Holocene wildfire history and human activity from high-resolution charcoal and elemental black carbon records in the Guanzhong Basin of the Loess Plateau, China

High-resolution sedimentary charcoal and black carbon (BC, including char and soot) records from a loess-soil profile, combined with magnetic susceptibility, delta C-13 of soil organic matter of analyses, pollen counts and other paleoenvironmental proxies reveal past fire patterns and landscape evolution over the past 12,000 years. Results from the analyses of charcoal and BC influx show that regional fire activity was high in the early and late Holocene, whereas fire was less frequent and pervasive in the middle Holocene. Locally, fires were infrequent near the study site until the Late Holocene. Soot and char analyses do not parallel changes in charcoal variability, and thus appear to reflect either a different aspect of fire activity or else these data are registering aspects of particle transportation and deposition in addition to fire characteristics.