Medieval accumulation in the Upper Dniester river valley: The role of human impact and climate change in the Carpathian Foreland

Research in the valleys of Upper Dniester, Strvjaž and Stryj Rivers, in the Eastern Carpathian Foreland, documents the occurrence of 3–4 Holocene floodplain terraces and several alluvial fills dating back to the Late Vistulian and the Atlantic, as well as the periods 3500–3000 BP (1850–1250 cal. BC), 2200–1700 BP (360 cal. BC–390 cal. AD), 5th–6th, 10th–12th and 14th–16th centuries AD. Flood phases distinguished in the Upper Dniester drainage basin correlate well with previously established phases of enhanced fluvial activity in the valleys of Upper Vistula, the Wisłoka and the San in the Western Carpathian Foreland. An episode of tree fall during the 5th–6th century floods is the most conspicuous and is linked to the beginning of a wet climate phase (1500–1350 cal. BP). Subsequent phases of greater fluvial activity, from the 10th to the 12th and from the 14th to the 16th centuries, record increasing human activity, as well as correlation with wet and cool climate phases (the first half of the 11th century and the beginning of the Little Ice Age). Fluvial accumulation processes along the longitudinal profile of the Upper Dniester Valley were affected not only by human activity and more humid climate phases, but also by diverse neotectonic movements.