Simon Mark Hutchinson

University of Salford · School of Science Engineering and Environment

Longer-term environmental studies are increasingly used to better understand contemporary ecosystems conditions and for forecasting their future trajectories. Here, we use radiometric measurements and the characterisation of sediment properties from six mountain and a lowland lake in Central Eastern Europe with the aim to assess temporal and spatia...

Traditional farming landscapes in the temperate zone that have persisted for millennia can be exceptionally species-rich and are therefore key conservation targets. In contrast to Europe’s West, Eastern Europe harbours widespread traditional farming landscapes, but drastic socio-economic and political changes in the twentieth century are likely to...

Recent decades have been marked by unprecendented environmental changes which threaten the integrity of freshwater systems and their ecological value. Although most of these changes can be attributed to human activities, disentagling natural and anthropogenic drivers remains a challenge. In this study, surface sediments from Lake Ighiel, a mid-alti...

Ferrimagnetic greigite (Fe3S4) is widespread in the sedimentary environment. Despite abundant reports of greigite occurrence in marine and lacustrine deposits, its formation mechanisms in deltaic deposits remain poorly studied. Here we investigate greigite in Holocene Yangtze River delta deposits using granulometric, magnetic and geochemical method...

The climate of Siberia is primarily influenced by the Siberian High (SH), although other large-scale atmospheric circulation systems, in particular North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) storm tracks, play an important role. How variability in the relative strength and trajectory of these climatic systems has affected local to regional palaeoclimatic con...

Reconstruction of sediment accumulation in river deltas over the Holocene provides a basis for understanding the relationship between climate change, human activities and delta growth. However, variations in deposition rates on a centennial‐scale over the last 2000 years remain poorly studied for mega‐deltas. Based on optically stimulated luminesce...

Wildfire is the most common disturbance type in boreal forests and can trigger significant changes in forest composition. Waterlogging in peatlands determines the degree of tree cover and the depth of the burnt horizon associated with wildfires. However, interactions between peatland moisture, vegetation composition and flammability, and fire regim...

In Zamfara state, Nigeria, rice is cultivated in fields contaminated with Pb (lead) from artisanal and illicit mining activities. Rice grown in such contaminated agricultural areas risks not only Pb contamination but also contamination from other toxic elements, like arsenic (As); co-contamination of Pb and As in rice cultivated in mining impacted...

The paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes inferred from shifts in lake sediment geochemistry require reliable, efficient and cost-effective methods of analysis. The available geochemical techniques, however, suggest that different analytical approaches can influence data interpretation. X-ray fluorescence core scanner analyses (XRF-CS), fiel...

It is now well-established that not just drinking water, but irrigation water contaminated with arsenic (As) is an important source of human As exposure through water-soil-rice transfer. While drinking water As has a permissible, or guideline value, quantification of guideline values for soil and irrigation water is limited. Using published data fr...

Wildfire is the most common disturbance type in boreal forests and can trigger significant changes in forest composition. Waterlogging in peatlands determines the degree of tree cover and the depth of the burning horizon associated with wildfires. However, interactions between peatland moisture, vegetation composition and flammability, and fire reg...

In order to characterize the magnetic properties and trace sources of household dust particles, magnetic measurements, geochemical and SEM/TEM analyses were performed on vacuum dust from 40 homes in Shanghai, China. Iron-containing magnetic particles (IMPs) in the household dust were dominated by magnetite, while maghemite, hematite and metallic ir...

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Forest steppes are dynamic ecosystems, highly susceptible to changes in climate, disturbances and land use. Here we examine the Holocene history of the European forest steppe ecotone in the lower Danube Plain to better understand its sensitivity to climate fluctuations, fire and human impact, and the timing of its transition into a cultural forest...

Peatlands are wetland ecosystems with great significance as natural habitats and as major global carbon stores. They have been subject to widespread exploitation and degradation with resulting losses in characteristic biota and ecosystem functions such as climate regulation. More recently, large-scale programmes have been established to restore pea...

The Qatari marine environment is endangered due to high industrial expansion and anthropogenic pressure over the last few decades. The presence of common contaminants such as total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is a threat to the marine environment. The aim of this study is to determine the environmental...

