PALEOENVIRONMENT DATA AND VEGETATION HISTORY FROM A SMALL MESOTROPHIC SITE IN THE CURVATURE SUBCARPATHIANS. CASE STUDY: INK QUAKING BOG, ROMANIA

Abstract

Clearing down the chronology of Holocene’s history vegetation was made by exploring some important sites from Romania. The sequences of the forest phases in Holocene are well known because of the studies made by the School of Palynology from Cluj (Romania). These have shown that past vegetation dynamics are not uniform in the Romanian Carpathians, as initially believed. The Ink quaking bog is situated in the contact area of the Carpathians and the Subcarpathians Curvature’s sector at the altitude of 560 meters. The surrounding vegetation is highlighted by deciduous forest and meadow or swamp vegetation, having mesotrophic and meso-eutrophic characteristics. The peat bog deposit layer is 70-80 cm thick, and it’s represented by a very darkened made of soil peat bog, with some maceration variations. The swamp was dug with a gravity corer, attached with collecting tubes, which allowed a continuous circulation of the inner material column. The samples were collected for the sporopollenin analysis and radiocarbon dating (C). The material collected from the -65 cm layer, dating from 7861±50 B.P., was placed at the limit between Boreal and Atlantic (Alnus 27,6%; Ulmus 16,35%; Tilia 12.78%; Quercus – 5.45%; Picea 4.94%; Pinus 4.1%;). The -55 cm layer, dating from 2986±50 B.P., being on the crossover of Subboreal 2 and Subboreal 3 (Picea 11.3%; Pinus 3.91%; Alnus – 37.82%; Ulmus – 9.56%; Tilia 6.95%). The -35 cm layer, dating from 658±50 B.P., was placed in Subatlantic, were the climate’s cooling and rising humidity determined the beech and fir expansion. Based on Ink quaking bog sporopollenin analysis and C dating, we better understand the paleoenvironmental condition around Bîrseşti archaeological site (Late Hallstatt).