Paleoclimatology of Fellaw Lake Area_ Iraq: A review

Document Type : Review Article

Authors

1 PhD student of Climatology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran & Duhok University/ Iraq

2 Department of Physical Geography, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Pollen study is considered one of the most climate proxies distributed worldwide since the beginning of the last century. Some areas and regions still lack such proxy studies, the main objective behind this review is to investigate and draw a picture of the past climate and vegetation pattern in northeastern Iraq, where the area obtains only a few small in size natural Lakes, Fellaw Lake is the largest mountain natural Lake in the area considered within the study. In addition, there are tries to present the paleoclimate of the study area depending mostly on the bulk of research conducted near the area due to the nonexistence of pollen studies implemented on Fellaw Lake yet. Accordingly, and after matching the modern and past vegetation patterns of some adjacent lakes to the area such as Zaribar, Merabad Van Lake, and Akgol Lake, the area likely obtains to some extent a similar past climate trend and events and vegetation components, regardless of the factor of variation in latitude and topographic effects which in turn affect the precipitation amount that could lead possibly to variate of vegetation patterns in these conditions. Ultimately, the study area is located in a very climate-sensitive area, where it’s situated among the following regions; Levantine from the west, Mesopotamia from the south, Anatolia from the north, and itself located in the eastern edge of the Irano-Turanian region. This in turn could consider the area to be a refuge for other regions in case of climate deterioration and fluctuations in the late Quaternary.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Abed, A.M., 1998. A conspicuous lithological signature for the last glacial maximum in Jordan Valley. The International Conference of Learning form the past:Global palaecoclimatic changes, Yarmouk university. Jordan.
Adam, D.P. & West, G.J., 1983. Temperature and precipitation estimates through the last glacial cycle from Clear Lake, California pollen data. Science, 219, 168-170.
Adam, D.P., Sarna Wojcicki, A.M., Rieck, H.J., Bradbury, J.P., Dean, W.E. & Forseter, R.M., 1989. The last 3 million years Palaeogeogr. Palaeoecol, 72, 89-103.
Adam, D.P., 1988. Palynology of two Upper Quaternary cores from Clear Lake, Lake County, California. United States Geological Survey, Washington, DC, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, v. 1363.
Al-Dulaimiy, A.S.F., 1999. Late Quaternary palaeoclimate and palaeovegatation of Euphrartes Flood Plain sediments from Al- Qaim – Ramadi, Iraq. Ph.D. thesis, College of Science, University of Baghdad, 117 p.
Akinyoola, J.A., Oluleye, A. & Gbode, I.E., 2024. A Review of Atmospheric Aerosol Impacts on Regional Extreme Weather and Climate Events. Aerosol Science and Engineering, 1-26.
Alessandrini, D., 2011. Venomous Snakes in Iraq. Reptile’s magazine.
Al-Qayim, B.A.S.I.M., 1989. Diagenetic Model of a Reef Complex: Aqra - Bekhme Formation (Late- Cretaceous), North-eastern Iraq. Acta Mineralogica et Petrologica, 30, 149-159.
Al-Rawi, Y.T., Al-Tawash, B.S. & Al-Ameri, T.K., 2005. Pollen evidence of late Quaternary vegetation and inferred climatic changes of Lake Razzaza, Western Iraqi Desert. Iraqi Bulletin of Geology and Mining, 1(2), 1-13.
Al-Tawash, B.S.M., 1996. The Pleistocene history of the Razzaza and Tharthar depressions in Central Iraq. Ph.D. thesis, (Unpublished), College of Science, University of Baghdad. Baghdad, 124 p.
