Sedimenet cores from construction site of future Pelješac bridge

During September 2018 new drilling campaign for construction of Pelješac bridge took place. The location of the future Pelješac bridgeis near Komarna, Dubrovnik County. Our colleagues Ozren Hasan and Nikola Gizdavec visited the site to collect sediment cores. Constructed platforms for drilling served to drill boreholes at the location of future bridge pillars. The goal of the civil engineers was to drill to reach the limestone bedrock. We used this platform and drilling equipment to extract the sediments deposited above bedrock. The sediments were collected at one location, at the sea-water depth of 25 m, where the sediment thickness was approximately 100 m. Total length of recovered sediment core was 44 m.

    

Fig. 1. Coring platform with drilling equipment.

 

Fig. 2. Recovered sediment cores.

LoLADRIA hits Stockholm

In June 2018, the first joint meeting of the International Paleolimnology Association and International Association of Limnogeology (IPA-IAL) was organised in Stockholm, at Stockholm University, entitled “Unravelling the Past and Future of Lakes”. The meeting gathered scientists interested in the study of mud found at the bottom of lakes.

Considering lakes are important sources of freshwater, stores and sinks of carbon and provide us with a wealth of other services, the more we can understand about these incredible ecosystems will ultimately help us to protect them from environmental degradation. Studying the sediment found at the bottom of lakes which builds up over time allows us the ability to investigate how the lake and its surrounding landscape has changed from the past to the present. This can then help us to predict what may then happen in the future. The IPA-IAL meeting was a chance for researchers around the globe to discuss progresses made in using lake sediments to understand human impacts, climate change, landscape and ecological evolution and natural hazards.

Scientists working on the LoLADRIA project were present at IPA-IAL to inform the paleolimnological community about progress in the marine coring of the Eastern Adriatic Shelf to find lost lakes – the ones that existed when the sea level was lower during Pleistocene and the landscape was significantly different. Since the sea was lower than at present for most of the last million years, large areas of land were exposed and were occupied by terrestrial vegetation, animals, and early humans. The LoLADRIA project intends to uncover submerged landscapes in relation to sea level change. These evolution of the landscape from land, lakes and marine transgression can be tracked in our sediment cores from basins from northern to southern Adriatic Sea (Lošinj, Pirovac, Koločep Bay). The position of former coastlines at different time-frames, including the Last Glacial Maximum, is studied and the pathways of exposed land at different periods are believed to be important in the dispersal of our hominin ancestors across the Balkan region.

No conference studying things under water is complete without a boat trip. The nearly 3 hour-long guided tour through Swedish inner archipelago was organised and we learnt about islands named after each day of the week according to when the farmers would row their livestock to each island to let them graze.

Fig. 1. Slobodan Miko presenting LoLADRIA project results.

Fig. 2. Granite rocks inside the Stockholm University.

Fig. 3. In front of conference hall at Stockholm Uni.

High-resolution geochemistry of marine sediment cores from Koločep canal, Telašćica and Zambratija bays

Between 19 and 23rd March, Ozren Hasan visited XRF-core scanning laboratory at  Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR) in Bologna, operated by Stefano Miserocchi.  Substantial work has been done on marine sediments cores collected during previous year along the Eastern Adriatic coast – two cores from northen Adriatic, on the north-western coast of the Istriian peninsula, Zambratija Cove near Umag; two cores from the central part, Telašćica Bay on the Island of Dugi Otok; and one core from southern Adriatic, Koločep canal. All these sediment cores record the sea-level rise during middle Holocene and progressive flooding of the lake/wetland environments. Koločep Bay archives the tectonic and seismic activity of the area. Zambratija Cove represents a unique underwater archaeological site due to preserved remains of prehistoric wooden houses (pile-dwellings) and exceptional sunken boat, the oldest fully sewn boat ever found in the Mediterranean. The remains of a submerged settlement include submerged prehistoric pile-dwellings (2.5-3.0 m bsl) that were built on wooden piles above the lake/wetland (more than 120 piles so far), and they date back to about 4100 years BC. Undisturbed sediment cores from Zambratija Cove will be multidisciplinary examined and combined with detailed geophysical survey, will contribute to reconstruction of submerged Holocene paleolandscape. The flooded pile-dwelling settlement in Zambratija shows similarities with those found in the Alps (www.palafittes.org) . Unlike alpine localities that were mostly located in lakes and wetlands, the Zambratija settlement represents a sensation in archaeological sense because it is the first example of such a site located near the sea shore. The evolution of prehistoric landscape in Zambratija Bay is part of a research Ph.D. by the Flinders University Ph.D. Candidate Katarina Jerbić.

Fig. 1. Core sections prepared for XRF-core scanning.

