The vegetation history of Lake Gâvur and surrounding areas during the last 4400 years (Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye)

Abstract

This study discusses the paleovegetation records of shallow core sediments of Lake Gâvur (Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye), which was dried in the 1970s. A 5 m-long sediment core was obtained with an Eijkelkamp sediment sampler and palynological samples were taken at 10 cm intervals. The sediments were dated by AMS radiocarbon dating of bulk at two levels. Among arboreal pollen (AP) from approximately 4400 cal yr BC, the dominant tree taxa were Pinus, Cedrus, Quercus, and Fraxinus. Initially, AP dominated NAP (non-arboreal pollen) along with the pollen diagram, and AP gradually decreased up to the present. The evaluation of the fossil pollen percentage indicates that in that period arboreal taxa were more widely distributed around the lake than they are in the present. Inferred major causes for the increase of pollen percentage of Poaceae and Asteraceae in the LG-3 (upper) zone of the pollen diagram are anthropogenic impacts.