Wildfires in Siberia are documented to have increased in frequency and severity over recent decades. However, in the absence of long-term records, it is unclear how far and why this trend deviates from centennial to millennial scale variability. Here we reconstruct past patterns of fire frequency and fire type, and explore how the fire-related trai...

Forest steppes are dynamic ecosystems, highly susceptible to changes in climate and land use. Here we examine the Holocene history of the European forest steppe ecotone in the Lower Danube Plain to better understand its sensitivity to climate fluctuations and human impact, and the timing of its transition into a cultural forest steppe. We used mult...

The climate of Siberia is primarily influenced by the Siberian High (SH), although other large-scale atmospheric circulation systems, in particular North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) storm tracks, play an important role. How variability in the relative strength and trajectory of these climatic systems has affected local to regional palaeoclimatic con...

Aeolian sediments play an important role in the global climatic system and occur in the atmosphere due to soil and bedrock erosion. Here, we applied three different methods: geochemical (XRF), manual and laser-based particle size analysis to an ombrotrophic peat profile in the Carpathian Mountains to determine changes in aeolian deposition and wind...

Historical documents provide a general chronological overview of the environmental evolution of the Yangtze River delta (YRD) during the last ca. 2000 years; however, absolute dating of the region’s late Holocene sediment is relatively rare. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating has been increasingly applied to the age determination of Hol...

Worldwide accelerated forest loss and the associated environmental impacts are important environmental concerns. In this study, we integrate evidence from historical maps and a Landsat-derived time series of catchment-scale forest cover changes with a multi-proxy, palaeolimnological reconstruction spanning the last 150 years from Red Lake (Eastern...

Worldwide reforestation has been recommended as a landscape restoration strategy to mitigate climate change in areas where the climate can sustain forest. This approach may threaten grassland ecosystems of unique biodiversity as such policies are based on the false assumption that most grasslands are man-made. Here, we use multiple lines of evidenc...

We document the long-term development of a spring-fed fen assessing its sensivity to climate changes over the last ca. 4000 years. Our investigation is based on high-resolution, continuous plant macrofossil remains and mollusc records, complemented by pollen, geochemical analysis and radiocarbon dating of Valea Morii, located in the Feleac Hills (T...

This article presents the first multi-proxy study of palaeoecosystem changes during the Late Weichselian and Early Holocene in western Ukraine. The site is a former oxbow lake situated in the Dniester River valley (western Ukraine). We hypothesised that this area may have been one of the nuclei for the Holocene expansion of elm (Ulmus), a primary a...

This paper reviews recent progress in applying mineral magnetic methods in sediment pollution studies. Such applications include its use as a dating marker, as a proxy for heavy metal concentrations and to trace metal pollutant dispersal. The mineral magnetic method has been found to be a promising tool in a wide range of sediment metal pollution s...

Wallachian (shepherd) colonisation of the upper parts of Carpathians, the second largest mountain range in Europe, provides a unique opportunity to study human-induced ecological changes and subsequent sediment mobilisation within slope and fluvial systems. The Wallachians came to the nearly pristine landscape in the Czech part of the Western Carpa...

PurposeDespite substantial research into Pb storage in peatlands, formal description of the mechanisms of contaminated sediment mobilisation is limited. This study explores the controlling factors of contaminated sediment dynamics in an eroding peatland in the Peak District National Park, UK. Materials and methodsThis study uses the Pb contaminatio...

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating has gained increased use in dating deltatic deposits, however, its application can be hindered by the problem of incomplete bleaching. To address this limitation, we test the single-grain OSL method for the first time in the Yangtze River delta. A total of eight OSL and 14 AMS 14C samples were obtained...

Fire frequency and severity are key parameters in evaluating fire-mediated changes in ecosystems, but these metrics are rarely reconstructed at extensive temporal scales. Notably our understanding of the role of fire regime dynamics in the functioning and biodiversity of Central Eastern European temperate forests is limited because investigation of...

Geo-ecological and landscape change studies at a local scale are scarce in Central-Eastern Europe and particularly in Romania. However, this focus is directly relevant to ecosystems and humans as both are dependent on local environmental changes. We perform a high-resolution, multi-proxy analysis of physical and geochemical proprieties, plant macro...

Here, for the first time in SE Poland, we document the long-term development of a rich fen and assess its sensitivity to climate change and human impacts over the last ca. 3500 years. Our results are based on a high-resolution, continuous plant macrofossil remains, mollusc and pollen record, complemented by geochemical, mineral magnetic and physica...

