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Holocene environmental reconstruction of sediment-source linkages at Crummock Water, English Lake District, based on magnetic measurements

Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK, zshen{at}tulane.edu

Jan Bloemendal

Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK

Barbara Mauz

Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK

Richard C. Chiverrell

Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK

John A. Dearing

Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK

Andreas Lang

Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK

Qingsong Liu

School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK

To reconstruct Lateglacial and Holocene environmental changes in the British uplands, two c. 5.8 m long sediment cores from Crummock Water (NW England), together with several hundred soil samples from the Crummock Water catchment, were studied using magnetic techniques. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating using fine silt quartz and ¹⁴C dating of terrestrial plant macrofossils were used to establish a chronology for the lake sediments. A good agreement between optical and ¹⁴C ages indicates first, that the OSL dating method can be used to date lake sediments in the British Isles; second that macrofossil-based ¹⁴C dating can be used to avoid the problem of `old carbon' error associated with bulk sample ¹⁴C dating of lake sediments and third, that the established chronology is robust. The lake sediment magnetic properties indicate a series of changes in sediment composition during the Holocene, which correlate well with sediment lithology, water content and weight-loss-on-ignition. The first change corresponds to the Lateglacial/Postglacial climatic shift at around 11400 years ago; the subsequent suite of changes corresponds to a probable regional onset of human activity at 2000 BC, and particularly to the intensification of human activity at around AD 900. A comparison of the lake sediment magnetic properties and those of the catchment soils shows a clear linkage for the Lateglacial period, and for the period after AD 900. In contrast, detailed magnetic measurements of the early- through mid-Holocene sediments suggest that their magnetic properties are dominated by bacterial magnetosomes.

Key Words: Lake sediments • OSL dating • 14C dating • mineral magnetic measurements • sediment sources • bacterial magnetosomes • English Lake District • Crummock Water • Holocene.

The Holocene, Vol. 18, No. 1, 129-140 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683607085604


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