Fire frequency during the Holocene in central Latvia, northeastern Europe
Fire is today a pan-European issue and is expected to be more salient because of climate and land use changes. Even though natural and anthropogenic fires have shaped forest composition and landscape characteristics since the last glacial retreat from northeastern Europe, fire frequency is an unders...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Estonian Academy Publishers
2021-06-01
|
| Series: | Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/earth-3-2021-127-139_20210620093816.pdf |
| _version_ | 1798037069436551168 |
|---|---|
| author | Dace Steinberga Normunds Stivrins |
| author_facet | Dace Steinberga Normunds Stivrins |
| author_sort | Dace Steinberga |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fire is today a pan-European issue and is expected to be more salient because of climate and land use changes. Even though natural and anthropogenic fires have shaped forest composition and landscape characteristics since the last glacial retreat from northeastern Europe, fire frequency is an understudied topic. To address this issue, we analysed macroscopic charcoal (>160 μm) from two sediment sequences located in the central and littoral parts of Lake Bricu (central Latvia) revealing the fire frequency during the Holocene. The chronology of the analysed sediment sequences is based on spheroidal fly-ash carbonaceous particles and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating. Macroscopic charcoal results were examined in detail using the CharAnalysis approach. The mean fire return interval for the entire Holocene was 372 years (261â494 years). Fire reconstructions revealed higher fire frequency during the early and late Holocene (cool climate), but lower frequency during the middle Holocene (warm climate). Although our study underlines that natural fire frequency might decrease during warmer climate, the anthropogenic fire use already has surpassed the baseline of natural fire frequency. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:21:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c97097122c9541f9bcb433f6581331ef |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1736-4728 1736-7557 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:21:09Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | Estonian Academy Publishers |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-c97097122c9541f9bcb433f6581331ef2022-12-22T04:02:37ZengEstonian Academy PublishersEstonian Journal of Earth Sciences1736-47281736-75572021-06-0170312713910.3176/earth.2021.0910.3176/earth.2021.09Fire frequency during the Holocene in central Latvia, northeastern EuropeDace Steinberga0Normunds Stivrins1Department of Geology, University of Latvia, Jelgavas iela 1, LV-1004, Riga, Latvia; steinberga.steinberga@gmail.comDepartment of Geography, University of Latvia, Jelgavas iela 1, LV-1004, Riga, Latvia; normunds.stivrins@lu.lv; Department of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia; Lake and Peatland Research Centre, Puikule, Latvia; Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 4, LV-1050, Riga, LatviaFire is today a pan-European issue and is expected to be more salient because of climate and land use changes. Even though natural and anthropogenic fires have shaped forest composition and landscape characteristics since the last glacial retreat from northeastern Europe, fire frequency is an understudied topic. To address this issue, we analysed macroscopic charcoal (>160 μm) from two sediment sequences located in the central and littoral parts of Lake Bricu (central Latvia) revealing the fire frequency during the Holocene. The chronology of the analysed sediment sequences is based on spheroidal fly-ash carbonaceous particles and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating. Macroscopic charcoal results were examined in detail using the CharAnalysis approach. The mean fire return interval for the entire Holocene was 372 years (261â494 years). Fire reconstructions revealed higher fire frequency during the early and late Holocene (cool climate), but lower frequency during the middle Holocene (warm climate). Although our study underlines that natural fire frequency might decrease during warmer climate, the anthropogenic fire use already has surpassed the baseline of natural fire frequency.https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/earth-3-2021-127-139_20210620093816.pdfmacroscopic charcoal morphologyclimate changelake-dwelling. |
| spellingShingle | Dace Steinberga Normunds Stivrins Fire frequency during the Holocene in central Latvia, northeastern Europe Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences macroscopic charcoal morphology climate change lake-dwelling. |
| title | Fire frequency during the Holocene in central Latvia, northeastern Europe |
| title_full | Fire frequency during the Holocene in central Latvia, northeastern Europe |
| title_fullStr | Fire frequency during the Holocene in central Latvia, northeastern Europe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fire frequency during the Holocene in central Latvia, northeastern Europe |
| title_short | Fire frequency during the Holocene in central Latvia, northeastern Europe |
| title_sort | fire frequency during the holocene in central latvia northeastern europe |
| topic | macroscopic charcoal morphology climate change lake-dwelling. |
| url | https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/earth-3-2021-127-139_20210620093816.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dacesteinberga firefrequencyduringtheholoceneincentrallatvianortheasterneurope AT normundsstivrins firefrequencyduringtheholoceneincentrallatvianortheasterneurope |