Temperature Monitoring of Marsh Landscapes and Development of Exogenous Processes in the West Siberian Plain (Russia)

The research touches upon marsh landscapes in the context of temperature monitoring and in connection with exogenous processes during engineering intervention. The monitoring of temperature regimes was conducted in the mid-taiga subzone of marsh landscapes for revealing the dynamics of exogenous processes. The authors used the method of recording systems for the field measurement of the temperature of the peat and underlying soils. The measurements were conducted on a territory that belongs to the middle taiga landscapes of Western Siberia. The authors of the research analyze the data obtained from thermowells 5, 5a and 6. During the observation period of 2015-2016, the average annual temperature was 8.3 ºC for thermowell 5a (technogenic area), which is 3.8 ºC and 4.2 ºC higher than the average annual values of thermowell 5 and thermowell 6 respectively. The latter belongs to natural marsh landscapes. Observations conducted in 2016-2017 confirmed this fact with a difference of 4.8 ºC and 3.7 ºC for thermowells 5 and 6 respectively. As compared to natural marsh landscapes not affected by man-made impact, a higher temperature was observed on soils, which affects the manifestation of exogenous processes.

Impacts of Intensified Agriculture Developments on Marsh Wetlands

A spatiotemporal analysis on the changes in the marsh landscape in the Honghe National Nature Reserve, a Ramsar reserve, and the surrounding farms in the core area of the Sanjiang Plain during the past 30 years was conducted by integrating field survey work with remote sensing techniques. The results indicated that intensified agricultural development had transformed a unique natural marsh landscape into an agricultural landscape during the past 30 years. Ninety percent of the natural marsh wetlands have been lost, and the areas of the other natural landscapes have decreased very rapidly. Most dry farmland had been replaced by paddy fields during the progressive change of the natural landscape to a farm landscape. Attempts of current Chinese institutions in preserving natural wetlands have achieved limited success. Few marsh wetlands have remained healthy, even after the establishment of the nature reserve. Their ecological qualities have been declining in response to the increasing threats to the remaining wetland habitats. Irrigation projects play a key role in such threats. Therefore, the sustainability of the natural wetland ecosystems is being threatened by increased regional agricultural development which reduced the number of wetland ecotypes and damaged the ecological quality.

AMS Radiocarbon Dating and Pollen Analysis of Core Ks0412-3 from Kashibaru Marsh in Northern Kyushu, Southwest Japan

We performed pollen analysis and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating on cored sediments (KS0412-3) from Kashibaru Marsh, located in the western part of the Sefuri Mountains in northern Kyushu, southwestern Japan, to investigate environmental change around the marsh. Sediment accumulation began in this marsh around cal AD 1200 and continued with an estimated average sedimentation rate of about 4 mm/yr. Human rice cultivation at this location began around cal AD 1300 and was abandoned due to the deposition of a thick sand layer at around cal AD 1400. Since this event, the area has been maintained as a “natural” marsh.