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1.
We present a fossil pollen analysis from a swamp forest in the semiarid coast of Chile (32°05′S; 71°30′W), at the northern influence zone of southern westerly wind belt. A ∼10,000 cal yr BP (calendar years before 1950) palynological sequence indicates a humid phase characterized by dense swamp forest taxa dated between ∼9900 and 8700 cal yr BP. The presence of pollen-starved sediments with only scant evidence for semiarid vegetation indicates that extreme aridity ensued until ∼5700 cal yr BP. The swamp forest recovered slowly afterwards, helped by a significant increase in moisture at ∼4200 cal yr BP. A new swamp forest contraction suggests that another slightly less intense drought occurred between ∼3000 and 2200 cal yr BP. The swamp forest expansion begins again at ∼2200 cal yr BP, punctuated by a highly variable climate. Comparisons between the record presented here with other records across the region imply major variations in the extent of the southern westerlies during the Holocene. This variability could have been caused either by latitudinal displacements from the present mean position of southern westerlies wind belt or by changes in the intensity of the South Pacific Subtropical Anticyclone, both of which affect winter precipitation in the region. 相似文献
2.
Quantitative information on vegetation and climate history from the late glacial-Holocene on the Tibetan Plateau is extremely rare. Here, we present palynological results of a 4.30-m-long sediment record collected from Koucha Lake in the Bayan Har Mountains, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Vegetation change has been traced by biomisation, ordination of pollen data, and calculation of pollen ratios. The application of a pollen-climate calibration set from the eastern Tibetan Plateau to Koucha Lake pollen spectra yielded quantitative climate information. The area was covered by alpine desert/steppe, characteristic of a cold and dry climate (with 50% less precipitation than today) between 16,700 and 14,600 cal yr BP. Steppe vegetation, warm (∼ 1°C higher than today) and wet conditions prevailed between 14,600 and 6600 cal yr BP. These findings contradict evidence from other monsoon-influenced areas of Asia, where the early Holocene is thought to have been moist. Low effective moisture on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau was likely due to high temperature and evaporation, even though precipitation levels may have been similar to present-day values. The vegetation changed to tundra around 6600 cal yr BP, indicating that wet and cool climate conditions occurred on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau during the second half of the Holocene. 相似文献
3.
We reconstructed a 10,500-yr fire and vegetation history of a montane site in the North Cascade Range, Washington State based on lake sediment charcoal, macrofossil and pollen records. High-resolution sampling and abundant macrofossils made it possible to analyze relationships between fire and vegetation. During the early Holocene (> 10,500 to ca. 8000 cal yr BP) forests were subalpine woodlands dominated by Pinus contorta. Around 8000 cal yr BP, P. contorta sharply declined in the macrofossil record. Shade tolerant, mesic species first appeared ca. 4500 cal yr BP. Cupressus nootkatensis appeared most recently at 2000 cal yr BP. Fire frequency varies throughout the record, with significantly shorter mean fire return intervals in the early Holocene than the mid and late Holocene. Charcoal peaks are significantly correlated with an initial increase in macrofossil accumulation rates followed by a decrease, likely corresponding to tree mortality following fire. Climate appears to be a key driver in vegetation and fire regimes over millennial time scales. Fire and other disturbances altered forest vegetation at shorter time scales, and vegetation may have mediated local fire regimes. For example, dominance of P. contorta in the early Holocene forests may have been reinforced by its susceptibility to frequent, stand-replacing fire events. 相似文献
4.
We present a late glacial pollen record (17,700 to 8500 cal yr BP) from a Lake Naleng sediment core. Lake Naleng is located on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (31.10°N 99.75°E, 4200 m) along the upper tree-line. Variations in the summer monsoon are evident from shifts in vegetation that correspond to late glacial climate trends from other monsoon-sensitive regions. Alpine steppe was recorded between 17,700 and 14,800 cal yr BP, indicating low effective moisture at the study site. Expansion of alpine meadows followed by advances in the position of tree-line around Lake Naleng suggest that climate became warmer and wetter between ∼ 14,800 and 12,500 cal yr BP, probably representing an enhancement of the Asian monsoon. Climatic cooling and reduced effective moisture are inferred from multivariate analysis and the upward retreat of tree-line between ∼ 12,500 and 11,700 cal yr BP. The timing and nature of these shifts to warm, wet and then cold, dry climatic conditions suggest that they correspond to the Bølling/Allerød and Younger Dryas intervals. Abies-Betula forests, representing warm and moist conditions, spread during the early Holocene. 相似文献
5.
