10,000 years of vegetation history of the Aa palaeoestuary, St-Omer Basin, northern France

Emmanuel Gandouin (1) , Philippe Ponel (1) , Valérie Andrieu-Ponel (1) , Frédéric Guiter (1) , Jacques-Louis de Beaulieu (1) , M. Djamali (1) , Evelyne Franquet (1) , Brigitte van Vliet-Lanoë (2, 3) , M. Alvitre (1) , Murielle Meurisse (2) , M. Brocandel (4) , Jacques Brulhet (4)

1 IMEP - Institut Méditerranéen d'Ecologie et de Paléoécologie
2 PBDS - Processus et bilan des domaines sédimentaires
3 LDO - Domaines Océaniques
4 ANDRA - Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs

The analysis of sediments and pollen from three sedimentary profiles in the St-Omer basin (Pas-de-Calais, France) has allowed the reconstruction of local and regional vegetation history from the late Preboreal to the Subatlantic. Hydrological changes induced vegetation changes, with freshwater marshy vegetation dominating during fluvial episodes, and halophilous grasslands, typical of shore areas, dominating during episodes of salt water input (five marine episodes, so-called St-Omer I to St-Omer V). Pollen markers indicative of human presence and agricultural activities, along with contemporaneous signals of forest disturbance, are recorded from ca 4000 cal BP onwards.

Keywords: human impact; flood plain; marine transgression; pollen analysis; human impact

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Earth Sciences; Paleontology

Emmanuel Gandouin, Philippe Ponel, Valérie Andrieu-Ponel, Frédéric Guiter, Jacques-Louis de Beaulieu, et al.. 10,000 years of vegetation history of the Aa palaeoestuary, St-Omer Basin, northern France. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 2009, 156 (3-4), pp.307-318. ⟨10.1016/j.revpalbo.2009.03.008⟩. ⟨insu-00445923⟩