Wildfire is an integral component of the terrestrial ecosystem that plays a significant role in regulating the vegetation cover. The paleofire records stored in lacustrine, peat, or marine sedimentary deposits along with environmental proxy records provide temporal information on fire activity and contemporary climatic conditions on a regional scale. A ~2.8m long peat sedimentary profile from Stagmo, Indus Valley, Ladakh Himalaya was examined for sedimentology and charcoal microfossil contents to investigate fire characteristics and reconstruct wildfires which are compared with paleoclimatic changes and past human activities to assess their significance in biomass burning. Charcoal count (CC) analysis provides a suitable method for investigating climatic and vegetation changes with human intervention when no direct evidence is available in the Late-Holocene Trans Himalaya records. The results bring new insight into the interaction between vegetation, fire, and human activity in the Ladakh Himalaya during the past ~2.8 cal kyr BP. An event characterized by high CC at ~2.8 cal kyr BP is distinct from the whole sequence and cannot easily be explained as only the result of a climatic event. This first high charcoal count phase (2.81–2.55 cal kyr BP) could be a natural response to the expansion of forest and dense vegetation with human management interruption. This paleo wildfire event likely corresponds with the time of the Tibetan Plateau’s immediate human occupation. In the second phase, a relatively low charcoal count (1.65–1.54 cal kyr BP) is supported by the high fuel availability during a transitional phase. The third phase of wildfire reconstruction in Ladakh Himalaya is identified at ~1.38 cal kyr BP. This phase can be correlated with the intensified Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) advancing to Trans-Himalaya leading to increased human settlement in the region.
AgeeJK (1993) Methods of evaluating forest fire history. Journal of Northeast Forestry University4(2): 1–10.
2.
AttiwillPM (1994) The disturbance of forest ecosystems: The ecological basis for conservative management. Forest Ecology and Management63(2–3): 247–300.
3.
BhushanRYadavaMGShahMS, et al. (2019a) First results from the PRL accelerator mass spectrometer. Current Science (Bangalore)116(3): 361–363.
4.
BhushanRYadavaMGShahMS, et al. (2019b) Performance of a new 1MV AMS facility (AURiS) at PRL, Ahmedabad, India. Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B, Beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms439: 76–79.
5.
BlarquezOVannièreBMarlonJR, et al. (2014) Paleofire: An R package to analyse sedimentary charcoal records from the global charcoal database to reconstruct past biomass burning. Computational Geosciences72: 255–261.
6.
BowmanDMBalchJKArtaxoP, et al. (2009) Fire in the earth system. Science324(5926): 481–484.
7.
BrownKJClarkJSGrimmEC, et al. (2005) Fire cycles in North American interior grasslands and their relation to prairie drought. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences102(25): 8865–8870.
8.
BruneauLVernierM (2017) New discoveries for the history of Buddhism in Ladakh: the MAFIL’s excavations at Leh Choskor. In: 18th Conference of international association for Ladakh studies (IALS), Bedlewo, Poland, May 2017. Available at: https://hal.science/hal-03371690 (accessed 3 March 2023).
9.
CarcailletCAlmquistHAsnongH, et al. (2002) Holocene biomass burning and global dynamics of the carbon cycle. Chemosphere49(8): 845–863.
10.
CarcailletCBarakatHNPanaïotisC, et al. (1997) Fire and late-Holocene expansion ofQuercus ilex and Pinus pinaster on Corsica. Journal of Vegetation Science8(1): 85–94.
11.
Carmona-MorenoCBelwardAMalingreauJP, et al. (2005) Characterizing interannual variations in global fire calendar using data from Earth observing satellites. Global Change Biology11(9): 1537–1555.
12.
ChenFHDongGHZhangDJ, et al. (2015) Agriculture facilitated permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau after 3600 BP. Science347(6219): 248–250.
13.
ChevuturiADimriAPThayyenRJ (2018) Climate change over Leh (Ladakh), India. Theoretical and Applied Climatology131: 531–545.
14.
ClarkJS (1988) Effect of climate change on fire regimes in northwestern Minnesota. Nature334(6179): 233–235.
15.
ColombaroliDGavinDG (2010) Highly episodic fire and erosion regime over the past 2,000 y in the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences107(44): 18909–18914.
