Holocene climate events and associated land use changes in the eastern coast of India: Inferences from the Chilika Lagoon

Abstract

The Holocene arid events and related societal responses are important scientific inquiries due to concerns about their reoccurrences in the future. In the Indian subcontinent, significant number of studies have focussed on understanding the Holocene aridification events at 8.2 and 4.2 ka. Despite these studies, high resolution palaeoclimatic records from the eastern India during Holocene, particularly around the above-mentioned aridification events are lacking. In this study, we present high resolution Holocene palaeoclimate records reconstructed based on geochemical and isotopic data from the Chilika Lagoon located in the east coast of India. A 130 cm long sediment core, retrieved from the southern end of the lagoon, revealed a continuous sedimentation history between 8.49 and 0.99 ka. The variations in organic carbon isotopic compositions, total organic carbon contents, along with major and trace element abundances suggested a strong effect of 8.2 dry event and a shift in chemical weathering at around 4.2 ka in the eastern coast of India. Additionally, a strong warm climate anomaly was observed at 1.2 ka. Interestingly, higher sedimentation rates were observed post 4.2 ka, which potentially indicated a significant change in settlement dynamics and human interventions. It appears that the eastern coast of India experienced human migration and surge in agricultural practices similar to that in northwest India after the 4.2 ka climatic event. It is likely that people relocated themselves, which eventually increased the pastoral activities in newly occupied lands. Consequently, enhanced land use and land cover changes accelerated soil erosion in the region leading to higher sedimentation rate in the lagoon.