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Interpreting the hydrological history of a temporary pond from chemical and microscopic characterization of siliceous microfossils

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Abstract

The hydrological history of a temporary pond in South Carolina was inferred from a 5500-year record of siliceous microfossils, including diatoms, freshwater sponge spicules, chrysophyte cysts, plates of testate amoebae and plant phytoliths. Microfossil abundance was estimated by microscopic quantification of siliceous particles and by chemical extractions of silica. Diatom, sponge and mineral particle volumes were correlated with silica concentrations attributable to these fractions. Both techniques suggested a sequence of four distinct community types. Basal sediments (4630–5520 14C YBP) containing phytoliths and sponge spicules indicative of a wetland community were covered by sediments dominated by the remains of planktonic protists (3750–4630 14C YBP) suggesting a transition from a vegetated marsh to an open-water, permanently flooded pond. Microfossil assemblages above this zone indicate the return of a wetland community ca. 3750 YBP that persisted until recently, when pond water levels stabilized as a result of seepage from a reservoir constructed nearby in 1985. This study suggests that the suite of siliceous microfossils commonly found in pond sediments can be used to infer historical alternations between macrophyte and plankton-dominated states in shallow basins. Regional climate inferences from this record include a mid-Holocene hydrological maximum and the onset of the modern climate ca. 3500 YBP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Southeast Environmental Research Center and Department of Biology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Evelyn E. Gaiser

  2. Savannah River Archaeological Research Program, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, P.O. Box 400, New Ellenton, SC, 29809, USA

    Mark J. Brooks

  3. Land Use and Environmental Change Institute, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Box 112120, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    William F. Kenney & Claire L. Schelske

  4. Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, SC, 29802, USA

    Barbara E. Taylor

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  1. Evelyn E. Gaiser
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Gaiser, E.E., Brooks, M.J., Kenney, W.F. et al. Interpreting the hydrological history of a temporary pond from chemical and microscopic characterization of siliceous microfossils. Journal of Paleolimnology 31, 63–76 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOPL.0000013280.72275.81

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