The environmental impact of the Minoan eruption of Santorini (Thera): Statistical analysis of palaeoecological data from Gölhisar, southwest Turkey

The environmental impact of the Minoan eruption of Santorini (Thera): Statistical analysis of palaeoecological data from Gölhisar, southwest Turkey

A tephra layer originating from the mid-second millennium BC (<3300 14 C yr BP) 'Minoan' eruption of Santorini (or Thera) in the Aegean has been found in lake sediments at Gölhisar in southwest Turkey. Microstratigraphic analyses of tephra shard concentration (TSC), pollen, diatoms, spo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Holocene (Sevenoaks) Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 431 - 444
Main Authors: EASTWARD, W. J, TIBBY, J, ROBERTS, N, BIRKS, H. J. B, LAMB, H. F
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Letchworth Turpin 01-01-2002
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects:
Environmental impact
Environmental studies
Geography
Geology and climatology
Methodology and general studies
Plankton
Prehistory and protohistory
Sediments
Statistical analysis
Sulfur
Volcanoes
Minoan
Greece
Turkey
Asia
Europe
Crete
United Kingdom > UK
Santorini
Greenland
Environment
Volcanic eruption
Method
Statistics
Volcanism
Vegetation
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Summary:A tephra layer originating from the mid-second millennium BC (<3300 14 C yr BP) 'Minoan' eruption of Santorini (or Thera) in the Aegean has been found in lake sediments at Gölhisar in southwest Turkey. Microstratigraphic analyses of tephra shard concentration (TSC), pollen, diatoms, sponge spicules and nonsiliceous microfossils in sediments from Gölhisar permit the impact of this major volcanic eruption on terrestrial and aquatic biota to be investigated quantitatively. Partial redundancy analysis and associated Monte Carlo permutation tests suggest that TSC alone cannot be shown to have had a demonstrable independent and statistically significant effect on terrestrial pollen, non-siliceous microfossil or diatom assemblages. The lack of any clear, discernible change in the terrestrial pollen composition following tephra deposition suggests that there was minimal impact on regional vegetation over decadal-to-century timescales. However, evidence that the deposition of Santorini tephra may have had an impact on the lake system comes from the combined effect of lithology and TSC (which significantly covary) that explains a significant amount of variance in the aquatic data sets. In particular, diatoms and non-siliceous algae show increases in concentration following tephra deposition, exhibiting what appear to be ±decadal response times to perturbation. These imply enhanced lake productivity due to accelerated input of silica and other nutrients following tephra dissolution.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0959-6836
1477-0911
DOI:10.1191/0959683602hl557rp