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A Holocene palaeoenviromental study of a sediment core from Ile de la Possession, Iles Crozet, sub-Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2011

Marijke Ooms ,
Bart van de Vijver ,
Stijn Temmerman  and
Louis Beyens
Marijke Ooms*
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp (CDE), Department of Biology, Research Group of Polar Ecology, Limnology and Geomorphology, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
Bart van de Vijver
Affiliation:
National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Department of Bryophyta & Thallophyta, Domein van Bouchout, B-1860 Meise, Belgium
Stijn Temmerman
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp (CDE), Department of Biology, Research Group of Polar Ecology, Limnology and Geomorphology, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
Louis Beyens
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp (CDE), Department of Biology, Research Group of Polar Ecology, Limnology and Geomorphology, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

Ile de la Possession is one of the few islands in the southern Indian Ocean, making the island a valuable place to reconstruct past environmental and climatic changes. In this study a peat sediment core was analysed to reconstruct the changes that occurred before, during and after the eruption of the Morne Rouge (10 000–5500 14C yr bp) volcano. In addition to sedimentological analyses, diatom communities were used to reconstruct humidity and altitude, based on existing transfer functions. Radiocarbon dating of a tephra layer showed that the Morne Rouge volcano erupted between 6700–6600 cal. yr bp, giving a much more precise time scale for this event. The eruption was preceded by a tsunami flooding, indicated by the high numbers of marine diatoms found immediately before the tephra layer. After the eruption pioneer diatom species recolonized the coring site. Evidence is presented of the late climatic optimum around 3050 cal. yr bp, preceded by a cooling event until 6600 cal. yr bp. Nutrient input from elephant seals and wandering albatrosses obscured the climate signal for the last 600 cal yr bp.

Keywords

diatompalaeoecologyvolcanic eruption
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 23 , Issue 5 , October 2011 , pp. 431 - 441
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2011

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