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Charcoal particle under the transmitted-light microscope. © Thomas Litt

Charcoal

The analysis of microscopically small charcoal particles from lake sediments provides insights into the fire history. Charcoal is produced by fires when organic matter is incompletely combusted. Our working group investigates charcoal particles that have been deposited in lakes by wind and rain. This allows us to draw conclusions about the frequency/strength of fires in the past. Moreover, we investigate charcoal morphology to infer the burned plant material and the charcoal source region. The comparison with pollen spectra of the same sediment cores allows a direct correlation of the vegetation and fire history. Natural fires as well as anthropogenic fires can be detected.

Literature:

Chen, C. and Litt, T. 2018. „Dead Sea pollen provides new insights into the paleoenvironment of the southern Levant during MIS 6–5“. Quaternary Science Reviews. 188: 15-27.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.03.029
Kappenberg, A., Lehndorff, E., Pickarski, N., Litt, T., Amelung, W. 2019. „Solar controls of fire history during the past 600, 000 years.“. Quaternary Science Reviews. 208: 97-104.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.02.008
Lehndorf, E., Wolf, M., Litt. T., Brauer, A., Amelung, W. 2015. „5, 000 years of black carbon deposition - A post-glacial fire record from mar lake sediments (Germany)“. Quaternary Science Reviews. 110: 15-22.
Miebach, A., Stolzenberger, S., Wacker, L., Hense, A. and Litt, T. 2019. „A new Dead Sea pollen record reveals the last glacial paleoenvironment of the southern Levant“. Quaternary Science Reviews. 214: 98-116.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.04.033
Pickarski, N., Kwiecien, O., Djamali, M. and Litt, T. 2015. „Vegetation and environmental changes during the last interglacial in eastern Anatolia (Turkey): a new high-resolution pollen record from Lake Van“. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 435: 145-158.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.06.015
Pickarski, N., Kwiecien, O., Langgut, D. and Litt, T. 2015. „Abrupt climate and vegetation variability of eastern Anatolia during the last glacial“. Climate of the Past. 11(11): 1491-1505.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1491-2015
Pickarski, N. and Litt, T. 2017. „A new high-resolution pollen sequence at Lake Van, Turkey: insights into penultimate interglacial–glacial climate change on vegetation history“. Climate of the Past. 13(6): 689-710.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-689-2017