Palaeoenvironment shifts during last ~ 500 years and eutrophic evolution of the Wular Lake, Kashmir Valley, India

Abstract

Multi-proxy analysis of lake sediments provides high-resolution and reliable palaeoclimate records. The present study aims to investigate the palaeoenvironmental changes and eutrophic evolution of the Wular Lake, Kashmir Valley spanning the last ~ 500 years. Based on the multi-proxy analysis and supported by radiocarbon chronology, two prominent environmental phases were identified. From 74 to 45 cm, the sedimentation corresponds to the late 15th to early sixteenth century suggests the influence of cold, Little Ice Age (LIA) with nutrient-poor lacustrine environmental conditions. The following climate phase (28–9 cm) reflects the 19th and early twentieth century warmer and wetter environmental conditions. Enhanced TOC and N nutrient inputs in the lake sediments observed during the top 25 cm are likely contributed by anthropogenic sources owing to rapid and sustained anthropogenic land-use of watershed environments. This increase in the lake nutrients has been caused due to intense agriculture and horticulture practices leading to the lake eutrophication.