16.
CouillardPLTremblayJLavoieM, et al. (2019) Comparative methods for reconstructing fire histories at the stand scale using charcoal records in peat and mineral soils. Forest ecology and management433: 376–385.
17.
DaniauA-BartleinPJHarrisonSP, et al. (2012) Predictability of biomass burning in response to climate changes. Global Biogeochemical Cycles26(4): GB4007.
18.
DemskeDTarasovPEWünnemannB, et al. (2009) Late glacial and Holocene vegetation, Indian monsoon and westerly circulation in the Trans-Himalaya recorded in the lacustrine pollen sequence from Tso kar, Ladakh, NW India. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology279(3–4): 172–185.
19.
Doose-RolinskiHRogallaUScheederG, et al. (2001) High-resolution temperature and evaporation changes during the late Holocene in the northeastern Arabian Sea. Paleoceanography16(4): 358–367.
20.
EvansMEHellerF (2003) Environmental Magnetism: Principles and Applications of Enviromagnetics. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
21.
GarstangMTysonPDCachierH, et al. (1997) Atmospheric transports of particulate and gaseous products by fires. In: Clark JS, Cachier H, Goldammer JG and Stock B (eds) Sediment Records of Biomass Burning and Global Change. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, pp.207–250.
22.
GillAM (1975) Fire and the Australian flora: A review. Australian Forestry38(1): 4–25.
23.
GreenDG (1982) Fire and stability in the postglacial forests of southwest Nova Scotia. Journal of Biogeography9: 29–40.
24.
HerzschuhU (2006) Palaeo-moisture evolution in monsoonal Central Asia during the last 50,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews25(1–2): 163–178.
25.
HerzschuhUBorkowskiJScheweJ, et al. (2014) Moisture-advection feedback supports strong early-to-mid Holocene monsoon climate on the eastern Tibetan Plateau as inferred from a pollen-based reconstruction. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology402: 44–54.
26.
HouJD’AndreaWJWangM, et al. (2017) Influence of the Indian monsoon and the subtropical jet on climate change on the Tibetan Plateau since the late pleistocene. Quaternary Science Reviews163: 84–94.
27.
HowardNHowardK (2014) 3 Historic Ruins in the Gya Valley, Eastern Ladakh, and a Consideration of Their Relationship to the History of Ladakh and Maryul. With an Appendix on the War of Tsede (rTse lde) of Guge in 1083 CE by Philip Denwood. In: Bue EL and Bray J (eds) Art and Architecture in Ladakh. Leiden: Brill, pp.68–99.
28.
JafféRDingYNiggemannJ, et al. (2013) Global charcoal mobilization from soils via dissolution and riverine transport to the oceans. Science340(6130): 345–347.
29.
JohanssonE (2012) The melting Himalayas: examples of water harvesting techniques. Student Thesis series INES, Lund University.
30.
KalaCP (2011) Floral diversity and distribution in the high alti-tude cold desert of Ladakh, India. Journal of Sustainable Forestry30(5): 360–369.
31.
KathayatGChengHSinhaA, et al. (2017) The Indian monsoon variability and civilization changes in the Indian subcontinent. Science Advances3(12): e1701296.
32.
KramerAHerzschuhUMischkeS, et al. (2010) Holocene treeline shifts and monsoon variability in the Hengduan Mountains (southeastern Tibetan Plateau), implications from palynological investigations. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology286: 23–41.
33.
LarsenCPSMacDonaldGM (1998) An 840-year record of fire and vegetation in a boreal white spruce forest. Ecology79(1): 106–118.
34.
LeipeCDemskeDTarasovPE, et al. (2014) A Holocene pollen record from the northwestern Himalayan Lake Tso Moriri: Implications for palaeoclimatic and archaeological research. Quaternary International348: 93–112.
35.
LeysBCarcailletCDezileauL, et al. (2013) A comparison of charcoal measurements for reconstruction of Mediterranean paleo-fire frequency in the mountains of Corsica. Quaternary Research79(3): 337–349.
36.
LiuKBYaoZThompsonLG (1998) A pollen record of Holocene climatic changes from the Dunde ice cap, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Geology26(2): 135–138.
37.
MaherBAThompsonR (eds) (1999) Quaternary Climates, Environments and Magnetism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
38.
