jacques-Louis de Beaulieu

• PhD
• Professor Emeritus at Aix-Marseille University

Urmia Lake in NW Iran was the world’s second largest hypersaline lake until three decades ago, when it began to lose ~ 90% of its surface area due to dwindling water input and enhanced evaporation. To help discern the role of natural vs anthropogenic factors in the rapid demise of Urmia Lake, we present a high-resolution, multi-proxy reconstruction...

The Late Glacial (14 700–11 700 cal BP) is a key climate period marked by rapid but contrasted changes in the Northern Hemisphere. Indeed, regional climate differences have been evidenced during the Late Glacial in Europe and the northern Mediterranean. However, past climate patterns are still debated since temperature and precipitation changes are...

The Lateglacial (14,700–11,700 cal BP) is a key climate period marked by rapid but contrasted changes in the Northern Hemisphere. Indeed, regional climate differences have been evidenced during the Lateglacial in Europe and the Northern Mediterranean areas. However, past climate patterns are still debated since temperature and precipitation changes...

This work discusses the results of archaeological and environmental research carried out on site no. 7 in Błądzikowo, bringing new data for a better recognition of the settlement and economy of the Puck Land in the early Middle Ages. Excavations have unearthed the remains of a small wooden-earthen rampart and a dwelling building. Archaeological mat...

The paper represents a contribution to the European Pollen Database. The partial results of the palynological studies carried out in the Mlaca Tatarilor peat bog are presented. The peat bog is located in the southern part of the Transylvanian Depression, near Arpaşu de Sus village. The pollen spectra indicate the vegetation characteristic of the ea...

Up to now, no geochemical or geochronological data has been published about Holocene volcanic activity on the Kerguelen Archipelago. Here we present the first continuous Holocene chronology of volcanic eruptions on the archipelago. We compared sedimentological, geochronological and geochemical data from two lake sediment cores taken in two differen...

Here we present the first Holocene-long continuous chronology of volcanic eruptions on Kerguelen archipelago, where no evidence of Holocene volcanic activity has been published so far. Our chronicle is based upon sedimentological, chronological and geochemical data form two sediment cores, taken in two different depocenters of a large lake, Lake Ar...

New investigations performed with a multi-proxy approach provide a robust climate reconstruction for the Late-Glacial in the Massif Central, France. The temperature reconstruction from Coleoptera is obtained from the Mutual Climatic Range Method, or “MCR” method, based on the range of climates corresponding to the area occupied today by the species...

Human activities are known to modify soil properties; however, the associated modifications to soil processes are poorly documented, as they must be studied over long time scales. Lake Verney, which is on the Italian side of the Petit Saint-Bernard Pass in the French-Italian Alps (2188 m a.s.l.) provides a sediment record of the last 11,000 cal. yr...

We reconstructed the paleohydrologic and climatic history of the Lake Neor region, NW Iran, from the end of the late glacial to the middle Holocene (15,500–7500 cal yr BP). Subfossil chironomid and pollen assemblages in a sediment core from a peatland located south of Lake Neor enabled identification of four main hydrologic phases. The period 15,50...

Pollen data obtained from radiocarbon-dated sediments of several peat bogs and lakes located in different parts of Iran and surrounding areas have recently provided invaluable new information on agricultural practices during the Persian empires, from the Achaemenids to the Sasanians. A review of the published and unpublished data has revealed disti...

The Younger Dryas – Early Holocene transition is characterized by major climate and environmental changes at the global scale. While this period is relatively well documented throughout the temperate areas of the Northern hemisphere, Middle-East regions stay poorly investigated. In the present study, two sedimentary records (Arjan and Neor lake rec...

The aim of this study is to describe the environmental and climate changes that occurred in the mountains of Aubrac at the transition between the Lateglacial and the Holocene, from a comparative analysis of fossil Coleoptera and pollen, and a series of 23 ¹⁴C dates. The changes affecting the ecological categories of Coleoptera lead to a division of...

