ORIGINAL PAPER

Environmental changes in the wetlands of Southern Iraqbased on palynological studies

Thamer Khazal Al-Ameri & Sahar Y. Jassim

Received: 19 February 2009 /Accepted: 21 October 2009# Saudi Society for Geosciences 2009

Abstract Palynological techniques are useful in recon-structing past environments, especially when other sourcesof information are lacking. We have embarked on apalynological study of the wetlands in Southern Iraq in anattempt to determine the nature and extent of past plantcommunities and other conditions prior to the drying of thewetland in the 1990s. Ten 1-m depth cores were collectedfrom selected locations in marshes and shallow open waterwetlands in Mesopotamian wetlands of Southern Iraq.Pollen diagrams from three short cores from the Hawizehwetlands serve as a reference because this site has not beendrained. The palynomorphs in these cores were Gramineae,Chenopodiaceae, Typha, Isonandra lanceolata, Bursarea,Artocarpus, Ireantea, Arenga, Crinum, Palmae, Navia,Tofieldia, Ipomorea, Xyris, and Morus. Fungal sporesincluding Polyporisporites, Pluricellaesporites palyado-sporites, Fusiformisporites, Spegazzinites indicus, Dipor-isporites, Plochmopellinites, Lycoperdon, Miliolinites,Dryadosporites constrictus, and Trichothyrites padapakar-ensis were noteworthy. Charcoal was scattered through thecores and indicate activities associated with human settle-ments. Many other forms of cuticles, filaments, insects,algae, and foraminifera test linings were also recorded. Asecond set of pollen samples were analyzed from 160 soilsamples from eight cores collected from the wetland areawhich was dried during the 1990s. These data show a

mixture of pollen and spores that could be used to evaluatepast vegetation, climatic, and ecological changes. Prelimi-nary results indicated that chenopodiaceous have increasedwhile germinate types have declined which probablyreflected desertification and a trend towards a more aeolianlandscape during the 1990s. It is hoped that these studieswill be useful in establishing conditions of the wetlandsprior to destruction and will assist in setting restorationgoals in the future. Case studies of one deep borehole(153 m) near Amara city for evaluating late Quaternaryhistory and dig of 3 m depth to evaluate ancientdesertification by wetland dryness were taken for correla-tion and connection with this recent sediment.

Keywords Ahwar .Wetland . Southern Iraq . Pollen .

Fungi . Paleoenviroments

Introduction

Palynological studies for soil samples are well establishedto evaluate environmental changes and paleovegetation(Zonneveld 1996; Traverse 1988; Horn 1994; Wicanderand Monroe 2004), human impact and adaptation (Eriksenand Straus 1998; Yasuda et al. 2000), sea level changes andthe flood catastrophe (Al-Ameri et al. 2000; Rossignol-Martine 1995), rise and demise of human culture (Robert1998; Leroi-Gourhan 1981), and many other disciplines allcoupled with a science called Quaternary Palynology thatdeals with natural events during human life on earth.

In this scenario, studies based on pollen diagram aredone on the wetland area in Southern Iraq, Ahwar in local

T. K. Al-Ameri (*) : S. Y. JassimDepartment of Geology, College of Science,University of Baghdad,Baghdad, Iraqe-mail: thamer_alameri@yahoo.com

Arab J GeosciDOI 10.1007/s12517-009-0102-9

terminology for wetland areas and special type of living fortheir environmental changes especially the plant communi-ties and local climatic equilibrium in this area as part of theglobal model prior to and after the wetland dryness in1990s as well as the Holocene history of the nature andhuman settlements and evolution in Southern Mesopotamia.Historically, Southern Mesopotamian peoples developedthe earliest civilization of the world.

The wetland (Ahwar) area have been formed since thedeluge time of the main post global glacial melt10,000 years ago that raised oceanic water level to 70 m(the last and the more active successive rise during the icemelting 18,000 to 10,000 years ago) and hence oceanicwater from the Arabian sea were pushed in transgression tothe greater Mesopotamian valley and formed the ArabianGulf since the early Holocene (Purser 1973; Uchupi et al.1996; Al-Ameri et al. 2000). This scenario was proven inthe global context by Larcomb et al. (1995) based on coralreef changes in the Great Barrier Reef of the EastAustralian shelf and by Rossignol-Martine (1995) on thebasis of pollen records in the Eastern Mediterranean for theglacial–interglacial transitions. Retreat of this transgressedoceanic water 6,000 years ago (Al-Ameri 2000; Aqrawi2001) have formed the theme for the water fill in thedepressions of Southern Iraq while continued water supplyfrom the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have formed thiscontinued ecosystem of the wetland in Southern Iraq. Thiswetland ecosystem could be represented as part of thecyclic successive stages of geographic development of past,present, and future in Mesopotamia (Al-Ameri et al. 2000)as a response to transgressions and regressions of the latestglacial epoch on earth.

Accumulated sediments in this wetland area are fluvialclay and sand during the Pleistocene while the Holocenesediments are of fluvial sand, marsh organic sediment,marine sand and silt, peat and fluvial clay and silt.