MaQZhuLWangJ, et al. (2020) Late Holocene vegetation responses to climate change and human impact on the central Tibetan Plateau. The Science of the Total Environment708: 135370.
39.
MarlonJR (2020) What the past can say about the present and future of fire. Quaternary Research96: 66–87.
40.
MarlonJRBartleinPJCarcailletC, et al. (2008) Climate and human influences on global biomass burning over the past two millennia. Nature Geoscience1(10): 697–702.
41.
MarlonJRBartleinPJDaniauAL, et al. (2013) Global biomass burning: A synthesis and review of Holocene paleofire records and their controls. Quaternary Science Reviews65: 5–25.
42.
MarlonJRKellyRDaniauAL, et al. (2016) Reconstructions of biomass burning from sediment-charcoal records to improve data–model comparisons. Biogeosciences13(11): 3225–3244.
43.
MauryaSKumar RaiSPankaj SharmaC, et al. (2022) Paleo-vegetation and climate variability during the last three millennia in the Ladakh, Himalaya. CATENA217: 106500.
44.
MiaoYFangXSongC, et al. (2016) Late Cenozoic fire enhancement response to aridification in mid-latitude Asia: Evidence from microcharcoal records. Quaternary Science Reviews139: 53–66.
45.
MiaoYWuFWarnyS, et al. (2019) Miocene fire intensification linked to continuous aridification on the Tibetan Plateau. Geology47(4): 303–307.
46.
MiaoYZhangDCaiX, et al. (2017) Holocene fire on the northeast Tibetan Plateau in relation to climate change and human activity. Quaternary International443: 124–131.
47.
Montero-SerranoJCPalarea-AlbaladejoJMartín-FernándezJA, et al. (2010) Sedimentary chemofacies characterization by means of multivariate analysis. Sedimentary Geology228: 218–228.
48.
MooneySDTinnerW (2011) The analysis of charcoal in peat and organic sediments. Mires and Peat7(9): 1–18.
49.
MoritzMAParisienMABatlloriE, et al. (2012) Climate change and disruptions to global fire activity. Ecosphere3(6):art49.
50.
NelsonDMHuFS (2008) Patterns and drivers of Holocene vegetational change near the prairie–forest ecotone in Minnesota: revisiting McAndrews’ transect. New Phytologist179(2): 449–459.
51.
OtaSB (1993) Evidences of transhumance from Ladakh Himalayas, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Current Advances in Indian Archaeology1: 91–110.
52.
PatelNGahluadSSaxenaA, et al. (2022) Revised chronology and stable isotopic (carbon and nitrogen) characterization of Lahuradewa lake sediment (Ganga-plain, India): Insights into biogeochemistry leading to peat formation in the lake. Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India67(1): 113–125.
53.
PattersonWAEdwardsKJMaguireDJ (1987) Microscopic charcoal as a fossil indicator of fire. Quaternary Science Reviews6(1): 3–23.
54.
PausasJGKeeleyJE (2009) A burning story: The role of fire in the history of life. Bioscience59(7): 593–601.
55.
PetersMEHigueraPE (2007) Quantifying the source area of macroscopic charcoal with a particle dispersal model. Quaternary Research67(2): 304–310.
56.
PhartiyalBKapurVVNagD, et al. (2021) Spatio-temporal climatic variations during the last five millennia in the Ladakh Himalaya (India) and its links to archaeological finding(s) (including coprolites) in a palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental context: A reappraisal. Quaternary International 599–600: 32–44.
57.
PisaricMF (2002) Long-distance transport of terrestrial plant material by convection resulting from forest fires. Journal of Paleolimnology28(3): 349–354.
58.
PowerMJMarlonJOrtizN, et al. (2008) Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: An assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data. Climate Dynamics30(7): 887–907.
59.
PowerMJMarlonJRBartleinPJ, et al. (2010) Fire history and the global charcoal database: A new tool for hypothesis testing and data exploration. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology291(1-2): 52–59.
60.
PriceDTAppsMJ (1996) Boreal forest responses to climate-change scenarios along an ecoclimatic transect in central Canada. Climatic Change34(2): 179–190.
61.
