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Multi-proxy evidence for late Holocene anthropogenic environmental changes at Bongpo marsh on the east coast of Korea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2012

Jungjae Park ,
Keun Bae Yu ,
Hyoun Soo Lim  and
Young Ho Shin
Jungjae Park*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Seoul National University, Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742, Republic of Korea
Keun Bae Yu
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Seoul National University, Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742, Republic of Korea
Hyoun Soo Lim
Affiliation:
Korea Pollar Research Institute, 12 Gaetbeol-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 406-840, Republic of Korea
Young Ho Shin
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Seoul National University, Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742, Republic of Korea
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: + 82 22 876 9498. Email Address:jungjaep@snu.ac.kr
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Abstract

We present a multi-proxy record (pollen, microscopic charcoal, magnetic susceptibility, carbon-isotopic composition, total organic carbon [TOC], carbon/nitrogen [C/N] ratios, and particle size) of the late Holocene environmental change and human activities from Bongpo marsh on the east coast of Korea. Mutual interaction between the environment and humans during the late Holocene has not been properly investigated in Korea due to the lack of undisturbed samples with high sedimentation rates. In this study, the history of human responses to late Holocene environmental changes is clearly reconstructed using a multi-proxy paleoenvironmental approach that has not previously been applied in Korea. The evidence from Bongpo marsh indicates that 1) Bongpo marsh began to develop ca. 650 BC as a coastal lagoon was rapidly filled with organic matter, 2) agricultural disturbance around the study site remained slight until ca. AD 600, 3) full-scale intensive agriculture prevailed and the area of deforestation increased between ca. AD 600 and ca. AD 1870, and 4) the land use changed from lowland rice agriculture to upland cultivation when agricultural productivity declined after AD 1870, probably due to severe deforestation and the consequent heavy influx of clastic sediment on rice fields, as described in various historical documents.

Keywords

Multi-proxy paleoenvironmental recordKoreaBongpo marshAgricultural activitiesMutual interaction between environment and humansLate Holocene
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 78 , Issue 2 , September 2012 , pp. 209 - 216
Copyright
University of Washington

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