Sedimentology of a profile from Etoliko Lagoon, Western Greece

A key feature of Greece is the large amount of historical and archaeological records. The sedimentary record of the Etoliko Lagoon, Aetolia, Western Greece, offers an ideal opportunity to study human-environment interaction and to disentangle natural and anthropogenic imprints in the sedimentary record. By applying an interdisciplinary approach of combining geoscientific methods (XRF, LOI, grain size analysis) with archaeological and historical records, the 8.8 m long sedimentary sequence ETO1C reveals the palaeoenvironmental history of the lagoon and its catchment since 11,670 cal BP. With a thorough chronology based on 14C age-depth-modelling including varve counting, different evolutionary stages were put in a chronological context. These stages include a lake period (11,670-8310 cal BP) followed by a period of sporadic saltwater intrusion (8310-1350 cal BP) as a result of continuing transgression. Phases of limnic predominance associated with freshwater inflow of episodically activated distributaries (around 5230 cal BP) still occurred. By 1350 cal BP, ongoing sea level rise had connected the lagoons of Etoliko and Messolonghi and freshwater influence had ceased. With the onset of settlement activity in the Late Helladic (1700-1100 cal BC) humans took advantage of the prevailing environmental landscape. A sudden increase in coarse sedimentation correlates with the history of human occupation with its peak of prosperity from the Late Helladic until the end of the Hellenistic Period (30 cal BC).

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Cite this as

Haenssler, Elke, Nadeau, Marie-Josée, Vött, Andreas, Unkel, Ingmar (2013). Dataset: Sedimentology of a profile from Etoliko Lagoon, Western Greece. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.819833

DOI retrieved: 2013

Additional Info

Field Value
Imported on November 30, 2024
Last update November 30, 2024
License CC-BY-3.0
Source https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.819833
Author Haenssler, Elke
Given Name Elke
Family Name Haenssler
More Authors
Nadeau, Marie-Josée
Vött, Andreas
Unkel, Ingmar
Source Creation 2013
Publication Year 2013
Resource Type application/zip - filename: Haenssel_2013
Subject Areas
Name: LandSurface

Name: Lithosphere

Related Identifiers
Title: Natural and human induced environmental changes preserved in a Holocene sediment sequence from the Etoliko Lagoon, Greece: New evidence from geochemical proxies
Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2012.06.031
Type: DOI
Relation: IsSupplementTo
Year: 2013
Source: Quaternary International
Authors: Haenssler Elke , Nadeau Marie-Josée , Vött Andreas , Unkel Ingmar .