  

Fig. 2. Avaatech XRF Core Scanner in CNR-ISMAR, Bologna.

 

Fig. 3. Sediment core section from Zambratija Bay ready to be analysed and during measurement in xrf-core scanner.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Final conference of the LoLADRIA project “Submerged Pleistocene landscapes of the Adriatic Sea“

This year the 5th Regional Meeting hosts the Final conference of the LoLADRIA project “Submerged Pleistocene landscapes of the Adriatic Sea“, organized by Croatian Geological Survey. The meeting will take place in Starigrad-Paklenica, from 9th to 10th November 2017.

This topic intends to uncover submerged landscapes in relation to sea level change.  Global sea level during the last 500,000 years oscillated between 120-130 m below present sea level and 5-10 m above present sea level. Since the sea was lower than at present for most of the last million years, large areas of land were exposed and were occupied by terrestrial vegetation, animals, and early humans. An assessment of Holocene sediment thickness will be examined along the Eastern Adriatic coast and the position of former coastlines at different time-frames including the Last Glacial Maximum. Submerged landscape features (landforms and deposits) and palaeoenvironmental indicators can be classified through an appraisal of existing records (e.g. bathymetry maps, geophysical data, sediment cores) and include:

• coastal (shorelines, lagoons, beaches, estuaries etc.),
• riverine (valleys, channels, deltas, terraces etc.),
• subaerial (aeolian, rough or flat terrains, karst, volcanic etc.),
• water points (groundwater discharge points, freshwater lakes etc.), and
• archaeological data.

The conference aims to bring together sedimentologists, geochemists, mineralogists, geomorphologists and paleontologists with interests in interdisciplinary research of high resolution paleoenvironmental reconstructions of submerged karstic depressions during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene sea level rise. The answer lies beneath the sea in the mud and sediments of the continental shelf.

The website of the meeting is: https://inqua-croatia.wixsite.com/regional-mtg-2017.

MOPP-MEDFLOOD workshop in Sardinia

In the period between 24-27 September 2017 team memeber Dea Brunović participated in second MOPP-MEDFLOOD workshop, held in Sardinia. MOPP-MEDFLOOD is INQUA funded project that gathers scientific community working on the sea-level changes during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in the Mediterranean region. This year, workshop offered field perspective on different sea-level indicators that are present along coastline of Sardinia. Participants were able to observe geological and archeological indicators of sea-level change, such as beachrocks, roman pier, archaeological settlements, salt-marshes, dunes and coastal lagoons. Scientists with different research background discussed on the field numerous advantages and disadvantages of using different sea-level indicators for reconstruction of Late Pleistocene and Holocene sea-level changes. Worshop also included visit to Nuragic archeological settlement that dates back to the Bronze Age. Last day of workshop, organized at City Hall of Palau, was dedicated to presentations of young researchers. Sessions included presentations on paleoenvironmental reconstructions, archeological indicators of sea-level change and modelling of paleo-processes.

Figure 1: Beachrock with ceramics and animal bones.

Figure 2: Granite rocks with MIS 5 dunes.

Figure 3: Nuragic archeological settlement.

Figure 4: Participants of MOPP-MEDFLOOD workshop in Sardinia.

Figure 5: Salt marsh.

 

Field workshop “Breaking the surface”

An interesting meeting about marine research and methods used in its exploration is going to be held in Biograd na Moru in Croatia, from 1st to 8th October 2017.  The topics of this international interdisciplinary field workshop of maritime robotics and applications “Breaking the surface – BTS” are maritime robotics, marine biology, marine archaeology, maritime security and marine geology. The PI of the project dr. Slobodan Miko will participate as invited speaker, presenting the LoLADRIA project and submerged landscapes of the Eastern Adriatic Sea. The workshop will gather international experts, universtiy professors, scientists, industry representatives and students from various fileds. The 7 days long programme consists of lectures, field demonstrations of latest technological achievements and tutorials which offer hands-on experience in working with complex and modern underwater systems. In addition, a whole-day workshop “Innovation day” will share experience of robotics experts in commercializing robotics-related technologies with the rest of scientific community and aspiring entrepreneurs. The workshop is organized by the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Laboratory for Underwater Systems and Technologies, Centre for Underwater Systems and Technologies.

