global and planetary change

Iron release in aqueous environment by fresh volcanic ash from Mount Etna (Italy) and Popocatépetl (Mexico) volcanoes

In this study, we performed leaching experiments for timescales of hours-to-months in deionized water on fresh volcanic ash from Mt. Etna (Italy) and Popocatépetl (Mexico) volcanos to monitor Fe release as a function of ash mineral chemistry and size, with the aim of clarifying Fe release mechanisms and eventually evaluating the impact of volcanic ash on marine and lacustrine environments. To define sample mineralogy and Fe speciation, inclusive characterization was obtained by means of XRF, SEM, XRPD, EELS and Mössbauer spectroscopies.

Organic geochemical and palynological evidence for Holocene natural and anthropogenic environmental change at Lake Dojran (Macedonia/Greece)

In this study, we present lipid biomarker and palynological data for a sediment core from Lake Dojran (Macedonia/Greece), which covers the entire Holocene period. We analyzed vascular plant-derived n-alkanes, combustion-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fecal steroids, and bacterial and archaeal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) lipids in concert with microcharcoal and pollen assemblages to reconstruct climatic, environmental, and human impact in the Dojran catchment and the greater Dojran area.

Precipitation changes in the Mediterranean basin during the Holocene from terrestrial and marine pollen record. A model-data comparison

Climate evolution of the Mediterranean region during the Holocene exhibits strong spatial and temporal variability, which is notoriously difficult for models to reproduce. We propose here a new proxy-based climate synthesis synthesis and its comparison – at a regional ( ? 100 km) level – with a regional climate model to examine (i) opposing northern and southern precipitation regimes and (ii) an

Quaternary disappearance of tree taxa from Southern Europe. Timing and trends

A hundred pollen and plant macrofossil records from the Iberian Peninsula, Southern France, the Italian Peninsula, Greece and the Aegean, and the southwestern Black Sea area formed the basis for a review of the Quaternary distribution and extirpation of tree populations from Southern Europe. Following a discussion of the caveats/challenges about using pollen data, the Quaternary history of tree taxa has been

Mid to late holocene environmental changes along the coast of western Sardinia (Mediterranean Sea)

Multiproxy analysis composed of biostratigraphy and pollen analysis allowed reconstructing the palaeoecolo-gical and palaeoenvironmental evolution of the Tirso river coastal plain in Sardinia (NW Mediterranean) in thelast 6 millennia. We demonstrated that interplay between littoral and ?uvial processes have signi?cantly con-trolled the environmental evolution of the area and have played a key role in the pattern of historical andprehistorical settlements of this wide portion of western Sardinian coastline. At the end of Neolithic period (ca.6.0 to 5.5 cal.

Tyrrhenian central Italy. Holocene population and landscape ecology

This paper compares changes in vegetation structure and composition (using synthetic fossil pollen data) with proxy data for population levels (including settlements and radiocarbon dates) over the course of the last 10 millennia in Tyrrhenian central Italy. These data show generalised patterns of clearance of woodland in response both to early agriculturalists and urbanism, as well as the specific adoption of tree crops and variations in stock grazing.

The MIS 13 interglacial at Ceprano, Italy, in the context of middle pleistocene vegetation changes in southern Europe

Climatic and environmental changes of the Middle Pleistocene in Europe provide the context for an important phase in the evolution and dispersal of early hominins. Pollen records from terrestrial and marine sediment sequences reveal patterns not usually visible in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from archaeological sites alone and show that hominin evolution took place against a background of marked environmental change as forests expanded and contracted in concert with global and regional climatic shifts.

The lateglacial and Holocene vegetation and climate history of Lago di Mezzano (central Italy)

The top 12 m of a lacustrine sediment sequence from Lago di Mezzano (42°36?N, 11°46?E, 452 a.s.l., Latium, central Italy) have been palynologically investigated. The chronology was established on the basis of radiocarbon dates, measures of annual laminations and volcanic ashes. The continuous sequence provides new fundamental information on the Lateglacial and Holocene, periods often fragmented in Italian pollen records, identifying vegetation dynamics and climate changes occurring in the last 15,300 years.

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