Holocene valley incision in the southern Buekk foreland: Climate- human-environment interferences in northern Hungary

摘要

AbstractPrehistoric human settlement activities in northern Hungary have been well studied for several decades. Recent studies from the Great Hungarian Plain provide evidence of human impact starting as early as in the Neolithic (c. 8200 cal BP). Archaeological records suggest that with establishment of the Baden culture (c. 5500 cal BP), settlements were moved from Tisza River towards the northern mountainous area. Although Quaternary landscape development of the Bükk Mountains is well studied, Holocene human environment interactions in particular, have not been focused on so far. Here, we present Holocene landscape history around Bogács in the southern Bükk mountain foreland. Sediment records were sampled from fans of secondary tributaries in the middle course of the Hór valley. Morphology of the tributary valleys suggests different incision phases with older forms and less human impact in the northern part of the studied valley section (type 1) and younger forms and stronger human impact in the southern part (type 2). However,14C dates from the fan of a type 2 valley in the southern part suggest initial incision between 9000 and 8000 cal BP, whereas human activity is not reflected in the sediments. In the fan sediments of a type 1 tributary in the northern part of the studied valley section, daub was found in the context of deposits dated to 3000 cal BP. Here, thickness of Holocene sediments suggest significant soil erosion.It can be summarised that post-Pleistocene valley incision was restricted to short periods of extreme climate conditions during the Early-to Mid Holocene. Human activities did not contribute to initial valley incision. Nevertheless, human activities seem to have enhanced soil erosion in the catchments of type 1 tributaries.