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Pollen analytical and landscape reconstruction study at Lake Storsjön, southern Sweden, over the last 2000 years

Åkesson, Christine LU (2013) In Dissertations in Geology at Lund University GEOR02 20131
Department of Geology
Abstract (Swedish)
Pollenanalys och landskapsrekonstruktionsmodellering (modellen REVEALS) användes för att undersöka landskapsutvecklingen i Botorpsströmmens dräneringsområde i södra Sverige över de senaste 2000 åren. Studien ingår i två större projekt, The archaeology and ecology of collapse: social and agricultural change following the Black Death och Managing Multiple Stressors in the Baltic Sea. Resultaten från studien kopplades till hur Östersjön har påverkats av markanvändningsförändringar under de senaste 2000 åren. Tre av sex insamlade borrkärnor (SSK, SS1a och SS1b) från Storsjön, Småland analyserades och provtogs för pollenanalys, LOI, 14C-datering och 210Pb-datering. Dateringarna är ännu inte färdiga och därför användes pollendiagram från andra... (More)
Pollenanalys och landskapsrekonstruktionsmodellering (modellen REVEALS) användes för att undersöka landskapsutvecklingen i Botorpsströmmens dräneringsområde i södra Sverige över de senaste 2000 åren. Studien ingår i två större projekt, The archaeology and ecology of collapse: social and agricultural change following the Black Death och Managing Multiple Stressors in the Baltic Sea. Resultaten från studien kopplades till hur Östersjön har påverkats av markanvändningsförändringar under de senaste 2000 åren. Tre av sex insamlade borrkärnor (SSK, SS1a och SS1b) från Storsjön, Småland analyserades och provtogs för pollenanalys, LOI, 14C-datering och 210Pb-datering. Dateringarna är ännu inte färdiga och därför användes pollendiagram från andra studier i södra Sverige tillsammans med ett lågupplöst pollendiagram sammansatt från alla de erhållna borrkärnorna från Storsjön för att upprätta en relativ kronologi av de studerade sedimenten. Resultaten från pollenanalysen sammanställdes i ett högupplöst pollendiagram och i ett vegetations-fördelningsdiagram. Diagrammen indelades sedan i fem perioder (A-E) där period C delades in i fyra delperioder (C1-C4). Etableringen av Picea, det första pollenkornet av Secale t. och det första uppträdandet av en kontinuitet i sädesslagspollenkurvan antyder att period A representerar tidsintervallet mellan 250-500 e.Kr. Period B karakteriseras av en nedgång i odling och en succession av träd som förmodligen representerar återbeskogningen under 500-talet. Delperiod C1 utmärks av en expansion av jordbruk vilket tolkas som den medeltida expansionen 800-1300 e.Kr. En återbeskogning och en nedgång i odling kännetecknar delperiod C2, vilken bör representera den medeltida nedgången under 1300-talet. Delperioderna C3 och C4 karakteriseras av en förnyad expansion av jordbruk och representerar troligtvis 1500-talet. Höga värden av sädesslag och introduktionen av bovete i period D antyder att perioden representerar 1600-talet till 1800-talet. En återbeskogning av Picea och Pinus, nedgång i artrikedom och höga värden av sädesslag kännetecknar period E vilket tyder på att perioden representerar sent 1800-tal till 1900-tal. Ökad markanvändning under de senaste 2000 åren har kopplats till perioder av syrefattiga bottenförhållanden i Östersjön och perioder av minskad markanvändning har kopplats till perioder av mer syrerika bottenförhållanden i Östersjön. Denna studie ger en ökad förståelse för landskapsutvecklingen i södra Sverige inom ett område som tidigare inte har varit föremål för studier och vidare indikerar studien att markanvändningen under de senaste 2000 åren i södra Sverige kännetecknades av perioder av ökad markanvändning och perioder av minskad markanvändning. (Less)
Abstract
This thesis reports the results from a pollen analytical and quantitative landscape reconstruction (REVEALS model) study in the drainage area of the Botorpsströmmen River in southern Sweden as a part of the project The archaeology and ecology of collapse: social and agricultural change following the Black Death and the project Managing Multiple Stressors in the Baltic Sea. The focus of this study was on the vegetation and land-use development in the area during the last 2000 years and on how the land-use changes affected the Baltic Sea. Six sediment cores were retrieved from Lake Storsjön, Småland, and three of those cores (SSK, SS1a and SS1b) were used for further analyses. The sediment cores were sampled for pollen analysis, LOI,... (More)
This thesis reports the results from a pollen analytical and quantitative landscape reconstruction (REVEALS model) study in the drainage area of the Botorpsströmmen River in southern Sweden as a part of the project The archaeology and ecology of collapse: social and agricultural change following the Black Death and the project Managing Multiple Stressors in the Baltic Sea. The focus of this study was on the vegetation and land-use development in the area during the last 2000 years and on how the land-use changes affected the Baltic Sea. Six sediment cores were retrieved from Lake Storsjön, Småland, and three of those cores (SSK, SS1a and SS1b) were used for further analyses. The sediment cores were sampled for pollen analysis, LOI, 14C-dating and 210Pb-dating; the dating results are still pending. Pollen diagrams from other studies in southern Sweden along with a low resolution pollen diagram based on all the six retrieved cores have been