The European Pollen Database (EPD) is a community effort to archive and make available pollen sequences from across the European continent. Pollen sequences provide records that may be used to infer past vegetation and vegetation change. We present here maps based on 828 sites from the EPD giving an overview of changes in postglacial pollen assembl...

The Gorgan Plain (NE Iran) is characterized by fertile soils formed on a loess plateau and is at present primarily exploited for intensive agriculture. However, the timing and intensity of the human impact on the landscape in the past are still unclear. A sediment core, taken from the centre of the eastern Gorgan Plain in the Kongor Lake covering t...

The awareness of the significance of the Southern Ocean in the Earth's climate system has become increasingly obvious. The deglacial atmospheric CO2 rise during warming periods in Antarctica has been attributed to CO2 ventilation from the deep ocean caused by enhanced upwelling around the Antarctic Divergence. It has been hypothesized that, more in...

Despite the large body of research devoted to understanding the role of Quaternary glacial cycles in the genetic divergence of European trees, the differential contribution of geographic isolation and/or environmental adaptation in creating population genetic divergence remains unexplored. In this study, we used a long-lived tree (Taxus baccata) as...

The subfossil record of Sphagnum squarrosum [Sect. Squarrosa] in a late Holocene core from Tuska Tchal peat bog (NW Iran) is the first record of this species in Iran. Together with S. girgensohnii, recorded from NE Iran, it is the second find of this genus of wetland habitats in Iran. Spores and charred leaves of Sphagnum as well as sphagnophilous...

This study investigates sediment cores from the Mediterranean alpine lakes located in upvalley cirques upper than 1700 metres a.s.l. using sedimentological, palynological and geomorphological studies, in order to document environmental changes following the last phase of glacier retreat. These results are considered in the framework of the deglacia...

Reconstruire les anciens écosystèmes et climats des périodes glaciaires n'est pas un exercice simple en particulier quand on travaille dans des régions de moyenne latitude au sein desquelles des écosystèmes méso-thermophiles, boréaux et périglaciaires ont pu coexister. Dans le sud de la France qui fut dans l'ensemble peu englacé lors de la dernière...

The upper Durance valley contains the largest silver–lead mines of the French Southern Alps. We investigated the characterisation and impact of these mining activities and associated forestry in the Argentière (L'Argentière-La Bessée) and Faravel (Freissinières) districts using a multidisciplinary approach that includes archaeological, palynologica...

Although few compared with Western Europe, continental records from Central–Eastern Europe are increasingly confirming that rapid climate fluctuations of the past 15 000 years are also present in records situated far from the North Atlantic region. In the present study a new pollen record supported by 11 AMS 14C dates, from Luci (Eastern Romanian C...

The number of well-dated pollen diagrams in Europe has increased considerably over the last 30 years and many of them have been submitted to the European Pollen Database (EPD). This allows for the construction of increasingly precise maps of Holocene vegetation change across the continent. Chronological information in the EPD has been expressed in...

Modern pollen samples provide an invaluable research tool for helping to interpret the Quaternary fossil pollen record, allowing investigation of the relationship between pollen as the proxy and the environmental parameters such as vegetation, land-use, and climate that the pollen proxy represents. The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) is a ne...

This paper elucidates the nature of human–environment interactions in a mountainous landscape (the southern zone of the Ecrins, French Alps) from the Mesolithic through to the Post-Medieval Period. We present an integrated programme of palynology, pedo- and archaeo-anthracology, and archaeology. These data permit the development of a historical eco...

On the basis of a multi-proxy approach and a strategy combining lacustrine and marine records along a north– south transect, data collected in the central Mediterranean within the framework of a collaborative project have led to reconstruction of high-resolution and well-dated palaeohydrological records and to assessment of their spatial and tempor...

Lake-level records from Italy suggest that patterns of precipitation in the central Mediterranean during the Holocene were divided between the north and south, but a scarcity of reliable palaeoclimatic records in the north and central-southern Mediterranean means new evidence is needed to validate this hypothesis. We provide robust quantitative est...