Ahwar region of Southern Mesopotamia represent todaythe locally semiarid region bound by temperate region inthe north and arid region in the south, between these isvegetated area and well-adapted human life throughouthistory. Hence, any environmental change could disturb thisequilibrium and desertification will happen as well as soildestruction. (Monroe et al. 2007). The present globalwarming could accelerate this scenario. But keeping thewater cover of the Ahwar could keep this equilibrium instable position, otherwise catastrophe could happen.

Accordingly, this study is aimed for the clarification ofenvironmental and climatic changes, involving Ahwardryness in South Iraq to predict solutions for preventingpresent and future catastrophe of desertification, foodresources shortage, and local people suffering. For thisgoal, studies will be performed for the historic developmentof this wetland and case studies of this phenomenon during

the late Quaternary history of the Mesopotamia in SouthIraq as well as present changes.

Materials and methods

For the fulfillment of this study, soil samples were collectedfrom localities illustrated in Fig. 1 with latitude andlongitude values. They are of the following types:

1. Eight hand cores of 1 m depth. They are surface corescollected from marshes (Ahwar) and wetland areas(Fig. 2) of Al-Athem (31°–42″/47°–45″), Ummulnaage(31°–36″/47°–34″) and (31°–35″/47°–40″), Al-Baghdadia (31°–02″/47°–02″), Al-Mashab (30°–40″/47°–45″), Al-Kurmashya (30°–49″/46°–34″), and AboZarak (31°–09″/46°–38″) and (31°–05″/46°–37″). Four-teen to 18 soil samples were collected from each ofthese cores.

2. Dig hole of 3 m depth in the archeological site ofUmmulakareb area, 25 km west of Al-Rifae city of Al-Nasiriyah region with location of (45°–48″/31°–35″).Seventeen samples were collected systematically fromthis dig hole as well as five samples from the royalhouse of the same archeological site.

3. Drilling cores of deep boreholes were performedaccording the following:

(a) Borehole 18 drilled by the Metallurgical and GeologicalSurvey Company located between the cities of Qurna andAmarah within (47°–25″/31°–25″) and of 152 m depth.Sixty soil samples were collected systematically.

(b) Borehole Abo-Zarak of 33 m depth located in AhwarAbo-Zarak, 25 km northeast of the city of Nasiriyah.One hundred twenty soil samples were collectedsystematically.

Palynological preparations are performed by standardmaceration techniques of HCl and HF treatment, acetolysis,sieving with 16 µm nylon mesh, stained with safranin, andslicked on slide by glycerin oil and/or celusize. They havebeen stored in the Department of Geology, College ofScience, University of Baghdad.

Late Quaternary history

It is evident from the pollen diagram (Fig. 3) of deepborehole no. 18 40 km south of the city of Amarah (Al-Ameri et al. 2000) that this succession could be correlatedwith the late Quaternary period of the last 50,000 years ofearth history in this locality and could be subdivided intothree main stratigraphic intervals of historic events onMesopotamian peoples. These are:

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Latest Pleistocene nature

This constitutes the interval of deeper than 62 m andcharacterized by no marine-inhabited palynomorph, abundantchenopodiaceous and Artemisia pollen with few palmate,poaceae, and fungi. These characteristics could indicate landarea with no marine influence and cold arid to humidpaleoclimate according to the comparison with environmentalsignificance of major pollen producers of the last 40,000 yearsin earth history of the Middle East (El-Muslimani 1987 andZeist and Bottema 1977) and their habitat (Barnet 1989). Theage interval of this succession is 11,000–50,000 years beforepresent by comparison with the global interval of Traverse(1988) and sea–land correlation of pollen records in theEastern Mediterranean for the glacial–interglacial transition(Rossignol-Martine 1995) and palaeolithic landscape ofEurope (Van Andel and Tzedakis 1996).

Accordingly, this interval is equivalent to the late glacialage of the Quaternary that stored 70 km3 of ice on landwhich affected the sea level to stabilize with 130 m belowthe present sea level (Wicander and Monroe 2004). Theeffect of this natural phenomenon in the Middle East is the

extension of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in a valleyrepresented today by the Arabian Gulf to make their inputto the Arabian Ocean in the Hormuz Strait (Fig. 4) withsome tributaries within the valley to form delta. This deltais evident by microtopography provinces of the ArabianGulf (Uchupi et al. 1996) based on data from 3.5 kHzrecording obtained during Atlantis II cruise 93 leg 18supplemented with data obtained during leg 17. That valleywith its river tributaries, lakes, water falls from mountainsof the present location of the Arabian Gulf Island such asBahrain, and the temperate climate (Servant et al. 1993;Starkel 1993) could have attracted human settlements thatcultivated the area and domesticated some animals. Prob-ably, they used woody boats of the ancient time for theiraquatic transport in a Paleolithic culture (Al-Ameri 2001).

