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Flood response to rainfall variability during the last 2000 years inferred from the Taravilla Lake record (Central Iberian Range, Spain)

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Abstract

A sedimentological, geochemical and palynological study of the Taravilla Lake sequence (Central Iberian Range, NE Spain) provides a detailed record of allochthonous terrigenous layers that intercalate within the lacustrine sediments over the last 2000 years. These terrigenous layers are interpreted as the result of extreme hydrological events that caused higher clastic input to the basin. Anthropogenic influence caused by fires or deforestation is rejected as the main factor generating these layers because human impact, inferred from the pollen reconstruction, was minimal when the terrigenous layers reached their greatest frequency. The reconstructed occurrence of these events in the Taravilla Lake record is coherent with the paleoflood history of the Tagus River, characterized by a notable increase of extreme events at the beginning of the Little Ice Age. The Taravilla record suggests a relationship between the occurrence of extreme hydrological events, solar variability, and the North Atlantic Oscillation for the NE Iberian Peninsula.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for research at Taravilla Lake was provided by the Spanish Inter-Ministry Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT), through the projects LIMNOCLIBER (REN2003-09130-C02-02) and IBERLIMNO (CGL2005-20236-E/CLI). A. Moreno acknowledges funding from the European Commission’s Sixth Framework Program (Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowships, proposal 021673-IBERABRUPT). We are indebted to Doug Schnurrenberger, Anders Noren and Mark Shapley (LRC, University of Minnesota) for the 2004 coring expedition, Erik Brown (LLO, Duluth, University of Minnesota) for his technical help on the XRF core scanner, and the Spanish National Meteorological Institute (INM) for providing the climatological data. We thank Gerardo Benito for his comments on an earlier version of the manuscript and the Tagus River paleoflood reconstruction data. We thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor (Mark Brenner) for their helpful comments and their criticism, which led to a considerable improvement of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Limnological Research Center, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Ana Moreno

  2. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (C.S.I.C.), Apdo 202, 50080, Zaragoza, Spain

    Ana Moreno, Blas L. Valero-Garcés, Penélope González-Sampériz & Mayte Rico

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  1. Ana Moreno
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Correspondence to Ana Moreno.

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Moreno, A., Valero-Garcés, B.L., González-Sampériz, P. et al. Flood response to rainfall variability during the last 2000 years inferred from the Taravilla Lake record (Central Iberian Range, Spain). J Paleolimnol 40, 943–961 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-008-9209-3

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