An AMS radiocarbon-dated pollen record from a peat deposit on Mitkof Island, southeastern Alaska provides a vegetation history spanning ∼12,900 cal yr BP to the present. Late Wisconsin glaciers covered the entire island; deglaciation occurred > 15,400 cal yr BP. The earliest known vegetation to develop on the island (∼12,900 cal yr BP) was pine woodland (Pinus contorta) with alder (Alnus), sedges (Cyperaceae) and ferns (Polypodiaceae type). By ∼12,240 cal yr BP, Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) began to colonize the island while pine woodland declined. By ∼11,200 cal yr BP, mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) began to spread across the island. Sitka spruce-mountain hemlock forests dominated the lowland landscapes of the island until ∼10,180 cal yr BP, when western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) began to colonize, and soon became the dominant tree species. Rising percentages of pine, sedge, and sphagnum after ∼7100 cal yr BP may reflect an expansion of peat bog habitats as regional climate began to shift to cooler, wetter conditions. A decline in alders at that time suggests that coastal forests had spread into the island's uplands, replacing large areas of alder thickets. Cedars (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis, Thuja plicata) appeared on Mitkof Island during the late Holocene. 相似文献
6.
Laguna de la Leche, north coastal Cuba, is a shallow (≤ 3 m), oligohaline (∼ 2.0-4.5‰) coastal lake surrounded by mangroves and cattail stands. A 227-cm core was studied using loss-on-ignition, pollen, calcareous microfossils, and plant macrofossils. From ∼6200 to ∼ 4800 cal yr BP, the area was an oligohaline lake. The period from ∼ 4800 to ∼ 4200 cal yr BP saw higher water levels and a freshened system; these changes are indicated by an increase in the regional pollen rain, as well as by the presence of charophyte oogonia and an increase in freshwater gastropods (Hydrobiidae). By ∼ 4000 cal yr BP, an open mesohaline lagoon had formed; an increase in salt-tolerant foraminifers suggests that water level increase was driven by relative sea level rise. The initiation of Laguna de la Leche correlates with a shift to wetter conditions as indicated in pollen records from the southeastern United States (e.g., Lake Tulane). This synchronicity suggests that sea level rise caused middle Holocene environmental change region-wide. Two other cores sampled from mangrove swamps in the vicinity of Laguna de la Leche indicate that a major expansion of mangroves was underway by ∼ 1700 cal yr BP. 相似文献
7.
Robert A. Dull 《Quaternary Research》2004,61(2):159-167
An ∼8000-cal-yr stratigraphic record of vegetation change from the Sierra de Apaneca, El Salvador, documents a mid-Holocene warm phase, followed by late Holocene cooling. Pollen evidence reveals that during the mid-Holocene (∼8000-5500 cal yr B.P.) lowland tropical plant taxa were growing at elevations ∼200-250 m higher than at present, suggesting conditions about 1.0°C warmer than those prevailing today. Cloud forest genera (Liquidambar, Juglans, Alnus, Ulmus) were also more abundant in the mid-Holocene, indicating greater cloud cover during the dry season. A gradual cooling and drying trend began by ∼5500 cal yr B.P., culminating in the modern forest composition by ∼3500 cal yr B.P. A rise in pollen from weedy plant taxa associated with agriculture occurred ∼5000 cal yr B.P., and pollen from Zea first appeared in the record at ∼4440 cal yr B.P. Human impacts on local vegetation remained high throughout the late Holocene, but decreased abruptly following the Tierra Blanca Joven (TBJ) eruption of Volcán Ilopango at ∼1520 cal yr B.P. The past 1500 years are marked by higher lake levels and periodic depositions of exogenous inorganic sediments, perhaps indicating increased climatic variability. 相似文献
8.