Anthropological studies, viz Wicander and Monroe (2004)and Stanley (1989), have gathered evidences that Cro-Magnon humans closely resemble European and MiddleEastern today man who had evolved since 35,000 years ago.He characterized by brain volume of about 1,600–1,900 cm3

and 170–220 m tall while modern man have brain volume of1,400–1,800 cm3 and of 160–190 m tall. They have been

Fig. 1 Location map of the studied sections in Southern Mesopotamia

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recorded in Southern France and the Middle East mainly inthe coasts of the Mediterranean ocean and lowest Meso-potamia in the valley of what we call today the Arabian Gulf.But communities of that humans have retreated during thelast cold glacial period (22,000–10,000 years ago) to the lowvalleys of warm climate which was probably the lowestMesopotamian area of the Arabian Gulf region before itsfilled with oceanic water while the Neanderthal man who

characterized by brain volume 1,400–1,600 cm3 and<170 cm tall with muscles have settled in caves of highmountains such as Northern Iraqi caves such as ShanidarCave (Solecki 1957; Braidwood and Bruce 1960), as well ascaves of Northern Spain, Northern France, and Germany toavoid ice storms and the very cold climate.

With the appearance of Cro-Magnons, human's evolutionhas become almost entirely cultural rather than biological,their culture was the Paleolithic. They were mainly hunterswho used a variety of specialized tools in their hunts,including perhaps the bow and arrow. They were alsoskilled in drawing, painting, and making rock art.

Early Holocene environments

This constitutes the depth interval in borehole 18 of 62 upto 13 m with time interval of 10,500–7,500 years beforepresent. Sediments of this interval is of mainly clay andcharacterized by occurrence of the marine inhibitorsdinoflagellate cysts, aquatic fungi, foraminifera test lining(FTL), and fossils gastropods and pelecypods with terres-trial pollen to indicate marine influence by comparison withstudies of the marine-inhabited palynomorph by Barnet(1989) and Tyson (1995). On the other hand, spores andpollen of land plant in these sediments have shown highoccurrences of poaceae (Graminidites and Gramineacerealea) that could indicate summer rainfalls and irrigationas well as winter rainfall to that formed in humid air (El-Muslimani 1987). The presence of palms, indicated by therecords of Pinanga and Iriatria (Fig. 5), could indicate hightemperature while chenopodiaceous and Artemisia havedecreased to confirm changes equivalent to global ice meltwith the end of the last glacial age of Europe and North

Fig. 3 Pollen diagram of thedeep borehole no. 18 30 kmsouth of Amara city showingclimatic changes and oceanictransgression time during thelate Quaternary history ofSouthern Mesopotamia, modi-fied after Al-Ameri et al. (2000)

Fig. 2 Selected photographs of 1-m depth cores in the soil of Ahwarof Southern Iraq

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America and hence the Holocene stage influencing theearth to mark its start at 10,500 years before present(Traverse 1988; Wicander and Monroe 2004). Ice melt werecharged to the sea water and hence raised the global sealevel to 70 m (Larcomb et al. 1995). Rising sea level andrainfalls have forced sea water to be transgressed onlowlands around the Mediterranean and hence all Cro-Magnon people sink in the oceanic water. On the otherhand, Arabian Sea water forced to flow on the lowlands ofthe Yemeni coasts and pushed toward the valley ofSouthern Mesopotamia between Hormes Strait and South-ern Iraq (Fig. 4) and formed the present Arabian Gulf.Transgressed water had covered most parts of Iraq asevidenced by the records of dinoflagellate cysts inEuphrates River upstream near the cities of Ramadi andQaem. These cysts are recorded also in South Iraq withequivalent carbon isotopes dating (C12 and C13) of10,000 years ago. It have been retreated to form coastsnear the present locations of Amara and Nasiriyah citieswith formation of the Tigris and Euphrates delta inSouthern Iraq instead of Hormes Strait locality (Aqrawiand Evans 1994; Al-Ameri et al. 2000).

That transgressed oceanic water and the heavy rainfallhave covered the lowlands and killed their Cro-Magnonoccupants around the Mediterranean Ocean, while suchdeluge in the Arabian Gulf site and Mesopotamia was alsocatastrophic as it said in the Holy Bible and Holy Qur'an.Those who lived in that valley sunk below the delugedwater and hence killed the occupants. Excepted from thatcatastrophe was God's messenger Noh who built a shipmade of wood and floated with his followers in the northern

direction of oceanic water currents to a safe place, probablystopped by the Northern Iraq mountains where there was noevidence of marine influence 10,500 years ago. The oceanwater currents and climate stabilized after their longjourney and the ship settled at last in the retreatedtransgressed water and evolved coast of the NorthernAmara and Nasiriya localities where the birds inhabited inthe Ahwar (wetland) region. That transgressed water couldhave filled the depressed areas in the middle and SouthernIraq during its retreat (Fig. 3) with passage connections tothe Tigris and Euphrates rivers and good soil to be ready forcultivation and domestication. Hence, Noh's followersmight have dispersed in the localities of the ancient cities,Ur, Arido, and Legash, to initiate the first known worldcivilization of the Sumerian's. That deluge time ranged intime before, during, and after shipment and might hadspanned between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago. It wascalled the Nohian Time in this study to characterize theearliest known civilized culture in Southern Mesopotamia.The subsequent culture in Mesopotamia during that warmand humid climate was Ubaid culture which is equivalent toNeolithic and Chalcolithic terms used in Europe. The Ubaidculture involved evolution of highly civilized culture inancient cities like (Al-Ubaid), Ur, and Legash. An equiv-alent culture was Halaf and Hassuna on Tigris Riverbetween the present locations of Mosul and Baghdad cities.

