Environmental reconstructions based on multi-proxy analysis from the Tăul Mare peat bog, Lăpuș Mountains

Abstract

In the coming years, the risk of wildfires is predicted to increase also in regions previously not considered threatened, such as the mid-altitude mountain ranges of the Eastern Carpathians, with expensive economic and environmental implications. Our charcoal-based reconstruction of wildfire activity in the mixed forest belt of the Lăpuș Mountains extends through most of the late Holocene, a period that has been increasingly shaped by anthropogenic modification of the landscape. The results showed moderate burning between 3000 and 2300 cal. yr BP, a moderate or low burning between 2300 and 700 cal. yr BP and variable fire activity in the last 700 years. Based on determined peaks in charcoal concentration and influx, plus morphological characteristics, we identified several major fire episodes around 2500, 1700, 1300, 900 and 500 cal. yr BP. Our results showed that a combined methodological analysis of macroscopic charcoal in sediment sequences (based on the number and morphology of charred fragments) has the potentially to add key information on fuel type, fire severity, and area of charcoal origin to the interpretation of charcoal records. We showed that extensive anthropogenic activities (mining, use of fire to open the landscape) occurred in the study area only over the last 700 years. Our results highlight both the impact of anthropogenic activities and the recovery of the local environment and can therefore be used to predict future possible responses of the local environment to disturbances.