TY - JOUR
T1 - Lacustrine evidence of Holocene environmental change from three Faroese lakes:
T2 - a multiproxy XRF and stable isotope study
AU - Olsen, Jesper
AU - Björck, Svante
AU - Leng, Melanie
AU - Gudmundsdottir, Esther
AU - Odgaard, Bent Vad
AU - Lutz, Christina
AU - Kendrick, Chris
AU - Andersen, Thorbjørn Joest
AU - Seidenkrantz, Marit-Solveig
PY - 2010/9
Y1 - 2010/9
N2 - The vegetation history of the Faroe Islands has been investigated in numerous studies all broadly showing that the early-Holocene vegetation of the islands largely consisted of fellfield with gravely and rocky soils formed under a continental climate which shifted to an oceanic climate around 10,000calyrBP when grasses, sedges and finally shrubs began to dominant the islands. Here we present data from three lake sediment cores and show a much more detailed history from geochemical and isotope data. These data show that the Faroe Islands were deglaciated by the end of Younger Dryas (11,700 - 10,300 cal yr BP), at this time relatively high sedimentation rates with high δ13C imply poor soil development. δ13C, Ti and χ data reveal a much more stable and warm mid-Holocene until 7410calyrBP characterised by increasing vegetation cover and build up of organic soils towards the Holocene thermal maximum around 7400calyrBP. The final meltdown of the Laurentide ice sheet around 7000calyrBP appears to have impacted both ocean and atmospheric circulation towards colder conditions on the Faroe Islands. This is inferred by enhanced weathering and increased deposition of surplus sulphur (sea spray) and erosion in the highland lakes from about 7400calyrBP. From 4190calyrBP further cooling is believed to have occurred as a consequence for increased soil erosion due to freeze/thaw sequences related to oceanic and atmospheric variability. This cooling trend appears to have advanced further from 3000calyrBP. A short period around 1800calyrBP appears as a short warm and wet phase in between a general cooling characterised by significant soil erosion lasting until 725calyrBP. Interestingly, increased soil erosion seems to have begun at 1360calyrBP, thus significantly before the arrival of the first settlers on the Faroe Island around 1150calyrBP, although additional erosion took place around 1200calyrBP possibly as a consequence of human activities. Hence it appears that if humans caused a change in the Faroe landscape in terms of erosion they in fact accelerated a process that had already started. Soil erosion was a dominant landscape factor during the Little Ice Age, but climate related triggers can hardly be distinguished from human activities.
AB - The vegetation history of the Faroe Islands has been investigated in numerous studies all broadly showing that the early-Holocene vegetation of the islands largely consisted of fellfield with gravely and rocky soils formed under a continental climate which shifted to an oceanic climate around 10,000calyrBP when grasses, sedges and finally shrubs began to dominant the islands. Here we present data from three lake sediment cores and show a much more detailed history from geochemical and isotope data. These data show that the Faroe Islands were deglaciated by the end of Younger Dryas (11,700 - 10,300 cal yr BP), at this time relatively high sedimentation rates with high δ13C imply poor soil development. δ13C, Ti and χ data reveal a much more stable and warm mid-Holocene until 7410calyrBP characterised by increasing vegetation cover and build up of organic soils towards the Holocene thermal maximum around 7400calyrBP. The final meltdown of the Laurentide ice sheet around 7000calyrBP appears to have impacted both ocean and atmospheric circulation towards colder conditions on the Faroe Islands. This is inferred by enhanced weathering and increased deposition of surplus sulphur (sea spray) and erosion in the highland lakes from about 7400calyrBP. From 4190calyrBP further cooling is believed to have occurred as a consequence for increased soil erosion due to freeze/thaw sequences related to oceanic and atmospheric variability. This cooling trend appears to have advanced further from 3000calyrBP. A short period around 1800calyrBP appears as a short warm and wet phase in between a general cooling characterised by significant soil erosion lasting until 725calyrBP. Interestingly, increased soil erosion seems to have begun at 1360calyrBP, thus significantly before the arrival of the first settlers on the Faroe Island around 1150calyrBP, although additional erosion took place around 1200calyrBP possibly as a consequence of human activities. Hence it appears that if humans caused a change in the Faroe landscape in terms of erosion they in fact accelerated a process that had already started. Soil erosion was a dominant landscape factor during the Little Ice Age, but climate related triggers can hardly be distinguished from human activities.
U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.06.029
DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.06.029
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0277-3791
VL - 29
SP - 2764
EP - 2780
JO - Quaternary Science Reviews
JF - Quaternary Science Reviews
IS - 19-20
ER -
