The biostratigraphy, palaeoecology and geochemistry of a long lacustrine sequence from NW Greece
type: CreativeWork
description: Examination of an important new 319m core of lake sediment recovered from Ioannina in NW Greece has attempted to relate changes in the lake to variations in the regional climate of south-central Europe over the last 600,000 years. The site is known to have been extremely sensitive to past climatic change for three reasons: (i) temperate vegetation persisted throughout glacial stages (albeit at low frequencies), so the vegetational response to climatic change would therefore have been almost immediate; (ii) the extreme thickness of the sediments suggests that accumulation rates were high (at times, > 1m per thousand years), which has enabled high-resolution palaeoclimatic reconstructions; and (iii) precipitation of authigenic carbonate has preserved a remarkably sensitive proxy record of productivity variations for most of the lake's history. Well-defined shifts from glacial - interglacial mode have been correlated with vegetational changes identified in a core previously analysed from the same basin (using magnetic susceptibility profiles), enabling tentative correlations to be suggested with other European terrestrial sequences and with the marine oxygen isotope record, back to marine isotope stage 16. Twelve AMS radiocarbon determinations from the upper part of the core, together with the identification of a series of reversed palaeomagnetic events within the Brunhes chron, support the proposed age model for the sequence. The sediments at Ioannina, unlike most of the other long terrestrial European sequences, are calcareous and contain mollusc and ostracod assemblages. Part of this project has involved a comprehensive review of Quaternary and modem aquatic faunas from the lake, as well as the description, illustration and critical assessment of several poorly-known endemic taxa. Faunal assemblage data have been used to provide valuable information concerning the variable response of lake-level to climatic change over time. Convincing new mollusc an evidence indica…
abstract: Examination of an important new 319m core of lake sediment recovered from Ioannina in NW Greece has attempted to relate changes in the lake to variations in the regional climate of south-central Europe over the last 600,000 years. The site is known to have been extremely sensitive to past climatic change for three reasons: (i) temperate vegetation persisted throughout glacial stages (albeit at low frequencies), so the vegetational response to climatic change would therefore have been almost immediate; (ii) the extreme thickness of the sediments suggests that accumulation rates were high (at times, > 1m per thousand years), which has enabled high-resolution palaeoclimatic reconstructions; and (iii) precipitation of authigenic carbonate has preserved a remarkably sensitive proxy record of productivity variations for most of the lake's history. Well-defined shifts from glacial - interglacial mode have been correlated with vegetational changes identified in a core previously analysed from the same basin (using magnetic susceptibility profiles), enabling tentative correlations to be suggested with other European terrestrial sequences and with the marine oxygen isotope record, back to marine isotope stage 16. Twelve AMS radiocarbon determinations from the upper part of the core, together with the identification of a series of reversed palaeomagnetic events within the Brunhes chron, support the proposed age model for the sequence. The sediments at Ioannina, unlike most of the other long terrestrial European sequences, are calcareous and contain mollusc and ostracod assemblages. Part of this project has involved a comprehensive review of Quaternary and modem aquatic faunas from the lake, as well as the description, illustration and critical assessment of several poorly-known endemic taxa. Faunal assemblage data have been used to provide valuable information concerning the variable response of lake-level to climatic change over time. Convincing new mollusc an evidence indica…
author: Frogley, Michael Reginald
language: eng
keywords: Palaeoecology, Quaternary Science, NW Greece, Ioannina, Lake sediments, Biostratigraphy, Fresh-water molluscs, Fresh-water ostracods, Stable isotopes
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/c5b9deac-9c62-4512-9adc-5157ee66df60/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/e8481668-8d79-44af-8953-196b26ca9a87/download
date published: 1998-01
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:08Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.16400