Environmental and cultural changes toward present time

This constitutes the depth interval in borehole 18 of 13 mup to the surface with time interval of 7,500 years B.P. up

Fig. 4 Successive stages of geographic developments of past, present, and future events in Mesopotamia during the late Quaternary

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to present time. Sediment of this interval is mainly clay andsand and characterized by slow progradation of shore lineand gradual changes in climate in South and SouthwesternIraq by slight increase in temperate and increase of averageannual evaporation rates to more than rainfall precipitationrate (Starkel 1993) and the formation of evaporates bed. Ingeneral, the paleoclimate was semiarid warm. Within thisclimate cycle, there were time intervals where increasingrainfall precipitation and decreasing temperate whichadapted vegetation cover of palms, poaceae, Artemisia,and Graminea cerealia. Climatic interruption includesevents of arid cold that produced Artemisia shrubs. Climaticchange and vegetation collapse and shortage of food wereequivalent to short ice age in the northern hemisphere and

volcanic activity in the Jordanian Desert, while an event ofincreased rainfall precipitation with increased poaceae andcultivated plants was during the Sumerian and Babyloniancultures. On the other hand, many sea level oscillations(Larcomb et al. 1995) have caused many floods such asfloods of Ur (5,400 years B.P.) and Kish (4,850 years B.P.)evident by flood plain deposits (Yacoub et al. 1985) and thearcheological records reported from Sumerian mud platescripts. During that flood time, the Atonabishtem legendhas been written. It said that he is the immortal whovoyaged through the flood and floated with his group in aship that saved them from the flood.

Succeeded that climatic cycle is the last 3,000 yearswhere the shore line regressed to its present location in the

Fig. 5 Pollen records and theirplant affinity of Ahwar soilcores of <1 m depth in SouthernMesopotamia: 1 Graminidites(Poacea), 2 Graminea cerealea(Corn), 3 Tricalysia (Rubiacea),4 Typha (Typhacea), 5 Isonan-dra (Sapotacea), 6 Campanula(Campanulacea), 7 Alnus (Betu-lacea-Alder), 8 Bursera (Bur-seracea), 9 Artocarpus(Moracea), 10 Pinanga (Pal-mae), 11 Iriatria (palmae), 12Crinum (Liliacea), 13 Navia(Bromeliacea), 14 Tofieldia (lil-liacea), 15 Nuphar (Numpha-cea), 16 Chnopodium(Chenopodacea), 17 Moras(Moracea). Scale bar=20 µm

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city of Fao (Fig. 4) and evidenced by the disappearance ofmarine inhibitors such as dinoflagellate cysts in thesediments of Southern Iraq. That was due to sedimentaccumulation and gradual isostasy affect after the maintransgression of 10,500 years B.P. The main result waschanging location of ocean and land stabilization of Ahwarto force the Euphrates and Tigris rivers to unite in Qurnacity and flow together in shatt Al-Arab which dischargestheir water in the Arabian Gulf in Fao city while climates ofsemiarid warm continued till the present except the timeequivalent to the little ice age which spanned 950–200 yearsbefore present and expressed semiarid and cold climatewith abundant Artemisia up to 79% in a depth of 0.6–0.8 mwith decrease in poaceae down to 3%.

Palynomorph records of recent soil

Many organic matters are recorded through microscopicstudies of the prepared slides from the studied sediments(refer to Figs. 1 and 2) of 1 m cores (2, 1A, 11A, 8C, 11C,K6A, AZ5, and AZ11) within the wetland locality ofAhwar of Southern Iraq (Athem and Uummilnaage inAhwar Al-Hwaiza, Al-Baghdadia, Al-Mashab, Al-Kurmashiya, and Abo Zarak). These are mainly taxa ofpollen and fungi with some occurrences of many othersdispersed organic matter that have hard carotene parts suchas algae, FTL, plant cuticle and tracheids, algal filament,and merostome arthropods (Figs. 5, 6, and 7). Theseorganic matters are mainly preserved in this study as peatlayer and formed high plant fragments within the load ofthe flood to this wetland as well as the aquatic inhibitors ofthe fungi in Ahwar stagnant basin within sand and clay.Other deposits of this studied area is either brownish graysandy clay, greenish gray or black silty clay, brown or blackclay, or brown or black peat that formed from successiveflooding to the Ahwar. The deepest layer is fossiliferous(with mainly small gastropods) greenish gray marl and clay.

Pollen and mainly fungi are not transported far fromtheir source and hence deposited within one specificwetland area called hoar (singular of Ahwar in locallanguage) and could be grouped into a statistical commu-nity for each specific hoar. Finding their affinities couldhelp in the clarification of contemporaneous vegetation andhence the responses to environmental changes leading toreconstructing the paleoecological framework for each timeinterval. These analysis relay on accurate identification bycomparison with palynomorph records from Amazon sedi-ments (Horn 1994; Absy 1979; Rull 2003), wetland ofsouthwest India (Tissot et al. 1994; Ramanujam and Rao1978; Keddy et al. 1982; Patil and Ramanujam 1988), riverdeposit of Zambia (Jarzen and Elsik 1986), Florida Ever-glades (Willard et al. 2004), Eastern Mediterranean and

Arabian sea sediments (Zonneveld 1996; D'Albore 1998),Weavermille Formation from Northwestern California(Barnet 1989), and pollen analysis of Northwest Europe(Moore and Webb 1978).