Anton, D., 1984. Aspects of geomorphologicl evolution paleo sols and dunes in Saudi Arabia. In:Abdul Raof,J., and Josef, G. Al-Jubouri, B.S., 1997. Paleontological evidences for climatic and environmental changes during Quaternary period in Mesopotamian plain. South of Iraq. Unpublished. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Baghdad, 79 p.
Asouti, E., Erkal, A., Fairbairn, A., Hastorf, C., Kennedy, A., Near, J. & Rosen, A.M., 1999. Archaeobotany and related plant studies. Çatalhöyük Archive Report.
Bartlein, P.J., 1997. Past environmental changes: Characteristic features of Quaternary climate variations. In: Huntley, B., Cramer, W., Morgan, A.V., Prentice, H.C., Allen, J.R.M. (eds) Past and Future Rapid Environmental Changes. NATO ASI Series, v. 47. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Baruch, U., 1999. A new pollen diagram from Lake Hula. Vegetational, climatic and anthropogenic implications. In Ancient lakes. Their cultural and biological diversity (p. 75-86). Kenobi productions.
Beaulieu, J.L. & Reille, M., 1984. A long Upper Pleistocene pollen record from Les Echets, near Lyon, France. Boreas, 13, 111-132.
Benni, T.J. & Al-Tawash, B.S., 2011. Palynological evidences on paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental changes during Late Quaternary of Bahr Al-Najaf depression, Central Iraq. Iraqi Bulletin of Geology and Mining, 7(2), 1-28.
Berger, A. & Loutre, M.F., 1991. Insolation Values for the Climate of the Last 10 Million Years. Quaternary Science Reviews, 1, 297-317.
Bottema, S., 1974. Late-quaternary vegetation history of Northwestern Greece, Proefschr, Rijksuniv. Groningen, 190 p.
Brooks, S.N., 2006. Cultural responses to aridity in the middle-Holocene and increased social complexity. Quaternary International, 151, 29-49.
Browicz, K., 1982. Chorology of trees alld shrubs ill South\Vest Asia, Warszawa, Polish Scientific Published.
Cath, S., 2018. Temperate Climates. Raintree Publishers, p. 5. ISBN 9781474738408.
COHMAP Members Climatic changes of the last 18,000 years, 1988. Observations and model simulations Science.
Daubenmire, R., 1980. Mountain topography and vegetation patterns. Northwest Science, 54, 146-152.
Davis, K. & Moutoux, E., 1996. Quaternary of the eastern Great Basin; palynology of the Great Salt Lake Program and Abstracts, American Quaternary Association Conference. 
Davis, O. & Sellers, W.D., 1986. The Effects of Insolation on the History of the Arizona Monsoon’, Paper presented in the symposium on Mechanisms of Climate and Culture Change, J. Gunn and A. Paulsen, organizers, American Anthropological Association Conference, Philadelphia, to appear in The Anthropological Implications of Climatic Change, J. Gunn and A. Paulsen (eds.).
Davis, P.H., 1965. Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islallds. Edinburgh, University Press.
Djamali, M., et al., 2008. A late Pleistocene long pollen record from Lake Urmia, NW Iran. Quaternary Research, 69(3), 413-420.
Erginal, A.E. et al., 2019. Multi-proxy sedimentary records of dry-wet climate cycles during the last 2 ka from Lake Çildir, east Anatolian Plateau, Turkey. Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria, 42(1), 61-70.
El-Moslimany, A.P., 1987. The late Pleistocene climates of the Lake Zeribar region Kurdistan, western Iran” deduced from the ecology and pollen production of nonarborealvegetation. Vegetation, 72, 31-139.
Evans, R.K., 1977. Techniques and seasonal growth rate of transplanted white mangroves. In: Lewis, R.R. and D.P. Cole (Eds.), Proceedings of the fourth annual conference on restoration of coastal vegetation in Florida. Hillsborough Community College, Florida, 77-105.
Freitag, H., 1977. The Pleniglacial, Late Glacial and early postglacial vegetations of Zeribar and their present-day counterparts. Palaeohistoria, 1(9), 87-95.