The webiste of the workshop is:        http://bts.fer.hr/

 

 

Poseidon Cruise POS514

Team members Ozren Hasan and Nikolina Ilijanić are participating on the scientific cruise in the Adriatic Sea on research vessel (RV) Poseidon (Kiel, Germany). Cruise started from Heraklion on Crete on 27th of May and will end on 16th June in Dubrovnik. They are experiencing the off-shore life on a 60 m-ship, which includes drilling with gravity corer (3, 5 or 8 m core tube), sampling of the sea-surface sediments using multi corer, Frahm corer, box corer and Van Veen grab corer, sampling of the plankton at various depth and measurements of conductivity, temperature, oxygen and fluorescence of the sea water column. The cruise entitled „Micropaleontology, Actuopaleontology, and Environmental Baseline Study of the Holocene to latest Pleistocene in the northern and eastern Adriatic Sea basin“ (Code name: APTA: Actuo-Paleontology Trans-Adriatic) is organized by the chief scientist Hartmut Schulz from the University of Tübingen, in coordination with Slobodan Miko from the Croatian Geological Survey. The 21 days-long cruise is financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The scientific crew make James Nebelsick and Tobias Grun from University of Tübingen, Petra Heinz, Julia Wukovits, Patrick Bukenberger and Martin Zuschin from Vienna University, Guiseppe Siena and Nydia Catalina Reyes Suarez from National Institute of Oceanography in Trieste and Ozren Hasan and Nikolina Ilijanić from Croatian Geological Survey.

CTD (Coductivity Temperature Depth) is deployed routinely at most stations at variable depths, it has a bulk flourescence sensor and bottles for water sampling. MultiNet (5 nets) is also deployed at variable depths (ie 100 and 700 m) for plankton sampling using 100 and 63 µm nets. Samples are immediately deep frozen and stored.

Ozren Hasan and Nikolina Ilijanić are responsible for operating the Gravity Corer (GC), heavy instrument that includes heavy work setting up of variable 3 and 5 m core tubes up to 10 m total length. Cores are immediately cut into 1m-sections, capped, sealed, labeled and stored/cooled to be opened in Tübingen. Short cores (< 50 cm) are collected using the Multi Corer (MUC) able to collect as much as 8 cores in the same time. Only the best are photographed, sliced by 1 or 2 cm interval and packed into plastic bags. On selected sites best sediment surface samples are collected (0-1, 1-2 cm) and also taken for incubation foraminifera experiments on board. Frahm Corer is used to collect up to 100 cm-long cores in shallower depths, the cores are photographed, sliced and packed in plastic bags. Van Veen Grab Corer is deployed mostly at shallow depths, robust, effective and it is used for instance surface and shallow benthos sieved/washed. Box Corer (BC) is used to collect up to 20 cm-long cores with well preserved sediment surface. Cores are photographed and sliced, than packed into plastic bags.

We wish them succesfull cruise, nice weather and lots of cores and sediments from the Adriatic Sea!

Fig. 1. Operating the Gravity Corer, Ozren Hasan and Hartmut Schulz on the Bridge and slicing the cores into 1m-sections.

Fig. 2. MultiCorer sampling, handled by the whole team.

Fig. 3. Setting up Frahm Corer and taking the core, by Tobias Grun, James Nebelsick, Hartmut Schulz and Martin Zuschin.

Fig. 4. Box corer sampling by Tobias Grun.

Fig. 5. Grab sampling.

Fig. 6. Photographing the multi corer and Frahm corer sediment cores, ready to be sampled (sliced by 1 or 2 cm interval) and washing of grab samples, work of the whole team, under supervision of chief scientist Hartmut Schulz.

Fig. 7. CTD, operated by Guiseppe Siena and Nydia Catalina Reyes Suarez.

Fig. 8. MultiNets, operated by Petra Heinz, Julia Wukovits and Patrick Bukenberger.

Fig. 9. Night work and taking samples from the grab corer, by James Nebelsick and Tobias Grun.

 

 

Radionica LoLADRIA 2017

U sklopu LoLADRIA projekta organizira se radionica o istraživanju potopljenih paleookoliša u Salima na Dugom otoku, od 28. do 30. lipnja 2017. godine. Radionica je namijenjenja studentima diplomskih studija, doktorandima i mladim istraživačima. Detalje možete pročitati u sljedećim prilozima:

loladria2017_final

program_radionica_LoLADRIA_telascica2017

 

 

Ozren achieved a doctoral degree

Recently, our colleague Ozren Hasan defended his doctoral thesis under the panel of Professors Slobodan Miko, Goran Durn and Mladen Juračić. His work is summed up under the title “Paleookolišna rekonstrukcija slivova Karinskoga mora, Novigradskoga mora i Velebitskoga kanala tijekom holocena” (“Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Karin Sea, Novigrad Sea and the Velebit Channel catchments during the Holocene”). In excellent presentation he showed a completely new data that are the result of the work of LoLADRIA project, combined geophysical research with sediment cores. The geophysical research was contucted in collaboration with the Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography Laboratory from Uni. Patras and Prof. G. Papatheodorou. The research in Novigrad Sea area represents this type of  approach for the first time in Croatian Quaternary science. The LoLADRIA team is very proud of him and wish all the best in his future work and research! Congrats, Ozren!