A high-resolution macroscopic charcoal record from Lago Melli (42°46′S, 73°33′W) documents the occurrence of forest fires in the lowlands of Isla Grande de Chiloé, southern Chile, over the last 16,000 yr. Our data suggest that fire activity in this region was largely modulated by the position/intensity of the southern westerlies at multi-millennial time scales. Fire activity was infrequent or absent between 16,000-11,000 and 8500-7000 cal yr BP and was maximal between ∼ 11,000-8500 and 3000-0 cal yr BP. A mosaic of Valdivian/North Patagonian rainforest species started at ∼ 6000 cal yr BP, along with a moderate increase in fire activity which intensified subsequently at 3000 cal yr BP. The modern transition between these forest communities and the occurrence of fires are largely controlled by summer moisture stress and variability, suggesting the onset of high-frequency variability in summer precipitation regimes starting at ∼ 5500 cal yr BP. Because negative anomalies in summer precipitation in this region are teleconnected with modern El Niño events, we propose that the onset of El Niño-like variability at ∼ 5700-6200 cal yr BP led to a reshuffling of rainforest communities in the lowlands of Isla Grande de Chiloé and an increase in fire activity. 相似文献
9.
Here, we present two high-resolution records of macroscopic charcoal from high-elevation lake sites in the Sierra Nevada, California, and evaluate the synchroneity of fire response for east- and west-side subalpine forests during the past 9200 yr. Charcoal influx was low between 11,200 and 8000 cal yr BP when vegetation consisted of sparse Pinus-dominated forest and montane chaparral shrubs. High charcoal influx after ∼ 8000 cal yr BP marks the arrival of Tsuga mertensiana and Abies magnifica, and a higher-than-present treeline that persisted into the mid-Holocene. Coeval decreases in fire episode frequency coincide with neoglacial advances and lower treeline in the Sierra Nevada after 3800 cal yr BP. Independent fire response occurs between 9200 and 5000 cal yr BP, and significant synchrony at 100- to 1000-yr timescales emerges between 5000 cal yr BP and the present, especially during the last 2500 yr. Indistinguishable fire-return interval distributions and synchronous fires show that climatic control of fire became increasingly important during the late Holocene. Fires after 1200 cal yr BP are often synchronous and corroborate with inferred droughts. Holocene fire activity in the high Sierra Nevada is driven by changes in climate linked to insolation and appears to be sensitive to the dynamics of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. 相似文献
10.
A sediment core from Lake BC01 (75°10.945′N, 111°55.181′W, 225 m asl) on south-central Melville Island, NWT, Canada, provides the first continuous postglacial environmental record for the region. Fossil pollen results indicate that the postglacial landscape was dominated by Poaceae and Salix, typical of a High Arctic plant community, whereas the Arctic herb Oxyria underwent a gradual increase during the late Holocene. Pollen-based climate reconstructions suggests the presence of a cold and dry period ~12,000 cal yr BP, possibly representing the Younger Dryas, followed by warmer and wetter conditions from 11,000 to 5000 cal yr BP, likely reflective of the Holocene Thermal Maximum. The climate then underwent a gradual cooling and drying from 5000 cal yr BP to the present, suggesting a late Holocene neoglacial cooling. Diatom preservation was poor prior to 5000 cal yr BP, when conditions were warmest, suggesting that diatom dissolution may in part be climatically controlled. Diatom concentrations were highest ~4500 cal yr BP but then decreased substantially by 3500 cal yr BP and remained low before recovering slightly in the 20th century. An abrupt warming occurred during the past 70 yr at the site, although the magnitude of this warming did not exceed that of the early Holocene. 相似文献
11.
Palaeoclimatic records derived from a variety of independent proxies provide evidence of post‐glacial changes of temperature and soil moisture in northern Fennoscandia. We use pollen percentage, pollen influx, stomatal and chironomid records from Toskaljavri, a high‐altitude lake in northern Finland, to assess how treelines and alpine vegetation there have responded to these climate changes. The evidence suggests that the cool, moist climate of the early Holocene supported birch forest in the area 9600 cal. yr BP onwards and that a rise of temperature triggered the immigration of pine at 8300 cal. yr BP. At 6100–4000 cal. yr BP altitudinal treeline in the area was formed by pine, in contrast to the modern situation where mountain birch reaches a higher elevation. Alpine vegetation also demonstrates clear changes. Plant communities typical of dry, oligotrophic heaths of northern Fennoscandia expanded during the dry climatic period at 7000–4000 cal. yr BP and decreased in response to cooler and moister conditions after 4000 cal. yr BP. Alpine plant communities favouring moist sites show an inverse pattern, expanding after a change towards moister climate after 4000 cal. yr BP. In a redundancy analysis (RDA), a statistically significant proportion of the variability in the total chironomid assemblages was captured by changes in the pollen types reflecting alpine vegetation typical of moist sites. Although chironomid community changes appeared to follow the major patterns in the alpine vegetation succession, the present study does not support a direct link between the changing treeline position and chironomid stratigraphy. Rather, the data indicate that the terrestrial and aquatic environments have each responded directly to the same ultimate cause, namely changing Holocene climate. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
12.
