Multi-proxy analysis in environmental reconstructions of the Tăul Mare peat bog, Lăpuș Mountains

Abstract

Paleoenvironmental data obtained from multi-proxy analysis of sedimentary archives may provide support to the hypothesis that the current mountainous landscapes in northern Romania were shaped by various human activities over the last millennia. The aim of this study is to use multi-proxy analyzes (geochemistry, mineral magnetic properties, grain-size, macroscopic charcoal abundance and morphologies) of a peat sequence from Lăpuș Mts, Northern Romania, coupled with published vegetation and climate reconstructions, to reconstruct the paleoenvironment conditions of this area over the past 3000 years.

The ultimate purpose is to understand the complex, long-term interactions between local environment, climate, vegetation, and human component, including understanding the effect of disturbance factors such as vegetation fires. For this study, we used a peat sequence extracted from Tăul Mare peat bog (47°82'84.61"N, 24°62'24.20"E), an ombrotrophic bog located in the conifer forest belt at 1066 m a.s.l., in the proximity of a former mining area.