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Phytolith assemblages as a promising tool for reconstructing Mediterranean Holocene vegetation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Claire Delhon ,
Anne Alexandre ,
Jean-François Berger ,
Stéphanie Thiébault ,
Jacques-Léopold Brochier  and
Jean-Dominique Meunier
Claire Delhon*
Affiliation:
ArScAn, Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie, 21 Allée de l’Université, F92023 Nanterre Cedex, France
Anne Alexandre
Affiliation:
CEREGE-CNRS, Europôle Méditerranéen de l’Arbois, B.P.80, F13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 04, France
Jean-François Berger
Affiliation:
CRA-CNRS, 250 Rue Albert Einstein, Sophia Antipolis, F06560 Valbonne, France
Stéphanie Thiébault
Affiliation:
ArScAn, Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie, 21 Allée de l’Université, F92023 Nanterre Cedex, France
Jacques-Léopold Brochier
Affiliation:
C.A.P. Valence, UMR 5594 du CNRS, 4 place des Ormeaux, F26000 Valence, France
Jean-Dominique Meunier
Affiliation:
CEREGE-CNRS, Europôle Méditerranéen de l’Arbois, B.P.80, F13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 04, France
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address: delhon@mae.u-paris10.fr (C. Delhon).
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Abstract

The reliability of phytolith assemblage analysis for characterizing Mediterranean vegetation is investigated in this study. Phytolith assemblages are extracted from modern and buried Holocene soils from the middle Rhône valley (France). The relation between modern phytolith assemblages and the surrounding vegetation, as well as between fossil assemblages and contemporaneous vegetation, already reconstructed through other proxies, is discussed. We demonstrate that the main northwestern Mediterranean biomes are well distinguished by soil phytolith assemblage analysis. In particular, the density of pine and nonconiferous trees (densities expressed relatively to the grass cover) and the overall degree of opening of the vegetation appear well recorded by three phytolith indexes. North Mediterranean vegetation changes during the Holocene period, mainly tree line shifts, pine wood development and deforestation are poorly documented, due to the scarcity of proxy-preserving sites. Phytolith assemblage analysis of soils, buried soils, and sediments appears to be a promising technique to fill this gap.

Keywords

PhytolithPinePaleoenvironmentMediterranean areaHolocene, Buried soils
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 48 - 60
Copyright
Elsevier Science (USA)

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