On the basis of a multi-proxy approach and a strategy combining lacustrine and marine records along a north–south transect, data collected in the Central Mediterranean within the framework of a collaborative project have led to reconstruction of high-resolution and well-dated palaeohydrological records and to assessment of their spatial and tempora...

The Holocene period is particularly well investigated in the Mediterranean area by a large amount of data (palynologi¬cal, speleothems, or lake-level evidence). All these data show the Holocene to have a complex pat¬tern of climatic change across the Mediterranean region with strong and spatial and temporal variability. Recent studies based on lake...

The pollen record from Trifoglietti lake (Calabria region) provides new information about the paleoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic changes occurred during the LateGlacial and Holocene period. The LateGlacial part of the record, for which only preliminary data is available, is a new and original sequence from southern Italy. The Holocene sequence,...

Lake-level records from Italy suggest a north–south climatic partition in the Central Mediterranean during the Holocene with respect to precipitation, but the scarcity of reliable palaeoclimatic records in the North and Central-Southern Mediterranean means new evidence is needed to validate this hypothesis. Here, we provide robust quantitative esti...

Most of the Pleistocene reference pollen sequences have been described in northern Europe (Eem, Holstein, Cromer?). Nevertheless southern Europe provides numerous long pollen records that contributed to the renewal of the Pleistocene stratigraphy. After a short review of the main pollen sites from southern Europe, this article summarizes the genera...

A high-resolution pollen record from Lago Trifoglietti in Calabria (southern Italy) provides new insights into the paleoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic changes which characterise the Holocene period in the southern Italy. The chronology is based on 11 AMS radiocarbon dates from terrestrial organic material. The Holocene history of the vegetation c...

Lac d'Armor (49°27′S, 69°42′E) is a medium-sized, fjord-type lake located on the ‘Grande Terre’ island of the Kerguelen archipelago. A dense grid of high-resolution reflection seismic profiles was collected from this lake basin. The seismic stratigraphic facies reveal a last deglaciation to Holocene infill comparable to the seismic facies found in...

Pollen and spore analysis is the most successfully used palaeobotanical discipline for reconstructing Holocene vegetation and climate history throughout the world. Subantarctic islands are very specific areas. They are located in the circum-Antarctic Southern Ocean in latitudes that are under strong influence of the southern westerly winds, and are...

A high-resolution pollen record from Lake Trifoglietti in Calabria (Southern Italy) provides new insights into the paleoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic changes which characterise the Holocene period in the Southern Italy. The chronology is based on 11 AMS radiocarbon dates from terrestrial macro-remains. The Holocene history of the vegetation cove...

A coarse-resolution, absolutely dated isotope record spanning the last 180 ka was constructed from aragonite-rich fecal pellets in a sediment core from Lake Urmia, Iran. The isotope record is not continuous as a consequence of detrital calcite that contaminates the pellets at certain depths. An isotopic correction was applied to samples[50% aragoni...

The Mediterranean area is particularly sensitive to short-term climate change due to its intermediate position between the higher-latitude and lower-latitude climate systems. Consequently, future climate change can be expected to be particularly strong in this region and will likely have a strong impact on terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore a growin...

Coprolite pollen analysis is increasingly used by palynologists to reconstruct the palaeovegetation especially in the arid to semi-arid regions where lakes and peat bogs are scarce. This study is the first palynological analysis of coprolites in Iran to examine their potential in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Four pollen-rich coprolite sampl...

Pollen analysis supported by nine AMS C-14 dates from the Poiana Stiol peat sequence (1540 m), in the Rodnei Mountains, Eastern Romanian Carpathians (Romania) is used to reconstruct the Holocene vegetation history in this mountain region. The results are then compared with other sequences from Romania and Eastern Europe in order to better understan...

A 1.70 m core extracted from the Lac des Lauzons, Haut Champsaur, French Alps, at 2180 m altitude, provided a detailed Holocene record of beetles, pollen and plant macrofossils, enabling the reconstruction of local palaeoenvironmental changes during the last 10 000 years. After an early phase of colonization by plants and insects, corresponding to...