Accordingly, the recorded palynomorphs are the following:

Pollen types

These are reproductive grains of land and aquatic vascularplant. They are listed below with general description andaffinities for each genus (Fig. 5).

Alnus They are tetrazonoporate with shallow poresconnected within each two pores in a line. They are ofBetulacean affinity of alder trees and hence their presence isan indication that they are wind derived, especially if weknow their rare records in Mashab locality only (Fig. 5, 7).

Artocarpus They are trizonoporate with thick wall and ofpunctuate sculptures. They belong to Moracea of large treescultivated in Southwest India (Tissot et al. 1994) and arepresent in this study in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Atheim andUmmulnaage; Fig. 5, 9).

Brocchinia They are ellipsoidal-shaped monocolpate withlarge colpus, thin exine, and reticulate sculpture. Theybelong to Bromeliaceae of tubular herb that grow inmeadows and shrubs lands in Eastern Venezuelan Guyana(Rull 2003). They are present in this study in Ahwar ofBaghdadia and Abo Zarak (Fig. 5, 10).

Bursera They are tetrazonoporate with thick wall and highstructure elevation of each pore. They have affinity toBurseracea and with wind transport and records in Ahwarof Baghdadia (Fig. 5, 8).

Campanula They are spherical tetrazonoporate with echi-nate sculpture. The pore is located in the slightly sunkenarea of the exines. Their affinities are Campanulaceae andare recorded in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 5, 6).

Chenopodium They are spherical polypantaporate and usedas index for desertification (El-Muslimani 1987) withaffinities to chenopodacea (Fig. 5, 16; Barnet 1989).

Crinum Oval forms of monosulcate and with echinatesculpture. They have affinity to lilliacean flowers (Willardet al. 2004) and are of aquatic habit. They mainly occur inAhwar Al-Hawiza (Fig. 5, 12).

Graminidites Spherical forms of thin exine, crumbled wall,and one pore. They are an index of rainfall and wettability.Their affinity is poaceae (grass; Fig. 5, 1).

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Graminidites cerealia Spherical forms of thick exine andclear one pore. They have affinity to poaceae and mainlyare cultivates for food (Fig. 5, 2).

Iriantea They are spherical to oval shaped with one sulcusand clavate sculpture. They have affinity to the tribeIrianteaceae of the palmae (Fig. 5, 11).

Isonandra Ovoid form with tetrazonocolporate and scabrateexine.Theyhaveaffinity to sapotaceaewithmarshhabit.Previousrecords are from wetlands of Southwest India (Tissot et al. 1994)and the present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 5, 5).

Morus Spherical form of diporate and psilate exine. They haveaffinity with Moracea. Previous occurrence is in the wetlands of

Fig. 6 Fungi records of Ahwarsoil cores of <1 m depth inSouthern Mesopotamia: 1 Glo-mus, 2 Polyadosporites, 3 Tri-chothyrites 4 Involutisporites, 5Fusiformisporites, 6 Ostiole ofPlochmopellinites, 7 Spegazzin-ites, 8 Diporisporites, 9 Dyado-sporites, 10 Plochmopellinites,11 Lycoperodon, 12 Pluricel-laesporites, 13 Ascus for sexualreproduction, 14 Miliolinites, 15Diporisporites. Scale bar=20 µm

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Florida Everglades (Willard et al. 2004), while its presentoccurrence is mainly in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 5, 17).

Navia They are heteropolar of bilateral symmetry withmonocolpate of long colpus up to equatorial diameter andtectate–perforate exine. They have affinities with Bromelia-ceae. Previous records are lowland shrubs or tree savannas ofEastern Venzuelan Guayana (Rull 2003), while presentoccurrences are mainly in Ahwar Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 5, 13).

Nuphar Ovoidal grain, monosulcate, and echinate sculp-ture. They have affinity with Nymphaceae of palm.Previous occurrence is in wet prairies of Florida Everglades(Willard et al. 2004), while present occurrence is in AhwarAl-Hwaiza and Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 5, 15).

Toffildia They are subprolate, dicolpate with very longcolpi, and reticulate sculpture. Their affinities is liliaceousof meadow habit (Rull 2003; Willard et al. 2004), while

Fig. 7 Dispersed organic mat-ters of Ahwar soil cores <1 mdepths in Southern Mesopota-mia: 1 Pediastrum simplex(Chlorococale algae), 2 and 3tracheid of plant branches, 4spine detached from an insect, 5plant cuticle, 6 piece of Limuluswing, 7 aquatic merostomesLimulus, 8 termination of theappendices of Limulus, 9 bandof fungal filaments, 10 chitinouspart of an insect carapace, 11and 12 FTL of Trochoapiral andPlanispiral. Scale bar=20 µm

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present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza and Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 5, 14–18).

Typha Circular forms mainly in tetrads with monoulcerateand reticulate sculpture. Previous occurrence is in thewetlands of Florida Everglades (Willard et al. 2004), whileits present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza and AboZarak. Their affinity is typhaceae of aquatic habit of mainlymarshes (Fig. 5, 4).

