Sedimentological and palynological analysis of sediment cores from the northeastern Vietnamese Mekong River Delta

DOI

Three radiocarbon-dated sediment cores from the northeastern Vietnamese Mekong River Delta have been analysed with a multiproxy approach (grain size, pollen and spores, macro-charcoal, carbon content) to unravel the palaeoenvironmental history of the region since the mid Holocene. During the mid-Holocene sea-level highstand a diverse, zoned and widespread mangrove belt (dominated by Rhizophora) covered the extended tidal flats. The subsequent regression and coeval delta progradation led to the rapid development of a back-mangrove community dominated by Ceriops and Bruguiera but also represented locally by e.g. Kandelia, Excoecaria and Phoenix. Along rivers this community seems to have endured even when the adjoining floodplain had already shifted to freshwater vegetation. Generally this freshwater vegetation has a strong swamp signature but locally Arecaceae, Fabaceae, Moraceae/Urticaceae and Myrsinaceae are important and mirror the geomorphological diversity of the delta plain. The macro-charcoal record implies that natural burning of vegetation occurred throughout the records, however, the occurrence of the highest amounts of macro-charcoal particles is linked with modern human activity.

Supplement to: Proske, Ulrike; Hanebuth, Till J J; Behling, Hermann; Nguyen, Van Lap; Ta, Thi Kim Oanh; Diem, Bui Phat (2010): The palaeoenvironmental development of the north-eastern Vietnamese Mekong River Delta since the mid-Holocene. The Holocene, 20(8), 1257-1268

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.743818
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683610374884
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.743818
Provenance
Creator Proske, Ulrike; Hanebuth, Till J J ORCID logo; Behling, Hermann ORCID logo; Nguyen, Van Lap; Ta, Thi Kim Oanh; Diem, Bui Phat
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2010
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Language English
Resource Type Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets; Collection
Format application/zip
Size 3 datasets
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (106.031W, 10.637S, 106.436E, 10.727N)
Temporal Coverage Begin 2007-03-01T00:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 2008-12-01T00:00:00Z