This study presents pollen-based climate reconstructions of Holocene temperature and precipitation seasonality for two high-resolution pollen sequences from the central (Lake Accesa, central Italy) and eastern Mediterranean (Tenaghi Philippon, Greece) regions. The quantitative climate reconstruction uses multiple methods to provide an improved asse...

New pollen evidence from two sites in south-central Zagros (Lake Maharlou), SW Iran, and Sahand Mountains (Lake Almalou), NW Iran, provide evidence for the emergence of tree cultivation in SW Iran from the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC and upland agricultural activities in NW Iran from 5th to 3rd centuries BC. Juglans cf regia could have been cultivated...

Pollen analysis supported by nine AMS 14 C dates from the Poiana Ştiol peat sequence (1540 m), in the Rodnei Mountains, Eastern Romanian Carpathians (Romania) is used to reconstruct the Holocene vegetation history in this mountain region. The results are then compared with other sequences from Romania and Eastern Europe in order to better understan...

Despite the high potential of pollen records for climate reconstruction, pollen–climate relationships may be biased due to past and present human activities on the landscape. We use (i) transfer functions based on modern pollen–climate relationships to infer seasonal temperature and summer precipitation for the period 11 500–4500 cal. a BP and (ii)...

The study of two pollen sequences from El-Kala marshes allowed the reconstruction of the regional vegetation history supported by eight radiocarbon dates. Pollen assemblages from Bourdim site were dominated by local input of Alnus and Salix, while regional vegetation was characterized by scattered Quercus suber forests with a well-developed Erica a...

The study of two pollen sequences from El-Kala marshes allowed the reconstruction of the regional vegetation history supported by eight radiocarbon dates. Pollen assemblages from Bourdim site were dominated by local input of Alnus and Salix, while regional vegetation was characterized by scattered Quercus suber forests with a well-developed Erica a...

Background/Question/Methods Southern and central Europe contain a number of long Quaternary pollen records covering multiple climatic cycles. These show that nearly all glacial-to-interglacial transitions are characterized by the rapid expansion of deciduous Quercus, often accompanied with an expansion of Corylus, and a rapid decrease of herbaceous...

Postglacial expansion of deciduous oak woodlands of the Zagros–Anti-Taurus Mountains, a major biome of the Near East, was delayed until the middle Holocene at ~6300 cal. yr BP. The current hypotheses explain this delay as a consequence of a regional aridity during the early Holocene, slow migration rates of forest trees, and/or a long history of la...

The ecological interpretation of pollen data from last glacial times in Western Europe remains difficult, probably because well preserved and continuous records are scarce and often analysed in low resolution (both chronologically and taxonomically). Moreover datings older than 40 ka are questionable. Another crucial point is the lack of modern eco...

This “Collective Research Project” brings together archaeologists, historians, palynologists, geomorphologists, geologists and paleometallurgists in an initiative to study the extraction and treatment of (argentiferous) lead-bearing ores in the Middle Ages on Mont Lozère: archives, inventory of remains and traces, environmental impact and reconstru...

Pollen analysis from a peat core 5.20 m in length, taken from a bog near Arpaşu, in a low altitude area of the southern part of Transylvania, is used to reconstruct the Early Holocene vegetation history of the region. The vegetation record starts during the Younger Dryas stadial, being characterized by open arboreal vegetation dominated by Pinus an...

Pollen analysis from a peat core 4.30 m in length, taken from a bog near Arpaşu in a low-altitude area of the southern part of Transylvania, is used to reconstruct the Late Glacial vegetation history of the region. The vegetation record from Arpaşu starts during the Late Glacial Interstadial, being characterized by open arboreal vegetation dominate...

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, a...

Pollen analysis from a peat core 7.0 m in length, taken from a bog near Bisoca, in a mid-altitude area of the Buzăului Subcarpathian mountains, is used to reconstruct the postglacial vegetation history of the region. The vegetation record, which is supported by twelve 14C dates, starts at the end of the Late Glacial period. At the Late Glacial/Holo...