Fungal spores

They are spore grains of the reproductive stage of themulticellular, nonvascular, heterotrophic organisms belongto the kingdom Fungi. They could adapt to wet and aquaticmedia (Ramanujam and Rao 1971 and Rao and Ramanujam1976). In the studied area, a wide variety is recorded(Fig. 6) and forms local communities to make them anindex for environmental assessment.

Ascus It is sag for sexual reproduction and dispersal offungal spores (Elsik 1983). They are recorded from Ahwarof Al-Hwaiza and Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 6, 13).

Diporisporites conspicua Oval, aseptate, and finely granulatespore with two pores truncated at their ends. Previous recordswere river deposits from Zambia (Jarzen and Elsik 1986) whileits present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 6, 8–15).

Dyadosporonites Fungal spore with two cells, single septa, andtwo apertures of one at each end. Previous records were fromNeogene of Southern India (Ramanujam and Rao 1978), whileits present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 6, 9).

Fusiforma sp. nov. Oval grain with one cell having one poreat one end and rounded at the others with striated sculpture.They are endemic taxa to Ahwar of Southern Mesopotamiaand recorded from Ahwar Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 6, 7).

Glomus Fungal chlamydospore aseptate and inapeturate.The subspherical vesicle is a woolen hyphal tip and retainsa short segment of hypha. Previous records were riverdeposits from Zambia (Jarzen and Elsik 1986), while itspresent occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 6, 1).

Involutisporites sp. nov. Fungal spore of nine-celled,monoporate, trochospiral, individual cell, subspherical tocuneate, scabrate sculpture, and some cells with largegermination. Recorded from Ahwar of Abo zarak (Fig. 6, 4).

Lycoperodon Fungal spore aseptate, aporate, shape spher-ical with elongate and sinuous spines. A previous record

was in Lake Tanganyika in Kenya (Rouse 1962) and in theriver deposit in Zambia (Jarzen and Elsik 1986), while itspresent occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 6, 11).

Miliolinites nivalis Circular shield-shaped fruit body withcircular detached area at the center and hyphen pseudopo-dia arise from the outer circle to form connections. Exine isof fine granulate sculpture. Their affinity is familyMeliolaceae, order Miliolatles. They are highly distributedin Ahwar such as southwest India (Ramanujam and Rao1978). Its present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza, Al-Baghdadia, and Abo-Zarak (Fig. 6, 14).

Plochmopellinites Circular shield-shaped fruit body withcircular detached central body to form circular cross striate(Fig. 6, 6) and reticulate sculpture. They have affinity withMicrothyriaceae. Previous occurrence is in the wetlands ofsouthwest India (Patil and Ramanujam 1988), while itspresent occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 6, 6 and 10).

Pluricellaesporites Four- to six-celled fungal spore, cellslinear along axis, monoapeturate at one end of long axis,and spore surface psilate. This specimen is possibly agerminating case in which the septa are very faint. Previousoccurrence is in river deposits of Zambia (Jarzen and Elsik1986), while its present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza(Fig. 6, 12).

Polyadosporits Fungal spore colony composed of numer-ous individual subspherical cells, colonies generally glo-bosely; cells 8–15 µm diameter, psilate sculpture,inaperturate, diameter of colonies up to 100 µm. Previousrecords were from river deposits of Zambia, while a presentrecord is Ahwar of South Mesopotamia (Fig. 6, 2).

Spegazzinites indicus Spore of inaperturate, 8–23 µm indiameter, crucially septet to form four subcircular cells, andsharp-pointed spines. Previous records were from wetlandsof Southwest India (Ramanujam and Rao 1978), while itspresent occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 6, 7).

Trichothyrites Ascomata of flattened, rounded, prominentostiole, and radiating hyphae interconnected cells squarishtoward ostiole. Previous records were from wetlands ofSouthwest India (Ramanujam and Rao 1978), while itspresent occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza, Al-Baghdadia,and Abo Zarak (Fig. 6, 3).

Miscellaneous organic matters

There are other dispersed organic matters excepted frompollen and fungi; these are:

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Pediastrum simplex They are multicellular algae of chlor-ococcale affinity which are recorded in this study fromAhwar Abo Zarak and Kurmashiya (Fig. 7, 1).

Trachied Fragments of plant branches with a variety ofsurface spines (Fig. 7, 2 and 3).

Cuticle Fragments of plant surfaces that show polygonalinterconnected (Fig. 7, 5).

Arthropod pieces Some of the chitinous parts of phylumarthropods are hard enough and hence preserved and resistpalynological preparations They could have affinities toprobably merostome arthropods of the limuloid forms (e.g.,limulus) and crustaceous forms of the worms and gastro-pods (Tash 1973; Clarkson 1979) These are detached spine,pieces of limulus wing, aquatic merostomes limulus ofcomplete view, termination of appendices of limulus, andcarapace of limuloids (Fig. 7, 4, 6–8, and 10).

Foraminifera test lining There are inner lining of thecalcareous test of benthic foraminifera. Recorded formsare from Ahwar Al-Baghdadia of specimens' morphtypestrochospiral (Fig. 7, 11) and planispiral (Fig. 7, 12).

Charcoal They are dark (black) plant pieces that are mainlyindicators of fire and human settlement.