used for tentative dating. A high resolution pollen diagram and a vegetation cover diagram were constructed using data from cores SSK and SS1a. The diagrams were divided into five landscape periods (A-E), where period C further was divided into four sub-periods (C1-C4). Period A probably represents the time interval between approximately AD 250 and AD 500 and shows the establishment of Picea, the first finding of Secale t. and the first appearance of a continuous cereal pollen curve. Period B is characterised by reforestation and farm abandonment and most likely represents the reforestation event during the 6th century. Sub-period C1 shows an expansion of agriculture and is interpreted as the Medieval expansion around AD 800-1300. This is followed by reforestation and farm abandonment in sub-period C2 that suggest that this represents the Medieval decline during the 14th century. Sub-periods C3 and C4 are characterised by a re-expansion of agriculture and probably represent the 16th century. The introduction of buckwheat and a peak in cereal pollen in period D suggest that this period represents the vegetation and land-use during the 17th to 19th centuries. Period E is characterised by a reforestation of Picea and Pinus, decline in species diversity and high values of cereals that probably represent the late 19th to 20th centuries. Based on literature, periods of hypoxia in the Baltic Sea during the last 2000 years have been correlated with intense agricultural periods and periods of more oxic conditions have been correlated with periods of agricultural decline. This study gives an insight into the vegetation and land-use changes in an area of southern Sweden that has not been subject to previous studies and indicates that the agriculture during the last 2000 years was characterised by periods of intensified land-use and periods of reduced land-use. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Åkesson, Christine LU
supervisor
organization
course
GEOR02 20131
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Baltic Sea, Småland, land-use changes, pollen analysis, REVEALS model
publication/series
Dissertations in Geology at Lund University
report number
360
language
English
id
3959489
date added to LUP
2013-09-11 14:36:44
date last changed
2013-09-11 14:36:44
@misc{3959489,
  abstract     = {{This thesis reports the results from a pollen analytical and quantitative landscape reconstruction (REVEALS model) study in the drainage area of the Botorpsströmmen River in southern Sweden as a part of the project The archaeology and ecology of collapse: social and agricultural change following the Black Death and the project Managing Multiple Stressors in the Baltic Sea. The focus of this study was on the vegetation and land-use development in the area during the last 2000 years and on how the land-use changes affected the Baltic Sea. Six sediment cores were retrieved from Lake Storsjön, Småland, and three of those cores (SSK, SS1a and SS1b) were used for further analyses. The sediment cores were sampled for pollen analysis, LOI, 14C-dating and 210Pb-dating; the dating results are still pending. Pollen diagrams from other studies in southern Sweden along with a low resolution pollen diagram based on all the six retrieved cores have been used for tentative dating. A high resolution pollen diagram and a vegetation cover diagram were constructed using data from cores SSK and SS1a. The diagrams were divided into five landscape periods (A-E), where period C further was divided into four sub-periods (C1-C4). Period A probably represents the time interval between approximately AD 250 and AD 500 and shows the establishment of Picea, the first finding of Secale t. and the first appearance of a continuous cereal pollen curve. Period B is characterised by reforestation and farm abandonment and most likely represents the reforestation event during the 6th century. Sub-period C1 shows an expansion of agriculture and is interpreted as the Medieval expansion around AD 800-1300. This is followed by reforestation and farm abandonment in sub-period C2 that suggest that this represents the Medieval decline during the 14th century. Sub-periods C3 and C4 are characterised by a re-expansion of agriculture and probably represent the 16th century. The introduction of buckwheat and a peak in cereal pollen in period D suggest that this period represents the vegetation and land-use during the 17th to 19th centuries. Period E is characterised by a reforestation of Picea and Pinus, decline in species diversity and high values of cereals that probably represent the late 19th to 20th centuries. Based on literature, periods of hypoxia in the Baltic Sea during the last 2000 years have been correlated with intense agricultural periods and periods of more oxic conditions have been correlated with periods of agricultural decline. This study gives an insight into the vegetation and land-use changes in an area of southern Sweden that has not been subject to previous studies and indicates that the agriculture during the last 2000 years was characterised by periods of intensified land-use and periods of reduced land-use.}},
  author       = {{Åkesson, Christine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{Dissertations in Geology at Lund University}},
  title        = {{Pollen analytical and landscape reconstruction study at Lake Storsjön, southern Sweden, over the last 2000 years}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}