Fuji, N., 1976, Palynological investigation on a 200-meter core sample from Lake Biwa in Central Japan Paleolimnology of Lake Biwa and the Japanese Pleistocene, Transactions and Proceedings of the Palaeontological Society of Japan New Series 144, 490-515.

Guiot, J., 1990. Methodology of paleoclimatic reconstruction from pollen in France Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatolgy, 22(4), 32-45. 
Hastorf, C. & Near, J., 1997. Archaeobotanical archive report. Catal Hoyiik Archaeobotanical Archive Report.
Heusser, C.J., 1990. Ice age vegetation and climate of subtropical Chile. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 80, 107-127.
Heusser, C.J., 1990. Ice age vegetation and climate of subtropical Chile. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 80(2), 107-127.
Hooghiemstra, H. & Melice, J.L., 1993. Pleistocene evolution of orbital periodicities in the high-resolution pollen record Funza 1, Eastern Cordillera, Colombia. In: de Boer, P. and Smith, D.G. (eds), Orbital Forcing and Cyclic Sequences, 19, 117-126.
Hooghiemstra, H., 1989. Quaternary and Upper-Pliocene glaciations antd forest development in the tropical Andes: Evidence from a long high resolution pollen record from the sedimentary basin of Bogota. Colombia. Palaeogeography. Palaeoclimatologv Paleoecology, 72(1)1-26.
Imbrie, J. et al., 1992. On the structure and origin of major glaciation cycles 1. Linear responses to Milankovitch forcing. Paleoceanography, 7(6), 701-738.
Kehl, M., 2009. Quaternary Climate Change in Iran—the State of Knowledge. Erdkunde, 63(1), 1-17.
Kutzbach, J.E. & Guetter, P.J., 1986. The influence of changing orbital patterns and surface boundary conditions on climate simulations for the past 18,000 years. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 43(4), 1726-1759.
Lowe, J.J. & Walker, M., 2014. Reconstructing quaternary environments. Routledge.
Markgraf, V., 1989. Palaeoclimates in Central and South America since 18,000 BP based on pollen and lake-level records. Quaternary Science Reviews, 8(1), 1-24.
McClure, H., 1976. Radiocarbon chronology of Late Quaternary lakes in the Arabian desert. Nature, 26, 755-765.
Niklewski, J. & Van Zeist, W., 1970. A Late Quaternary pollen diagram from northwestern Syria. Acta Botanica Neerlandica, 19(5), 737-754.
Prentice, C., 1988. Records of vegetation in time and space: the principles of pollen analysis. In: Huntley, B., Webb, T. (eds) Vegetation history. Handbook of vegetation science, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht.
Rechinger, K.H., 1969. Flora IraIlica; Allacardiaceae, No 631 30. Graz, Akademisc1le Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.
Robert, S.N., 1980. Late Quaternary Geomorphology & Palaeoecology of the Konya Basiu. Turkey. Ph.D. Thesis (unpublished) University of London.  
Roberts, N., Eastwood, W.J., Kuzucuoglu, C., Fiorentino, G. & Caracuta, V., 2011. Climatic, vegetation and cultural change in the eastern Mediterranean during the mid-Holocene environmental transition. The Holocene, 21(1), 147-162.
Roberts, N., Reed, J.M., Leng, M.J., Kuzucuoglu, C., Fontugne, M., Bertaux, J., Woldring, H., Bottema, S., Black, S., Hunt, E. & Karabıyıkoglu, M., 2001. The tempo of Holocene climate change in the eastern Mediterranean region: New highresolution crater-lake sediments data from central Turkey. The Holocene, 11, 721-736.
Rossignol-Strick, M., 1995. Sea-Iand correlation of pollen records in the eas tern Mediterranean for the glacialinterglacial transiiion; b iostratigraphy versus radiometric time-scale. Quatemmy Science Reviews, 14(2), 893-915.
Ruddiman, W.F. & Kutzbach, J.E., 1989, Forcing of late Cenozoic northern hemisphere climate by plateau uplift in southern Asia and the American West, Journal of Geophys  Resoursecs, 94(18), 409-427.
Sarıkaya, M.A., Ciner, A. & Zreda, M., 2011. Quaternary glaciations of Turkey. In Developments in Quaternary Sciences (v. 15, p. 393-403). Elsevier.
Spiridonov, V., Ćurić, M., Spiridonov, V. & Ćurić, M., 2021. Climate and Climate Change. Fundamentals of Meteorology, 377-397.
Singh, G. & Geissler, E.A., 1985. Late Cainozoic History of Vegetation, Fire, Lake Levels and Climate, at Lake George, New South Wales, Australia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 311(1151), 379-447.
Solomon, A.M. & Silkworth, A.B., 1986. Spatial pattern of atmospheric pollen transport in a montane region. Quaternary Research, 25, 150-162.
Turkes, M. & Erlat, E., 2003. Precipitation changes and variability in turkey linked to the North Atlantic oscillation during the period 1930-2000. International Journal of Climatology, 23, 1771-1796.
Turkes, M., 1996. Spatial and temporal analysis of annual rainfall variations in Turkey. International Journal of Climatology, 16, 1057-1076.
Van Der Hammen, T., 1971. The floral record of the late Cenozoic of Europe. Late Cenozoic glacial ages, 391-424.
Van Zeist W., 1967. Late Quarternary vegetation history of western Iran. Review Paleobotany Palynology. 2, 301-311. 
Van Zeist, W. & Bottema, S., 1977. Palynological investigations in western Iran. Palaeohistoria, 19-85.
Van Zeist, W. & Woldring, H., 1978. A postglacial pollen diagram from Lake Van in East Anatolia. Review Paleobotany Palynology, 26, 249-276. 
Van Zeist, W. & Woldring, H., 1978. A postglacial pollen diagram from Lake Van in East Anatolia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 26(1-4), 249-276.
Van Zeist, W., 1967. Late Quaternary vegetation history of western Iran. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 2(1-4), 301-311.
 Van Zeist, W., 1967. Late Quaternary vegetation history of western Iran. Alaeobotany and Palynology, 2, 301-311.
Van Zeist, W., Woldring, H. & Stapert, D., 1975. Late Quaternary vegetation and climate of southwestern Turkey. Palaeohistoria, 53-143.
Walzer, U. & Hendel, R., 2023. Natural climate change and glaciations. Earth-Science Reviews, 241, 104435.
Wick, L., Lemcke, G. & Sturm, M., 2003. Evidence of Lateglacial and Holocene climatic change and human impact in eastern Anatolia: high-resolution pollen, charcoal, isotopic and geochemical records from the laminated sediments of Lake Van, Turkey. The Holocene, 13(5), 665-675.
Woillard, G., 1979. Abrupt end of the last interglacial S.S. in north-east France, Nature, 281, 558-557. 
Woldring, H. & Bottema, S., 2003. The vegetation history of East-Central Anatolia in relation to archaeology: the Eski Acıgöl pollen evidence compared with the Near Eastern environment. Palaeohistoria, 43(44), 1-34.
Wright, H.E., 1961. Pleistocene glaciation in Kurdistan. Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart, 12, 131-164.
Yasuda, Y., Kitagawa, H. & Nakagawa, T., 2000. The earliest record of major anthropogenic deforestation in the Ghab Valley, northwest Syria: a palynological study. Quaternary International, 73, 127-136.
Zeist, W.V. & Bottema, S., 1991. Late quaternary vegetation of the Near East (v. 1800). Reichert.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics