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Dendrochronological and radiocarbon analyses of subfossil oaks from the foothills of the Romanian Carpathians


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A set of subfossil macroremains, consisting of 118 oak (Quercus sp.) and 61 elm (Ulmus sp.) trees, was collected at five sites in the foothills of the Eastern Carpathians along the course of the Suceava river. The tree-ring widths of the subfossil samples were measured. Dendrochronological synchronization resulted in five oak chronologies, although each encompassed relatively few (2 to 4) reliably cross-dated series. Radiocarbon analysis was performed on samples from three of the floating chronologies and on an additional single oak sample. Double radiocarbon data from two of the floating chronologies allowed for improved calibration using the wiggle-match estimate of the subfossil oak remains. Radiocarbon evidence highlighted the fact that the subfossil material recovered from the fluvial deposits of the Suceava river may represent a substantial part of the Holocene, from ~700 to ~7000 years ago. When temporal distribution of 14C dated sequences from the Suceava black oaks were compared to the calibrated age ranges reported from nearby rivers (Siret, Moldova), deposition events were observed to coincide at around 0.8–0.9 ka cal BP and ~3.7–3.6 ka cal BP. The five presented floating chronologies, and especially the first 14C wiggle-matched tree-ring sequences of Ro-manian black oaks could become key building blocks in a longer regional oak tree-ring chronology for the Eastern Carpathian region.

eISSN:
1897-1695
Language:
English
Publication timeframe:
Volume Open
Journal Subjects:
Geosciences, other