Multi-proxy, high-resolution analyses (lithological, geochemical, environmental magnetism) anchored by 22 ¹⁴C dates, of a 5.53 m long sediment core from Lake Ighiel (Romanian Carpathians, central-eastern Europe) allowed the reconstruction of key local, catchment-lacustrine dynamics and an appraisal of palaeohydrological and palaeoclimatic gradients...

Our study attempts to identify a characteristic magnetic signature of overbank sediments exhibiting anthropogenically induced magnetic enhancement and thereby to distinguish them from unenhanced sediments with weak magnetic background values, using a novel approach based on data mining methods, thus providing a mean of rapid pollution determination...

Twenty five floodplain sediment profiles from seven rivers in eastern Czech Republic and three in north west England were collected to examine the hypothesis that magnetic enhancement in recent sediments is predominantly of anthropogenic origin and that magnetic parameters can be used as a dating proxy reflecting changes in intensity of industry so...

High altitude environments are experiencing more rapid changes in temperature than the global average with the risk of losing essential ecosystem services in mountain environments. The Carpathians Mountains are regarded as hosting Europe's most pristine mountain ecosystems, yet the paucity of past environmental records limits our understanding of t...

Proxy-based reconstructions of climate variability over the last millennium provide important insights for understanding current climate change within a long-term context. Past hydrological changes are particularly difficult to reconstruct, yet rainfall patterns and variability are among the most critical environmental variables. Ombrotrophic bogs,...

The Hercynian mountain ranges were islands of mountain glaciation and alpine tundra in a Central European ice-free corridor during the Late Pleistocene. Today they are notable areas of glacial landforms, alpine-forest free areas, peatlands and woodlands. However, our knowledge of the Lateglacial and early Holocene environmental changes in this regi...

AimThe forest steppe of the Transylvanian Plain is a landscape of exceptionally diverse steppe-like and semi-natural grasslands. Is this vegetation a remnant of a once continuous temperate forest extensively cleared by humans, or has the area, since the last glacial, always been a forest steppe? Understanding the processes that drive temperate gras...

Peatlands are an important store of soil carbon, play a vital role in global carbon cycling, and can also act as sinks of atmospherically deposited heavy metals. However, large areas of blanket peat are significantly degraded and actively eroding as a direct result of anthropogenic pressures, which negatively impacts carbon and pollutant storage. T...

Peatlands are an important store of soil carbon, and play a vital role in global carbon cycling, and when located in close proximity to urban and industrial areas, can also act as sinks of atmospherically deposited heavy metals. Large areas of the UK's blanket peat are significantly degraded and actively eroding which negatively impacts carbon and...

Oppenheimer’s apocalyptic words were of the moment, but we are becoming increasingly aware of the likely impacts of people on the environment and both the direct and indirect consequences for humankind (IPCC 2013). Consequently, the accurate quantification of such impacts, informing effective environmental management, is paramount. Indeed in some c...

We provide sedimentological, geochemical, mineral magnetic, stable carbon isotope, charcoal, and pollen-based evidence from a guano/clay sequence in Gaura cu Muscă Cave (SW Romania), from which we deduced that from ~ 1230 BC to ~ AD 1240 climate oscillated between wet and dry. From ~ 1230 BC to AD 1000 the climate was wetter than the present, promp...

From this perspective, a sedimentary lacustrine sequence located in the Eastern Carpathians, Northern Romania, has been subjected to multi-proxy analyses with the purpose of reconstructing local environmental changes in response to climatic variability and human impact. The sequence (4.1 m long) covering the last millennium is layered throughout an...

Extensive proxy data and modeling suggest that the environmental response to climate forcing varied both spatially and temporarily even during the current interglacial (Davis et al., 2003; Davis and Brewer, 2009). The drivers of these short-term shifts in climate are of multiple origins, ranging from solar irradiance, periodic shifts in the regiona...

High altitude environments (treeline and alpine communities) are particularly sensitive to climate changes, disturbances and land-use changes due to their limited tolerance and adaptability range, habitat fragmentation and habitat restriction. The current and future climate warming is anticipated to shift the tree- and timberlines upwards thus affe...