RawatSGuptaAKSangodeSJ, et al. (2015) Late pleistocene–Holocene vegetation and Indian summer monsoon record from the Lahaul, northwest Himalaya, India. Quaternary Science Reviews114: 167–181.
62.
ReimerPJBardEBaylissA, et al. (2013) IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon55(4): 1869–1887.
63.
SagwalSS (1991) Ladakh, Ecology and Environment. Ladakh: APH Publishing.
64.
SchlützFLehmkuhlF (2009) Holocene climatic change and the nomadic anthropocene in Eastern Tibet: Palynological and geomorphological results from the Nianbaoyeze Mountains. Quaternary Science Reviews28(15–16): 1449–1471.
65.
SharmaCPChahalPKumarA, et al. (2022) Late pleistocene–Holocene flood history, flood-sediment provenance and human imprints from the upper Indus River catchment, Ladakh Himalaya. GSA Bulletin134(1–2): 275–292.
66.
SharmaCPRawatSLSrivastavaP, et al. (2020) High-resolution climatic (monsoonal) variability reconstructed from a continuous~ 2700-year sediment record from Northwest Himalaya (Ladakh). The Holocene30(3): 441–457.
67.
SharmaKKRajagopalanGChoubeyVM (1989) Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from pre-Indus civilization fireplace, upper Indus valley, Ladakh. Current Science58(6): 306–308.
68.
SinhaAKathayatGChengH, et al. (2015) Trends and oscillations in the Indian summer monsoon rainfall over the last two millennia. Nature Communications6(1): 1–8.
69.
SrivastavaPAgnihotriRSharmaD, et al. (2017) 8000-Year monsoonal record from Himalaya revealing reinforcement of tropical and global climate systems since mid-Holocene. Scientific Reports7(1): 1–10.
70.
StuiverMReimerPJBardE, et al. (1998) INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP. Radiocarbon40(3): 1041–1083.
71.
TinnerWHofstetterSZeuginF, et al. (2006) Long-distance transport of macroscopic charcoal by an intensive crown fire in the swiss alps - implications for fire history reconstruction. The Holocene16(2): 287–292.
72.
VannièreBPowerMJRobertsN, et al. (2011) Circum-Mediterranean fire activity and climate changes during the mid-Holocene environmental transition (8500-2500 cal. BP). The Holocene21(1): 53–73.
73.
von EynattenHBarcelo-VidalCPawlowsky-GlahnV (2003) Composition and discrimination of sandstones: A statistical evaluation of different analytical methods. Journal of Sedimentary Research73: 47–57.
74.
von EynattenHTolosana-DelgadoRKariusV, et al. (2016) Sediment generation in humid Mediterranean setting: Grain-size and source-rock control on sediment geochemistry and mineralogy (Sila Massif, Calabria). Sedimentary Geology336: 68–80.
75.
WhitlockCHigueraPEMcWethyDB, et al. (2010) Paleoecological perspectives on fire ecology: Revisiting the fire-regime concept. The Open Ecology Journal3(2): 6–23.
76.
WhitlockCLarsenC (2002) Charcoal as a fire proxy. In: Smol JP, Birks HJB and Last WM (eds) Tracking Eenvironmental Change Using Lake Sediments. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.75–97.
77.
WhitlockCShaferSLMarlonJ (2003) The role of climate and vegetation change in shaping past and future fire regimes in the northwestern US and the implications for ecosystem management. Forest Ecology and Management178(1–2): 5–21.
78.
WischnewskiJMischkeSWangY, et al. (2011) Reconstructing climate variability on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau since the last lateglacial – A multi-proxy, dual-site aroach comparing terstrial and aqutic signalsnalundefined. Quaternary Science Reviews30(1–2): 82–97.
79.
XiaoXHaberleSGShenJ, et al. (2017) Postglacial fire history and interactions with vegetation and climate in southwestern Yunnan Province of China. Climate of the Past13(6): 613–627.
80.
ZhangXHecobianAZhengM, et al. (2010) Biomass burning impact on PM 2.5 over the southeastern US during 2007: Integrating chemically speciated FRM filter measurements, MODIS fire counts and PMF analysis. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics10(14): 6839–6853.
81.
ZhaoWZhaoYQinF (2017) Holocene fire, vegetation, and climate dynamics inferred from charcoal and pollen record in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences147: 9–16.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
