The role of fires in the Holocene landscape dynamics of the southeastern part of Meshchera Lowlands

Abstract

The reconstructions of landscape dynamics and fire regimes in the southeastern part of Meshchera Lowlands in the Holocene are presented. Based on study of the fire layers in peat deposits of bogs, as well as botanical and palynological analyses of peat and morphological analysis of soils, it was established that the long-period dynamics for landscapes of the territory during the Middle and Late Holocene was determined primarily by shifts in fire regimes. Since 8000 cal. yr. BP, periods with high fire frequency (from 15–20 to 120 years) alternated with intervals when the fire frequency varied from 500–600 to 1800 years. The paleoecological reconstructions showed that increased fire activity was also recorded prior to human settlement in the southeastern part of the Meshchera Lowlands, when the action of the anthropogenic factor was the lowest.