Yuting Meng Weiming Wang Jianfang Hu Jixiao Zhang Yangjun Lai 《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》2017,46(3):525-540
A pollen record from Huguangyan Maar Lake documents regional palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate changes in southern China over the last 30 000 years. Huguangyan Maar Lake is located close to the South China Sea (SCS) coastline and is influenced by the East Asian Monsoon (EAM). The pollen assemblages show a succession of vegetation and climate changes. During the Last Glaciation, 30–15.8 cal. ka BP, the Huguangyan area was dominated by subtropical evergreen‐deciduous forest with grassland surrounding the lake, indicating a colder and drier climate than today. During 15.8–11 cal. ka BP, the study area experienced several climatic fluctuations. From 11 to 2 cal. ka BP, the climate shifted to warmer and wetter conditions. After the Holocene Optimum in the early Holocene, the temperature and precipitation decreased. The sediment record of the last 2000 years cannot be used to interpret natural palaeoclimate changes due to the intense anthropogenic influences. Overall, however, the Huguangyan pollen archive highlights the rapid responses of subtropical vegetation to insolation changes in southern China. 相似文献
13.
The paucity of low- and middle-elevation paleoecologic records in the Northern Rocky Mountains limits our ability to assess current environmental change in light of past conditions. A 10,500-yr-long vegetation, fire and climate history from Lower Decker Lake in the Sawtooth Range provides information from a new region. Initial forests dominated by pine and Douglas-fir were replaced by open Douglas-fir forest at 8420 cal yr BP, marking the onset of warmer conditions than present. Presence of closed Douglas-fir forest between 6000 and 2650 cal yr BP suggests heightened summer drought in the middle Holocene. Closed lodgepole pine forest developed at 2650 cal yr BP and fires became more frequent after 1450 cal yr BP. This shift from Douglas-fir to lodgepole pine forest was probably facilitated by a combination of cooler summers, cold winters, and more severe fires than before. Five drought episodes, including those at 8200 cal yr BP and during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, were registered by brief intervals of lodgepole pine decline, an increase in fire activity, and mistletoe infestation. The importance of a Holocene perspective when assessing the historical range of variability is illustrated by the striking difference between the modern forest and that which existed 3000 yr ago. 相似文献
14.
Climate models suggest that the global warming during the early to mid‐Holocene may have partly resulted from the northward advance of the northern treeline and subsequent reduction of the planetary albedo. We investigated the Holocene vegetation history of low arctic continental Nunavut, Canada, from a radiocarbon‐dated sediment core from TK‐2 Lake, a small‐lake ca. 200 km north of the limit of the forest‐tundra. The pollen and loss‐on‐ignition data indicate the presence of dwarf shrub tundra in the region since the beginning of organic sedimentation at ca. 9000 cal. yr BP with dominance of Betula, especially since 8700 cal. yr BP. At 8100–7900 cal. yr BP the dominance of the shrub tundra was punctuated by a transient decline of Betula and coincident increases of Ericaceae undiff., Vaccinium‐type, and Gramineae. This suggests an abrupt disturbance of the Betula glandulosa population, approximately simultaneously with the sudden 8200 cal. yr BP event in the North Atlantic. However, in the absence of other sites studied in the area, linkage to the 8200 cal. yr BP event remains tentative. The lack of any evidence of forest‐tundra in the region constrains the northern limit of the mid‐Holocene advance of the forest‐tundra boundary in central northern Canada. Consequently, our results show that the climate models imposing a mid‐Holocene advance of the limit of the forest‐tundra to the arctic coast of Canada may have overestimated the positive climatic feedback effects that can result from the replacement of tundra by the boreal forest. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
15.