Present climatological and environmental changes

Ahwar of Southern Iraq is a continuity of the SouthernMesopotamian wetland since 10,000 years ago, i.e., sincethe historic deluge time, after which this region becamewarm and humid within a semiarid region and hence anyaerial change in this water surfaces will lead to desertifi-cation of the same locality. Furthermore, the aquaticecosystem of this wetland posses food chain that producehigh quantity and quality of food for humans. This foodcould be based on the Ahwar primary producers, mainly offungi who make their foods from dissolved mineralsubstances. These fungi could form the food for omnivo-rous and deposit feeders' invertebrates that consequentlyform food for predator feeder fishes within the water andbirds on the water surface (Wicander and Monroe 2004),while plants could grow as aquatic and land plants nearbythe wetland.

Accordingly, the main bases for environmental andclimatic changes are (1) water cover, (2) fungal growth,and (3) aquatic and land plants. Hence, changes in watercover either natural or human effect will change theecosystem stability, decrease the humidity of the air and,hence, destroy the primary food producers of the fungi.Accordingly, collapse of all the food chain in thisecosystem will lead to death of fish while birds escape toother places for survival. On the other hand, aquatic and

Fig. 8 Pollen diagram of 1-m depth in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza in the localities of Al-Athem (cores 2 and 1A) and Ummulnaage (core 11A)

Arab J Geosci

land plants will change from humid-adaptive plants to morearid-adapted plants.

Based on this scenario, our wetland area could beclassified into two main environments during the 1990s,which is the time of dryness activity. The first case isAhwar with continuous aquatic submergence (Ahwar Al-Hwaiza), while the second case is partial dryness (AhwarAl-Baghdadia and Al-Kurmashia) by irrigation plan per-formed during the 1990s of this century. These differencesmight be stored in the sediments as fossil records of thecontemporaneously deposited pollen and other disseminat-ed organic matters with each sediment layer. Pollendiagram is constructed in Fig. 8 for the first case andFig. 9 for the second case. From these pollen diagrams, it

appears that aquatic assemblages of fungi and land plantwith poaceae and palmae is predominant in all the cases butthe generic form will be changed as controlled by the newlyevolved limiting factors of the ecosystem, e.g., salinity andtemperature changes. Other palynomorphs could be used asindex of environmental changes according to the following:

1. Stable aquatic submergence: The indicator forms forsuch case could be taken from Ahwar Al-Hwaiza(Fig. 8) where there are excellent preservation of thefungal genera: Plochmopellenites, Pluricellaesporitesand the aquatic plants of typhaceae (genus Typha), thefloating lilliacean flowers (genera Crinum and Toffiel-dia), and the sapotacean marsh plant (genus Isonandra;

Fig. 9 Two pollen diagrams of 1-m cores of Ahwar Baghdadia (core 8C; a) and Kurmashia (core K6A; b)

Arab J Geosci

Fig. 8). Another indicator, but for oceanic influence, isthe FTL, which have been recorded from depths ofmore than 40 cm in the substrates of Ahwar Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 9). This ecosystem is predominantlyassociated with continuous deposition of peat and clayor clay with high total organic carbon.

2. Desertification indicators: The indicator forms for thiscase could be taken from substrates of Ahwar Al-Baghdadia and Al-Kurmashiya (Fig. 9) where therewas partial dryness on them during the 1990s. Aquaticecosystem changes to indicate that this dryness is thedisappearance of the FTL and the fungal generaPlochmopellinites and Pluricellaesporites and the evo-lution of the adaptive fungi of the striate formsFusiforma and the echinate form Spegazzinites, whilethe land indicator is overwhelming of the desert plantpollen chenopodiaceous between depths of 5 and 20 cm(Fig. 9) in the substrate. More sand deposits will be ofequivalent lithology. Such desertification in the landarea could destroy the shrubs and hence domesticatedanimals will die by hunger and cultivated plants willdiminish. Accordingly, loss in the human food resour-ces will occur. Furthermore, typhacean aquatic plants(genus Typha) will be missed (Figs. 5 and 9) and henceaffected local people because they used these woodytubes in building their accommodation, which havelocal term “Chbisha” and in constructing their boat,which have extended anterior and have local term“Mashhoof.”

3. Human settlement indicators: Charcoals have beenconsidered as settlement indicators resulting from fireand cooking processes (Jacobs et al. 1985). Althoughpeople settled there all the time, there is a clearsettlement phase before dryness of the 1990s in AhwarAl-Baghdadia as a special case. These settlementsdecreased with increase desertification, i.e., peoplesmigrated from this locality, while settlement in AhwarAl-Hwaiza is sporadic but continuous with timebecause water supply is continued.

