Paleofire Evidence Reconstructed From Betwa River Sediment Using Macro Charcoal as a Fire Proxy

Prasad, Mukesh (2021) Paleofire Evidence Reconstructed From Betwa River Sediment Using Macro Charcoal as a Fire Proxy. Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

Text (MS Dissertation of Mukesh Prasad (16MS044)) 16MS044_Thesis_file.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (8MB)

Abstract

Proxy records of paleofire offer valuable information on the role of fire in an ecosystem. Such information can be used to understand the linkage between fire, humans, and the environment. Generally, macroscopic charcoal particles in the large river basin are fluvially transported as well as contributed by a natural forest fire. The charcoal morphological features can reflect the source fuels that were burned during the wildfire and are useful for paleoecological interpretations. To understand the source of macroscopic charcoals, sediment core was collected from the floodplain of Betwa river. In this study, macroscopic charcoal particles from 31 samples were quantified. Different morphological features were observed in stereomicroscope and FE-SEM images of charcoal particles. The morphological analysis of the charcoal particles shows that wood charcoals are dominantly present in the Betwa area. The abundance of angular shaped charcoal particles is very high, which suggested that the transportation of the charcoal particles are less, and the source of the fire events is around the depositional site. The CHAR (Charcoal Accumulation Rate) value was calculated to reconstruct the fire events in the Betwa area. Multiple fire episodes were seen in CHAR vs. Age plot. To gain insight of the complex relationship among climate-vegetation-fire, the climate and vegetation records need to be examined.

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