ALLA SHARAPOVA MORTEN HALD KATRINE HUSUM CHRISTIN JENSEN 《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》2008,37(3):444-457
A high-resolution Younger Dryas–late Holocene record of climate and environment from the Malangen fjord has been established on the basis of two marine sediment cores. Five pollen-spore assemblage zones have been defined covering the period c . 11 500 cal. yr BP (10 200 14 C yr BP) to c . 1600 cal. yr BP (1600 14 C yr BP) with a hiatus of c . 2000 cal. years between c . 10 200 and 8100 cal. yr BP (9000 and 7300 14 C yr BP). The Holocene vegetation development from pioneer vegetation to forest development, identified in the marine pollen record, correlates well with pollen records from terrestrial sections of northern Norway. The marine pollen record was also correlated directly with marine proxy records of the bottom water temperature investigated in the same sediment cores. Correlation between the marine and terrestrial proxies suggests that changes in the influx of warm Atlantic Water to the fjord led to an instant change in the vegetation of the surrounding land area. The results thus support a strong link between marine and atmospheric mean climatic states in the North Atlantic region throughout the Holocene. 相似文献
16.
MINNA VÄLIRANTA SEIJA KULTTI HEIKKI SEPPÄ 《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》2006,35(2):202-212
Vegetation dynamics during the Younger Dryas-Holocene transition in the extreme northern taiga zone of the Usa basin, northeastern European Russia, were reconstructed using plant macrofossil and pollen evidence from a sediment core from Lake Llet-Ti. The pollen stratigraphy during the Younger Dryas (about 12 500-11 500 cal. yr BP) is characterized by pollen types indicative of treeless arctic vegetation, whereas the macrofossil evidence shows the occurrence of scattered spruce and birch trees around the lake. The Younger Dryas-early Holocene transition is characterized by a rapid increase in vegetation density, including an increase in the birch population, followed by the expansion of the spruce population at about 10 000 cal. yr BP. Dense spruce-birch forest dominated until 5000 cal. yr BP. Our results contribute to the debate about the Lateglacial environments in northern Russia, and illustrate the importance of plant macrofossil records in Lateglacial vegetation reconstructions. 相似文献
17.
Radiocarbon dating of well-preserved, in-place vegetation exposed by the retreating Quelccaya Ice Cap of southeastern Peru constrains the last time the ice cap's extent was smaller than at present. Seventeen plant samples from two sites along the central western margin collectively date to 4700 and 5100 cal yr BP and strongly indicate that current ice cap retreat is unprecedented over the past ∼ 5 millennia. Seventeen vegetation samples interbedded in a nearby clastic sedimentary sequence suggest ice-free conditions at this site from ∼ 5200 to at least ∼ 7000 cal yr BP, and place minimum constraint on early- to mid-Holocene ice cap extent. 相似文献
18.
Reconstruction of climate and vegetation changes of Lake Bayanchagan (Inner Mongolia): Holocene variability of the East Asian monsoon 总被引：5，自引：0，他引：5
Wenying Jiang Zhengtang Guo Xiangjun Sun Haibin Wu Guoqiang Chu Baoyin Yuan Chritine Hatt Jel Guiot 《Quaternary Research》2006,65(3):411-420
A high-resolution pollen and Pediastrum record, spanning 12,500 yr, is presented for Lake Bayanchagan (115.21°E, 41.65°N, and 1355 m a.s.l.), southern Inner Mongolia. Individual pollen taxa (PT-MAT) and the PFT affinity scores (PFT-MAT) were used for quantitative climatic reconstruction from pollen and algal data. Both techniques indicate that a cold and dry climate, similar to that of today, prevailed before 10,500 cal yr B.P. The wettest climate occurred between 10,500 and 6500 cal yr B.P., at which time annual precipitation was up to 30–60% higher than today. The early Holocene increases in temperature and precipitation occurred simultaneously, but mid-Holocene cooling started at approximately 8000 cal yr B.P., 1500 yr earlier than the drying. Vegetation reconstruction was based on the objective assignment of pollen taxa to the plant functional type. The results suggest that this region was dominated by steppe vegetation throughout the Holocene, except for the period 9200 to 6700 cal yr B.P., when forest patches were relatively common. Inner Mongolia is situated at the limit of the present East Asian monsoon and patterns of vegetation and climate changes in that region during the Holocene probably reflect fluctuations in the monsoon's response to solar insolation variations. The early to middle Holocene monsoon undoubtedly extended to more northern latitudes than at present. 相似文献
19.
