Climate and human-driven erosional dynamics in central European lowlands during the Late Glacial and Holocene – a case study from the sandstone area of the Bohemian Paradise (Czech Republic)

Dynamics of erosion-sedimentation processes can be triggered by both natural and anthropogenic perturbation of the ecosystem. However, the interplay between individual factors (e.g. climate, tectonics, vegetation and soil cover, land-use) is not fully understood due to the scarcity of suitable paleoenvironmental archives. Here we present the results of multidisciplinary research conducted in the geomorphologically diverse sandstone area of the Bohemian Paradise which has been intensively occupied since the Mesolithic. An integrated biotic (pollen, plant macroremains, diatoms) and abiotic (grain-size, geochemical, geophysical, isotopic) records derived from lacustrine, colluvial and alluvial sequences revealed the paleoenvironmental history of the area over the last 17,000 years. In combination with archaeological and historical data, we were able to assess anthropogenic influence on individual erosion-sedimentation events. The results show that while during the Late Glacial and Early Holocene, the dynamics of erosion-sedimentation processes are driven predominantly by climate change, an increased influence of human activity (forest clearance and forest burning) is evident from the end of Early Holocene onwards, culminating between 5.6 and 5.5 cal ka BP. Our data reveal a relationship between erosion-sedimentation dynamics and the general trend of temperatures, local humidity, vegetation development and human activity.