The chemistry of playa-lake-sediments as a tool for the reconstruction of Holocene environmental conditions - a case study from the central Ebro basin

Abstract

The focus of the presented study is the reconstruction of the Holocene limnic and drainage basin conditions of the Laguna de Jabonera, a today playa-lake-system in the Desierto de Calanda, central Ebro Basin, using the inorganic characters of the lacustrine sediments. Mineralogical fabric helped to reconstruct the overall geomorphic processes and gives clues to the synsedimentary limnic environment (paleosalinity). The chemical composition of the lacustrine sediments largely reflects the mineralogical composition, but the higher resolution of the geochemical data compared to the mineralogical data enables to stratigraphically split the extracted core profile into three stratigraphic units. Supplementally, it is demonstrated that Statistics between chemical compounds point to the synsedimentary intensity of weathering and soil forming processes.As for the lacustrine sediments investigated there are no data yet available a preliminary chronological framework is derived by comparison with results from neighbouring areas. Based on this the hypothesis is put forward that during the socalled Little Ice Age subhumid to dry-subhumid environmental conditions occurred. Also possibly during the late Subboreal distinct wetter environmental conditions than today prevailed. Additionally, it is demonstrated that in the most recent past human impact is causing increased erosion rates and, thus, increased deposition of detritals in the most recent lacustrine sediments.KeywordsLacustrine SedimentStratigraphic UnitStrontium ConcentrationDetrital CarbonateMajor Diffraction PeakThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.