《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》2018,47(3):897-909
Travertine deposits are unique archives for multidisciplinary studies of past climate changes, associated vegetation development and the evolution of human societies. Despite their high potential in palaeoecological and palaeoclimate reconstructions, investigations of travertines are rather scarce in central Europe and particularly in Slovakia. Therefore, this study focused on a travertine deposit situated on the border between the Pannonian Basin and the Western Carpathians in a small valley in Santovka village (SW Slovakia), which is unique due to the presence of archaeological artefacts with known radiocarbon ages in the palaeoecological profile. Using a multidisciplinary approach combining macrofossil, pollen, mollusc, lithological and geochemical analyses, this study investigated climate–human–vegetation interactions. The Holocene onset was marked by the early arrival of oak trees; however, forest‐steppe with a high representation of pine predominated until 9880 cal. a BP, followed by an expansion of temperate trees. The local ecosystem changed around 8600 cal. a BP when the valley was probably dammed by a travertine accumulation, probably resulting in the existence of a small travertine lake. This was associated with wetter climatic conditions, which were also documented in other sites in the Western Carpathians at that time. Surrounding temperate forest possibly retained a certain degree of openness, or local steppe habitat may have persisted on adjacent loess terraces until the neolithization of the area. Archaeological evidence represented by a ceramic shard dated to 7339 cal. a BP suggests the first appearance of humans at the site, yet pollen analysis records a significant change in vegetation first at 6650 cal. a BP. The local ecosystem records an abrupt change linked with human settlement earlier, at c. 7000 cal. a BP. Deforestation activities of the Neolithics resulted in the formation of an open calcareous fen occupied by numerous light‐demanding mollusc species. The present study provides new important data about the spread of temperate trees at the onset of the Holocene, about further vegetation changes caused by activities of the first Neolithic farmers and about climate changes in the region of southwestern Slovakia. 相似文献
20.
Michel Magny Boris Vannière Camilla Calo Laurent Millet Aurélie Leroux Odile Peyron Gianni Zanchetta Tommaso La Mantia Willy Tinner 《Quaternary Science Reviews》2011,30(19-20):2459-2475
This paper presents a high-resolution lake-level record for the Holocene at Lago Preola (Sicily, southern Italy) based on a specific sedimentological approach, with a chronology derived from AMS radiocarbon dates. It gives evidence of three major successive palaeohydrological periods, with (1) a pronounced dryness during the early Holocene until ca 10300 cal BP, (2) a highstand from ca 10300 to 4500 cal BP, and (3) a marked lowstand from 4500 cal BP to present. Large amplitude lake-level fluctuations characterise two transition phases at ca 10300–9000 and 6400–4500 cal BP. Period 2 was interrupted between 8300 and 7000 cal BP by a dry phase that was punctuated to ca 7300 cal BP by the deposition of a tephra from neighbouring Pantelleria Island. Comparisons of the Preola record with other palaeohydrological records along north–south and west–east transects in the Mediterranean show contrasting patterns of hydrological changes: north (south) of around 40°N latitude, the records highlight a mid-Holocene period characterised by lake-level minima (maxima). Humid mid-Holocene conditions over the Mediterranean south of 40°N were probably linked to a strong weakening of the Hadley cell circulation and of monsoon winds. We suggest that the maximum of humidity in the Mediterranean during the mid-Holocene was characterised by humid winters to the north of 40°N and humid summers to the south. On a multi-centennial scale, the high-resolution palaeohydrological reconstructions in the central Mediterranean area reveal a strong climate reversal around 4500–4000 cal BP, with contrasting changes in the hydrological cycle. In addition to seasonal and inter-hemispherical changes related to orbital forcing, this major oscillation might be related to non-linear responses of the climatic system to the gradual decrease in summer insolation at northern latitudes. Another major climate oscillation around 7500–7000 cal BP may have resulted from the combined effects of (1) a strong rate of change in insolation, and (2) variations in solar activity. Finally, comparisons of the Preola lake-level record with Sicilian pollen records suggest a strong influence of moisture availability on vegetation development in Sicily. Very dry early Holocene conditions probably prevented the expansion of coastal evergreen forests, while decreasing moisture availability since the onset of the late Holocene may have exacerbated effects of intensive land-use. 相似文献