Abstract
Thorough faunal (benthic foraminifera, ostracods, molluscs) and palynomorph analyses as well as magnetic susceptibility measurements performed on the Piraeus coastal plain sedimentary sequences have shed light on the paleoenvironmental evolution of the area since ca. 9000 cal BP. Benthic and palynomorph assemblages along with magnetic susceptibility suggest a typical lagoonal environment with significant freshwater inputs at the eastern part of the plain after 8700 cal BP. Between 7500 and 5400 cal BP, microfaunal assemblages, mollusc fauna and magnetic susceptibility suggest a shallow marine paleoenvironment, with Piraeus forming a tied island in the center of the bay. Since ca. 4800 cal BP a closed oligohaline lagoon is evidenced in the western part of the Piraeus plain further developed to a marsh after 2800 cal BP, while a coastal environment associated with the fluvio-deltaic system of Kifissos and Korydallos Rivers is continually developing to the west. Signs of cultivation and grazing activities in the area are evidenced since the Early Bronze Age, culminating during the Classical Period. A comparison with a well-dated marine record, recovered from the nearby shallow Elefsis Bay, provides a reasonable estimation of ~5 mm/yr for the absolute sea level rise rate in the inner Saronikos Gulf during the Mid-Holocene.
Highlights
In the Eastern Mediterranean coastal areas, the excessive population growth has been putting an unprecedented anthropogenic pressure on marine ecosystems, severely impacting their natural balance and resulting in extensive biogeographic shifts (e.g., [1,2])
The present study aims to provide additional interpretations concerning the paleoenvironmental evolution of the Piraeus coastal plain since ca. 9000 cal BP, using a multi-proxy analysis and synthesis of the benthic foraminiferal and ostracod assemblages, molluscan populations, palynological content and magnetic susceptibility in the local Holocene coastal deposits
The boreholes P2, P4 and P5, drilled into the Piraeus coastal plain of Athens Basin in the fluvio-deltaic area of Kifissos and Korydallos rivers (Figure 6), unravelled the paleoenvironmental conditions prevailing during the deposition of the lithostratigraphic units (Units A–E) of the relevant sedimentary sequences
Summary
In the Eastern Mediterranean coastal areas, the excessive population growth has been putting an unprecedented anthropogenic pressure on marine ecosystems, severely impacting their natural balance and resulting in extensive biogeographic shifts (e.g., [1,2]). In the NE Mediterranean, the semienclosed Aegean Sea is an ideal natural laboratory [3] for analyzing the complex interactions between climate, marine environment and humans in the present time and recent past, due to its unique physical and geographic configuration and the great development of human societies in its coastal zone. Changes in fossil benthic foraminifera, recorded by the study of coastal zone deposits, are a successful paleontological tool for recording past sea level changes and reconstructing detailed paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental conditions (e.g., [8,9,10,11,12,13]). The composition of the ostracod fauna captures in great detail any environmental change, especially in the transitional environments of coastal ecosystems, allowing the assessment of the potential impact of climate change [4,14]. The analysis of mollusc assemblages is another good proxy for the provision of detailed records of paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic changes [19], being a valuable tool in the reconstruction of the Holocene paleoenvironments [20,21,22,23]
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