Estudio fitolítico preliminar de un histosol del NO de la Península Ibérica.

FERNÁNDEZ PEPI, M. G., PATTERER, N. I., SOUTO SOUTO, M., PONTEVEDRA-POMBAL, X., FRAGA, M. I., ARRIAGA, M. O., ZUCOL, A. F.

Spanish Journal of Rural Development

Asociación Gallega de Investigadores para el Desarrollo Rural (AGAIDERU)

Año: 2010 vol. 1 p. 1 - 9

2172-2277

Phytoliths are microscopic structures of biogenic silica from organic tissues, product of cellular metabolism, when the plant dies, are preserved in the soil and can be used as local signals for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. The histosols are particularly suitable for conservation of phytoliths, and thus have been used in studies of environmental change throughout the Northern Hemisphere, and only exceptionally in the Iberian Peninsula. Here, we present the analysis of phytolith associations found in selected samples of a Hemic Ombric Histosol of Serras Septentrionais of Galicia, developed over a paleosol (10,720 yr cal. BP). Phytolith record was compared with geochemical, pollen and botanical previous information. We extracted and identified phytoliths in samples from three depths: 10 cm (159 yr cal. BP) 120 cm (2430 yr cal. BP) and 230 cm (5403 yr cal. BP). We have seen an exclusive presence of graminoid morphotypes, mainly related to panicoid bilobated short cells and truncated cone with danthoniod affinity, in the analyzed samples. Based on our findings, we associate the presence of megathermal vegetation in the deeper peat with warmer and drier climatic conditions than today, where microthermal vegetation dominates.