A new consistent and accurate chronology for high resolution pollen sequence at Lake Volvi (Greece)

Anno
2021
Proponente Lucrezia Masci - Dottorando
Sottosettore ERC del proponente del progetto
PE10_6
Componenti gruppo di ricerca
Componente Categoria
Alessia Masi Aggiungi Tutor di riferimento (Professore o Ricercatore afferente allo stesso Dipartimento del Proponente)
Abstract

The present study concerns the pollen analysis of sediments extracted from Lake Volvi, the second largest lake of Greece, located in the region of Macedonia, 11.5 km northeast of Thessaloniki. Macedonia stands out for its incredible biodiversity both for geological, climatic and human factors. The region is one of the most sensitive Mediterranean areas from an ecological point of view. Macedonia includes river and wetland habitats near the lakes, and it has been inhabited since the Palaeolithic. Showing a strong human occupation since the Bronze Age that even increased over time, Macedonia has a peculiar location along the strategic route linking Europe and Asia. The area of Lake Volvi preserves a rare wetland ecosystem: the close by Tempi valley is characterized by dense riparian vegetation and the whole area is protected by Ramsar convention and included in the Natura 2000 network. The biodiversity that characterised the entire area makes Lake Volvi a perfect case study of the past vegetational changes.
Palynology is a fundamental discipline in such studies: pollen data provides information on past flora and has become a useful tool to investigate human resilience to climate changes. A detailed reconstruction of changes in the regional vegetation and climate and the assessment of land-use activities require a robust and accurate chronology. The major obstacle in paleoenvironmental studies that deals with human impact is to establish an accurate and consistent age -depth model. This research aims at building a high-resolution pollen sequence whose chronology is based on 14C and 210Pb dating, to reconstruct the vegetation of Lake Volvi during the last millennia. A robust and reliable chronology will allow comparison of pollen data with historical information to deepen the human land use in the area, providing a new insight in the Mediterranean natural and cultural landscape.

ERC
PE10_6, PE10_3, SH2_7
Keywords:
PALEOBOTANICA, GEOCRONOLOGIA, PALEOECOLOGIA, PALEOCLIMATOLOGIA

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