximum temporal “depth” of archives estimated from the radiocarbon dating of macrocharcoal reached 10,260 ± 35 cal yr BP. Soil formation with Podzols established at the inter-pyrogenic stages repeatedly reproduced within the period of ten thousand years, while the dominant tree species was Pinus sp. According to the macrocharcoal data, the intervals between fires have shortened in the last thousand years. Dendrochronological estimates suggest the occurrence of fires in almost every decade of the 20th and early 21st centuries. This is the first study of the millennia-scale soil record of forest fires in this particular region of Russia

Insights into the late Holocene vegetation history of the East European forest-steppe: case study Sudzha (Kursk region, Russia)

Today, the East European forest-steppe is an agricultural landscape with very few remains of its former natural vegetation. The history of the transformation from natural vegetation to a human-made landscape in the area of Sudzha (Kursk region, Russia) is studied here. We compare the off-site pollen record Sudzha with three on-site pollen records obtained from the archaeological site Kurilovka-2. The sediment core Sudzha covering the last 2,500 years was taken from an oxbow lake in an area with archaeological sites of the early Slavonic period (3rd–8th centuries ce). The Sudzha pollen record indicates dominance of broadleaf forests and meadow steppes in the area from 2,500 to 200 cal year bp with two major settlement phases one between ~ 2,000 and 1,600 cal year bp (~ 50 bce to 350 ce) and the other between 1,100 and 600 cal year bp (850 and 1350 ce) followed by a total deforestation and transformation to an agricultural landscape over the last 200–300 years. Similar changes in the last 300–400 years are indicated by the three on-site pollen records. It is noteworthy, however, that the record Sudzha does not provide an intensive signal of human impact during the 5th–8th centuries ce. This points to a quite restricted spatial influence of the Early Slavonic settlements on the vegetation, leading to a relatively low contribution of palynological anthropogenic indicators to the regional pollen rain signal

Greenhouse gas emission from the cold soils of Eurasia in natural settings and under human impact:Controls on spatial variability

The annual balance of biogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs; carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O)) in the atmosphere is well studied. However, the contributions of specific natural land sources and sinks remain unclear, and the effect of different human land use activities is understudied. A simple way to do this is to evaluate GHG soil emissions. For CO2, it usually comprises 60–75% of gross respiration in natural terrestrial ecosystems, while local human impact can increase this share to almost 100%. Permafrost-affected soils occupying 15% of the land surface mostly in the Eurasia and North America contain approximately 25% of the total terrestrial carbon. The biogenic GHG soil emissions from permafrost are 5% of the global total, which makes these soils extremely important in the warming world. Measurements of CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide, from eighteen locations in the Arctic and Siberian permafrost, across tundra, steppe, and north taiga domains of Russia and Svalbard, were conducted from August to September during 2014–2017 in 37 biotopes representing natural conditions and different types of human impact. We demonstrate that land use caused significant alteration in soil emission and net fluxes of GHGs compared to natural rates, regardless of the type and duration of human impact and the ecosystem type. The cumulative effect of land use factors very likely supported an additional net-source of CO2 into the atmosphere because of residual microbial respiration in soil after the destruction of vegetation and primary production under anthropogenic influence. Local drainage effects were more significant for methane emission. In general, land use factors enforced soil emission and net-sources of CO2 and N2O and weakened methane sources. Despite the extended heat supply, high aridity caused significantly lower emissions of methane and nitrous oxide in ultra-continental Siberian permafrost soils. However, these climatic features support higher soil CO2 emission rates, in spite of dryness, owing to the larger phytomass storage, presence of tree canopies, thicker active layer, and greater expressed soil fissuring. Furthermore, the “Birch effect” was much less expressed in ultra-continental permafrost soils than in permafrost-free European soils. Models and field observations demonstrated that the areal human footprint on soil CO2 fluxes could be comparable to the effect of climate change within a similar timeframe. Settlements and industrial areas in the tundra function as year-round net CO2 sources, mostly owing to the lack of vegetation cover. As a result, they could compensate for the natural C-balance on significantly larger areas of surrounding tundra

Peatland Development, Vegetation History, Climate Change and Human Activity in the Valdai Uplands (Central European Russia) during the Holocene: A Multi-Proxy Palaeoecological Study

Peatlands are remarkable for their specific biodiversity, crucial role in carbon cycling and climate change. Their deposits preserve organism remains that can be used to reconstruct long-term ecosystem and environmental changes as well as human impact in the prehistorical and historical past. This study presents a new multi-proxy reconstruction of the peatland and vegetation development investigating climate dynamics and human impact at the border between mixed and boreal forests in the Valdai Uplands (the East European Plain, Russia) during most of the Holocene. We performed plant macrofossil, pollen, testate amoeba, Cladocera, diatom, peat humification, loss on ignition, carbon and nitrogen content, δ13C and δ15N analyses supported by radiocarbon dating of the peat deposits from the Krivetskiy Mokh mire. The results of the study indicate that the wetland ecosystem underwent a classic hydroserial succession from a lake (8300 BC–900 BC) terrestrialized through a fen (900 BC–630 AD) to an ombrotrophic bog (630 AD–until present) and responded to climate changes documented over the Holocene. Each stage was associated with clear changes in local diversity of organisms responding mostly to autogenic successional changes during the lake stage and to allogenic factors at the fen-bog stage. The latter can be related to increased human impact and greater sensitivity of peatland ecosystems to external, especially climatic, drivers as compared to lakes