Abstract:
We reconstructed the palaeoenvironmental conditions of the last ca. 8000 years in the Tres Lagunas region of the Quimsacocha volcanic basin (ca. 3800 m a.s.l.) in the southwestern Ecuadorian Andes by means of a pollen and charcoal record.
Sediment deposits and pollen taxa reflect warm and possibly drier conditions in the early to mid-Holocene. The late Holocene undergoes several warm and cold-phases of which the most prominent one was the Little Ice-Age which is characterised by a marked increase of taxa that correspond to cold and moist conditions. As charcoal can be recorded since the early to mid-Holocene and Polylepis underwent several phases of degradation and re-establishment in the region, the presence of human influence might be dated back to this time.
