New pollen data from paleosols in the Moskva River floodplain (Nikolina Gora): Natural and anthropogenic environmental changes during the Holocene

Abstract

In the floodplain of the Moskva-river near Nikolina Gora 3, well-developed buried soils have been revealed. The lower soil of Boreal-Atlantic age, a Chernozem, contains pollen of steppe plants but no pollen of conifers. Subboreal and Subatlantic soils have light humus-eluvial horizons. Subatlantic soils also have a well-developed Bt horizon. The pollen data shows the distribution of the spruce forests in the second half of the Holocene. Some signs of economic activities, such as the pollen of ruderal plants and coal, appear at the end of the formation of the Atlantic soil and correspond to the Neolithic. In the Subatlantic soils, there are many traces of intensive development of the floodplain associated with the economic activity of the population of Iron Age and early Middle Ages. The pollen and soil characteristics indicate deforestation of the floodplain and the continued existence of anthropogenic grasslands and meadows within a radius of 1 km from the settlements.