Palaeoenvironmental analysis of Italian crater lake sediments

Objective

To reconstruct climate conditions over the last 20,000 year from proxy
records present in maar lake sediments from Central Italy and in the nearby
marine sediments of the Adriatic. To use these reconstructions, alongside
evidence for biogeochemical and palaeoecological changes in the maar lakes
and their drainage basins, to characterize the nature, rate and amplitude
of ecosystem response to climatic change.


Piston-cores of sediment from lakes Bolsena, Albano and Nemi and from the
Adriatic will be subsampled and analysed for the stable isotope ratios in
authigenic carbonates and ostracod tests, trace metal content in the
ostracod tests, carotenoid and chlorophyll pigment content, nutrient and
other elements, diatom, chironomid, cladoceran, foraminifera and pollen
content. Sediment mineralogy, granulometry, rock magnetic properties and
Gallium: Aluminium ratios will also be studied. These methods will be used
to reconstruct past climatic conditions (seasonality, temperature,
precipitation, hydrology and wind) on annual to decadal and century levels
of temporal resolution, depending on the evidence for rapid change during
each period. Chronology and core correlation will be provided by AMS
14C,
palaeomagnetic and rock-magnetic measurements, varve counting, tephra
analysis and 210Pb dating.

The results obtained will be treated using statistical and time series
analysis. Their implications for climate modelling in this transitional
area between high latitude and North African climates will also be
explored.

Fields of science

• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › geology › volcanology
• natural sciences › chemical sciences › inorganic chemistry › post-transition metals
• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › hydrology › drainage basins
• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › geology › mineralogy
• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › atmospheric sciences › climatology › climatic changes

Programme(s)

• FP3-ENV 1C - Specific research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of the environment, 1990-1994

Topic(s)

• 0101 - Natural climate change

Call for proposal

Data not available

Funding Scheme

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

University of Liverpool

Address

Roxby Building
L69 3BX Liverpool
United Kingdom

Participants (7)

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - ETH Zürich

Switzerland

Address

5,sonnaggstrasse
8092 Zürich

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF ITALY

Italy

Address

Via Gobetti 101
40129 Bologna

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF ITALY

Italy

Address

Largo Vittorio Tonolli 50-52
28922 Verbania

Royal Holloway and Bedford New College

United Kingdom

Address

Egham Hill
TW20 0EX Egham

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

United Kingdom

Address

Bedford Way 26
SE1 9RT London

UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA

Italy

Address

Via Zamboni 67
40127 Bologna

Università degli Studi di Modena

Italy

Address

Caduti Di Guerra 127
41100 Modena