1253 | 445 | Fire history reconstruction in the central Cantabrian mountains during the last 17,500 cal yr BP through the study of sedimentary charcoals | Rodríguez-Coterón, Sara; Sánchez-Morales, Marc; Carracedo-Martín, Virginia; García-Codron, Juan Carlos; Pérez-Obiol, Ramon
Nowadays, fire is a major issue for forestry management in the Cantabrian mountains due to the high rate of wildfires concentrated in this region. In this context, studying past fire regimes is important to better understand the history of fire and its implications on vegetal landscape evolution._x000D_
To reconstruct the history of fire, palaeoecological techniques were used to analyze the sedimentary charcoals recovered from two peat bogs in the Pas valley (Cantabria): La Molina (484 m a.s.l.) and Cueto de la Espina (1120 m s.n.m.), encompassing the last c. 17,550 years. Charcoals were classified into different categories according to their size to detect differences between regional and local fire scales. The charcoal signal was also contrasted with other biomarkers (organic matter content, pollen, and non-pollen palynomorphs)._x000D_
Results revealed a lack of fire events during the analyzed period of the Last Glacial Period, in accordance with the lack of forest biomass deduced from the pollen spectra. The first significant fire episodes were detected during the dry intervals of the 9.3 and 8.2 ka events, exhibiting a strong relationship between fires and climate conditions. From that point to c. 6000 cal yr BP there was a lack of fire activity. Fire episodes began to occur more frequently from c. 6000 cal yr BP, seeming to be linked to the establishment of grazing and agricultural practices in the Cantabrian region. Climate and human activities are the triggers for fire episodes, coinciding with the dry pulses Bond 4 (c. 5600 cal yr BP) and Bond 3 (c. 4200 cal yr BP) events. The most significant regional and local fire episodes occurred between c. 2600 and 2000 cal yr BP. From 2000 cal yr BP onwards, a shift was detected in the fire regime, with more fire events being controlled by agropastoral communities, mainly affecting meadows and heathlands.
Rodríguez-Coterón, Sara; Sánchez-Morales, Marc; Carracedo-Martín, Virginia; García-Codron, Juan Carlos; Pérez-Obiol, Ramon
Universidad de Cantabria; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
ID Abstract: 445