Modern pollen-vegetation-stable carbon isotope analogues of Bakhira lake,central Ganga plain,India: implications for palaeoclimatic and palaeoecological reconstruction
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2026
Modern pollen-vegetation-stable carbon isotope analogues of Bakhira lake,central Ganga plain,India: implications for palaeoclimatic and palaeoecological reconstruction
A multiproxy modern surface sediments sample analogue including pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), Total organic carbon/Total nitrogen (TOC/TN), and stable carbon isotopes (δ13C values) were generated from the Bakhira Lake, Central Ganga Plain (CGP) to delineate the modern climate-vegetation relationship and human-environment interactions. Pollen data reveal a dominance of non-arboreals (67.4%) over arboreals (32.6%) along the lake margins, with increased arboreal representation (e.g. Acacia, Madhuca indica, Anacardiaceae, Trewia nudiflora, Peltophorum, Arecaceae) in the lake centre. This reflects both land-use intensity and pollen production biases. The assemblage indicates a mixed deciduous forest under warm, humid conditions. The occurrence of marker pollen taxa, such as Cerealia, Alternanthera, Asteraceae, Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae (Cheno/Am), Brassicaceae and NPPs along with coprophilous fungi assemblage (viz. Sordaria, Podospora, Delitschia, and Ascodesmis) shows the anthropogenic activities and intensively-grazed conditions over the sampling site. The relatively higher δ13C values (−19.7 to −21.7‰) indicate C3 dominated to mixed C3−C4 vegetation input to the sedimentary organic matter at the lake centre. The NW and SE flanks, together with cropland, have relatively lower δ13C values ranging from −21.2‰ to −28.9‰, except for the sample number S23 (−19.3‰), indicating a higher contribution of organic matter from C3 vegetation. Ordination analysis of pollen taxa distributions in surface sediments samples revealed correlations among sampling locations, modern pollen deposition, and associated environmental factors. This multiproxy modern dataset provides a robust baseline for interpreting Holocene palaeoecological and palaeoclimatic dynamics across tropical lacustrine systems in the central Indian subcontinent.
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