Macroscopic charcoal particles, magnetic susceptibility and AMS C14 dates were performed on a sediment sequence from a small subalpine lake (Buhaescu Mare), Rodnei Mts. in order to reconstruct fire regimes in the area. Specifically we aim to distinguish between natural fire activity and human driven fires. Buhaescu Mare lake, also known as Rebra la...

Fire is an important disturbance factor across a variety of vegetation zones and one of the major causes of geomorphological and ecological changes (Shakesby&Doerr, 2006). In the context of current and anticipated climate change, fire severity and frequency is expected to increase. The impact of fire in shaping the physical, chemical, biological ch...

A high-altitude lake sediment sequence (Buhăiescu Mare, 1918 m a.s.l.) in the subalpine zone of the Rodna Mountains was analysed through a multi-proxy approach to determine the sensitivity of high mountain habitats to climate, fire and land use changes. The early Holocene regional forests were dominated by Pinus (sylvestris and mugo) and replaced b...

In order to observe the impact of different water compositions on sludge dewaterability, assessments of floc sizes using a particle size analyzer and of sludge dewaterability based on the capillary suction time (CST) test were carried out. Synthetic raw water had small floc sizes, and synthetic domestic wastewater had both larger median floc sizes...

Ombrotrophic peatlands are highly sensitive to atmospheric heavy metal deposition. Previous attempts to quantify peatland lead pollution have been undertaken using the inventory approach. However, there can be significant within-site spatial heterogeneity in lead concentrations, highlighting the need for multiple samples to properly quantify lead s...

Oscillations of lake levels in Central Eastern Europe during the Holocene are crucial records of past regional climatic conditions reflecting the balance between evaporation and precipitation in their catchment. Lake Stiucii (38 ha, 10 m depth) is located in Transylvanian Plain (NW Romania) at 296 m asl. A recently extracted sediment core from the...

a b s t r a c t The usefulness of sedimentary charcoal records to document centennial to millennial scale trends in aspects of fire regimes (frequency, severity) is widely acknowledged, yet the long-term variability in these regimes is poorly understood. Here, we use a high-resolution, multi-proxy analysis of a lacustrine sequence located in the lo...

Climate and land use changes can have a great impact on high altitude environments due to their species' narrow tolerance capabilities, habitat fragmentation and habitat restriction. Since trees at the timberline and the treeline ecotone grow at their temperature and soil tolerance limit, even small alterations in these parameters can result in mar...

Upland blanket bogs in the UK have suffered severe erosion over the last millennium but there is evidence to show that this has increased in intensity in the last 250 years, coinciding with increased pressures on the and during the British Industrial Revolution. Upland peat soils in close proximity to urban and industrial areas can be contaminated...

Peatlands represent major carbon stores. However, large areas of the UK’s blanket peat are significantly degraded and actively eroding, impacting carbon storage through the physical export of particulate organic carbon (POC). The stability of peatlands is therefore important for the preservation this carbon store. The restoration of eroding peatland...

An interdisciplinary study (cartographic and historical records, geomorphological, geological and bathymetric survey, water analysis, sediment coring and analysis and AMS radiocarbon dating) of two small and previously unreported lakes (Iezer and Bol�at�au) in Obcina Feredeului Mountains, northeastern Romania, provides new data into the environment...

Short lake sediment cores from ten lakes in the Romanian Carpathians have been characterised, both mineral magnetically and geochemically, providing an assessment of the potential of these mountain lakes’ sediment records as a retrospective indicator of atmospheric pollution. Mineral magnetic characteristics suggests that recent sediments have been...

An interdisciplinary approach to geoscience is particularly important in this vast research field, as the more innovative studies are increasingly crossing discipline boundaries and thus benefitting from multiple research methods and viewpoints. Grasping this concept has led us to encourage interdisciplinary cooperation by supporting and promoting...

An interdisciplinary approach to environmental science is particularly important in the field of palaeoenvironmental research. Indeed, while the majority of such studies employ a range of proxies in their investigation, the more innovative studies tend to truly cross discipline boundaries. The investigation of depositional environments (e.g., lake...

Peatlands represent major carbon stores. However, much of the UK's blanket peat is significantly degraded and actively eroding which significantly impacts carbon storage through the physical export of particulate organic carbon (POC). The stability of peatlands is therefore important for the preservation this carbon store and the restoration of the...