Sedimentary terrestrial records of global environmental change
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Author / Producer
Date
2025
Publication Type
Book Chapter
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
The Anthropocene represents a phase in the geological timescale during which humans have become a transformative force on a planetary scale. This is already discernible in sedimentary archives that show distinctive changes in sedimentological, geochemical, or biological properties. In terrestrial environments, lacustrine and cave sediment sequences provide examples to illustrate the impact of recent climate fluctuations and anthropic impact surpassing historical ranges documented over preceding millennia. We review methodological approaches utilized to delineate the Anthropocene signal within lake and cave ecosystems, accompanied by several examples. Lake records from mountains and coastal sites unveil the heavy metal pollution history and recent changes in organic matter accumulation. Furthermore, speleothems formed recently in caves indicate discernible shifts in atmospheric geochemical composition, exemplified by the 14C values associated to the nuclear tests.
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Publication status
published
Book title
Climate and Anthropogenic Impacts on Earth Surface Processes in the Anthropocene
Journal / series
Volume
Pages / Article No.
47 - 61
Publisher
Elsevier
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Edition / version
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Software
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Date collected
Date created
Subject
Anthropocene; Lake sediments; Multiproxy; Speleothems; Suess effect eutrophication