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| Titel |
Holocene environmental change and development of the nutrient budget of
histosols in North Iceland |
| VerfasserIn |
Susanne Claudia Möckel, Egill Erlendsson, Guðrún Gísladóttir |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250149210
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-13542.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Backround and aims: Little is known about vegetation changes in Icelandic peatlands in the
context of soil chemical properties. By connecting soil chemical and physical characteristics
with palaeobotanical data we examined interactions between climate, histosols, vegetation
and land use during the Holocene.
Methods: Exchangeable base cations, cation exchange capacity (CEC), base
saturation (BS), and decomposition rates using carbon:nitrogen ratio (C:N) and von Post
humification and soil physical properties were determined. Vegetation development was
reconstructed based on pollen analysis. The impact of geographic location was
examined by comparing results from three sloping fens (coastal, inland and highland
fringe).
Results: Minerogenic content was highest in the proximity of the active volcanic belt,
reflected in higher C:N and nutrient content. The site closest to the sea revealed exceptionally
high BS. C:N was either stable throughout the profile or increased with depth. Plant species
richness, species evenness, and pollen concentrations were greatest at the site with lowest
nutrient levels.
Conclusions: Minerogenic content facilitates the ability to bind nutrients. Lower fertility
levels optimize plant growth. C:N alone is not a reliable indicator of decomposition rates, but
depends on the quality of the organic parent material. Environmental conditions driven by
climate changes caused alterations in vegetation and soil properties before the settlement.
Nevertheless, overall the histosols showed resilience towards severe degradation. After the
settlement (c. AD 870), the soils struggled to buffer the impact caused by destruction
of vegetation and increased erosion. This study increases our understanding of
environmental and anthropogenic determinants of soil- and vegetation development. |
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