A Holocene vegetation history from lowland Guatemala
- 1 September 1996
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in The Holocene
- Vol. 6 (3), 265-271
- https://doi.org/10.1177/095968369600600302
Abstract
A 5.45-m core from Lake Peten-Itza, lowland Guatemala, contains a near-complete record of Holo cene sedimentation. The age-depth relationship for the core is based on AMS 14C dating of terrestrial wood fragments and provides a reliable chronology in this karst region where hard-water lake error has typically confounded sediment geochronology. In the basal part of the sequence, pollen of the Moraceae-Urticaceae group dominate, indicating the presence of widespread tropical forest during the early Holocene (c. 8600-5600 yr BP). Relative abundance of pollen of high forest taxa declined beginning as early as 5600 yr BP, indicating climatic drying or perhaps initial land clearance. Deforestation by prehistoric Mayan inhabitants is documented clearly in the pollen record beginning about 2000 yr BP (106 cal BC-122 cal AD, 95.4%, 2 sigmas) by the appearance of disturbance taxa (e.g. Ambrosia and Poaceae) and presence of Zea. Forest regrowth occurred following the Classic Maya collapse, c. AD 900, as reflected by a relative increase in Moraceae-Urticaceae pollen.Keywords
This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
- A cooling event during the Younger Dryas Chron in Costa RicaPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 1995
- Possible role of climate in the collapse of Classic Maya civilizationNature, 1995
- Ages of Quaternary pluvial episodes determined by uranium-series and radiocarbon dating of lacustrine deposits of Eastern SaharaPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 1995
- Orbital and internal forcing of climate on the Yucatan Peninsula for the past ca. 36 kaPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 1994
- The arid–humid transition in the Sahara and the Sahel during the last deglaciationNature, 1990
- Palynological records from northwest African marine sediments: A general outline of the interpretation of the pollen signalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences, 1988
- Ecosystems, paleoecology and human disturbance in subtropical and tropical americaQuaternary Science Reviews, 1987
- Holocene vegetation zonation in the eastern SaharaNature, 1987
- Man and Climate in the Maya LowlandsQuaternary Research, 1987
- Mayan Urbanism: Impact on a Tropical Karst EnvironmentScience, 1979