Holocene geoecohydrological floodplain dynamics in NE Belgium: regional drivers of local change

IF 1.9 3区 地球科学 Q3 GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL
Renske Hoevers, Nils Broothaerts, Gert Verstraeten
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

During the Late Holocene, the majority of lowland river systems in temperate Europe transformed from low-energy multi-channel rivers in strongly vegetated marshy floodplains to more open floodplains characterised by single-channel meandering rivers with overbank deposits. While the general framework of this transformation in floodplain geomorphology, ecology and hydrology (i.e. geoecohydrology) is widely recognised many uncertainties remain as its timing varies significantly, both among different river catchments and within them. To unravel whether the observed differences in floodplain response can be attributed to differences in the timing and nature of the driving forces or to a difference in sensitivity towards them, we compare long-term and large-scale reconstructions of the geoecohydrological floodplain dynamics and of the (climatically and anthropogenically driven) land cover change for two contrasting regions: the central Belgian loess belt and the sandy Campine region. By using a combination of cluster analysis, ordination and Ellenberg indicator scores on a large multi-proxy and multi-site dataset, we revealed the major trends in the past geoecohydrological evolution of northeastern Belgian floodplains. These trends are probably determined by changes in floodplain wetness, which can in turn be linked to variations in upland forest cover. The Early and Late Holocene floodplain transformations appear synchronous with the respective increases and decreases in upland forest cover in the vicinity of the sites, largely determining the water availability in the river catchments and thereby their local geoecohydrological conditions. Initially, these evolutions were determined by climate, but during the Middle and especially Late Holocene anthropogenic influence became a far more important factor, causing the evolutions in the two studied regions to increasingly diverge. While marshy floodplains with forested margins can still be found in the sandy Campine region today, these have become rare in the central Belgian loess belt due to the combination of a higher level of human impact and greater erodibility of the soils in this area. Despite the strong spatiotemporal variability of the floodplain transformations, we observe a trend towards increasingly rapid floodplain responses to upland land cover changes over the course of the Holocene, probably related to the growing hillslope–floodplain connectivity. We conclude that the (dis)similarities in Holocene geoecohydrological floodplain change can be largely attributed to the (dis)similarities in (climatically or anthropogenically driven) land cover change in the uplands, although the differences in inherent sensitivity of the locations – linked to factors such as soil type and topography – further complicate the already non-linear impact–response relationships.

比利时东北部全新世地质-水文洪泛动态:地方变化的区域驱动因素
在全新世晚期,温带欧洲大部分低地河流系统从植被茂盛的沼泽泛滥平原上的低能量多通道河流转变为更加开阔的泛滥平原,其特点是单通道蜿蜒流淌的河流和两岸沉积物。尽管洪泛区地貌、生态和水文学(即地质生态水文学)转变的总体框架已得到广泛认可,但仍存在许多不确定因素,因为不同流域之间以及流域内部的转变时间差异很大。为了揭示所观察到的洪泛区反应差异是由于驱动力的时间和性质不同还是由于对驱动力的敏感度不同,我们比较了两个截然不同地区(比利时中部黄土带和坎皮纳沙地地区)的地质水文洪泛区动态和(气候和人类活动驱动的)土地覆被变化的长期大规模重建情况。通过在一个大型多代理和多站点数据集上综合使用聚类分析、排序和艾伦伯格指标评分,我们揭示了比利时东北部洪泛平原过去地质-水文演变的主要趋势。这些趋势可能是由洪泛区湿度的变化决定的,而湿度的变化又与高地森林覆盖率的变化有关。全新世早期和晚期洪泛区的变化似乎与遗址附近高地森林覆盖率的增减同步,这在很大程度上决定了河流集水区的可用水量,从而决定了当地的地质水文条件。最初,这些演变是由气候决定的,但在中全新世,尤其是晚全新世,人为因素的影响变得更为重要,导致两个研究区域的演变日益分化。如今,在坎皮内沙地地区仍能发现边缘有森林覆盖的沼泽洪泛平原,而在比利时中部黄土带,由于人类影响较大,加上该地区土壤的侵蚀性较强,这些沼泽洪泛平原已经很少见了。尽管洪泛平原的变化具有很强的时空变异性,但我们观察到,在全新世期间,洪泛平原对高地土地覆盖变化的反应呈现出越来越快的趋势,这可能与山坡-洪泛平原之间日益增长的连通性有关。我们的结论是,全新世地质-水文洪泛区变化的(不)相似性在很大程度上可归因于(气候或人类活动驱动的)高地土地覆被变化的(不)相似性,尽管与土壤类型和地形等因素相关的各地固有敏感性的差异使本已非线性的影响-响应关系更加复杂。
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来源期刊
Journal of Quaternary Science
Journal of Quaternary Science 地学-地球科学综合
CiteScore
4.70
自引率
8.70%
发文量
82
审稿时长
6-12 weeks
期刊介绍: The Journal of Quaternary Science publishes original papers on any field of Quaternary research, and aims to promote a wider appreciation and deeper understanding of the earth''s history during the last 2.58 million years. Papers from a wide range of disciplines appear in JQS including, for example, Archaeology, Botany, Climatology, Geochemistry, Geochronology, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics, Glaciology, Limnology, Oceanography, Palaeoceanography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Palaeontology, Soil Science and Zoology. The journal particularly welcomes papers reporting the results of interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research which are of wide international interest to Quaternary scientists. Short communications and correspondence relating to views and information contained in JQS may also be considered for publication.
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