4. Aquatic ecosystem collapse: The main cause for theaquatic ecosystem collapse is the food web (Stanley1989; Raup and Stanley 1978; Al-Ameri 2000). InAhwar of Southern Iraq, the main base as primaryproducers is the fungi as well as algae and detritus ofland plants. This first level in the food web builds theirbiologic body from dissolved mineral materials. Thesecond level in this food web is limulid merostome,crustacean arthropods, and zooplankton who consumetheir food from the first level, i.e., mainly from fungi.This second level of the food web contain intermediateorganisms that transfer food to the fishes and birds andhence played the role as a factory for producing humanfood resources of fishes and birds (Fig. 13). Therefore,

any dryness that change the environmental limitingfactors, viz temperature, salinity, and water holding thedissolved substances, will harm the fungi and forcethem to die as it may happen to the Plochmopellinites,and lilliacea (Crinum and Toffieldia) in Ahoar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 8) or adapt themselves to evolve differentspecies and hence become hard to eat as it hashappened to the Fusiforma and Spegazzinite in AhwarAl-Baghdadia and Al-Kurmashiya (Fig. 9). This lastcase could destroy the first level of nutrition or theprimary food producers and hence collapsing all thefood chain with decreases of the human food resourcesof fishes and birds.

Case study of ancient wetland destruction

To assess the relation of ecologic and climatic changes withthe dawn and demise of cultural development in Sumerianand Babylonia cities, especially related with Ahwar drynessand wetland destruction, a palynological study was devel-oped on the archeological site of Tel Ummulakareb 25 kmwest of Al-Riffaee city within Al-Nasiriyah region andwithin location 45°–48″ to 31°–25″ (Fig. 2).

Our astonishing observation is that the desert area andsand dunes creep around this archeological site although itis in the middle of river tributaries within Mesopotamia,Ahwar, and lakes (Fig. 10). Hence, soil samples from thevertical section of 3 m depth in an ancient river channelpassing through the ancient city and soil samples from thewalls and the ground of the royal house of the same city aresubjected to this study.

Palynological analysis for these samples based on pollenanalysis taking into consideration the environmentally indexpollen of the terrestrial plants and dinoflagellate cysts ofmarine inhibitors (Fig. 11) as well as archeological drawingscarved on clay plates for Ahwar ancient settlement live near

Fig. 10 Desertification and sand dunes creep on beni rchap villagersnear Tel Ummulakareb archeological site

Arab J Geosci

that ancient city. These drawings showed hunting, collectingfoods within Ahwar, and using boats similar to the presentwoody boat, locally called “Mashhoof.”

Pollen count of the environmentally index palynomorphsare presented in a pollen diagram of percentages of eachtaxa from the total palynomorphs to show changingabundances through time (Fig. 12). Comparison withpresent analogs of their plant affinities; the changes ofenvironmental habitat, paleoclimates, plant communityduring the time of evolution (4,900 years before present),city development (4,900–4,100 years B.P.), and the demise(4,100 years B.P.) could be evaluated and hence tabulatedin Table 1. Age assignments of the samples are calculatedfrom sedimentation rates, carbon 14 dating, and thedocumented words on clay tablets. To confirm settlementand cultural development of that city, remote sensingtechniques have showed main ancient rivers were flowingwithin the city and around. On the other hand, the tools,pottery, and jewelers of gold, copper, gems, and shellsstored in the Iraqi Museum of Mesopotamian history werealso recorded as well as the high architecture quality of the

royal house within that ancient city. Palynological eviden-ces are the dominance of cultivated plant pollen such palms(Palmidites, Phoenix, and Retimonocalpites), wheat (Gra-minia cereala), and zinnia flower (Escalonia) during thetime interval 2,900–2,100 years B.P. (Table 1)

Dinoflagellate cysts occurrences are used to indicateshore line proximity of that city which was during theinterval 3,500–2,200 years B.P. while shore line retreat isan evidence for dryness of that wetland area. The charcoalpresences of 100% dominance is evidence for fire in2,100 years B.P. and have added more evidence for drynessand soil destruction.

Ahwar dryness and/or major fire have collapsed the foodchain resources to that ancient city and destroyed their soiland hence sand dunes crept on it. That environment hadmade very difficult, or no, chances for their plant to growagain or it may take a longer time than ordinary for growingagain. Palynological evidence for desertification is increas-ing dominance of chenopodacean pollen because theirmother plants could adapt to very low moisture in thepresent time according to El-Muslimani (1987).

Fig. 11 Environmental indexpalynomorphs of the Holocene,Tel Ummulakareb archeologicalsite between Diwania andNasiriyah cities: 1 Escalonia, 2Pinus, 3 palmae of Retimono-colpites, 4 Graminidites, 5 Che-nopodium, 6 Typha, 7Lingulodinium, 8 Selenopem-phix, 9 FTL. Scale bar=20 µm

Arab J Geosci

Conclusion and suggestions

Analysis of this study have indicated that Ahwar wereformed during deluge time 10,500 years B.P. whichattracted nice qualities of birds and formed an ecosystemof vegetative area with fishes and different types of aquaticinhibitors to form foods for human settlement. In such area,a bird appeared to God's messenger Noh in his voyage onhis ship with his followers to inform him that this place isgood for settlement, and hence, he anchored his ship andstarted to rebuild the civilized culture of this new worldfollowing the deluge time.

Wetlands of Ahwar have best soil for food cultivationand animal domestications through the Mesopotamian

cultures in semiarid area in between oak forest in the north,palm forest in Southern Mesopotamia, and pine forest in thenorthwest with deserts toward Saudi Arabia in the southand Jordon in the west.

Accordingly, any misused land or Ahwar dryness couldchange the climate to arid with sand dunes creep to destroythis nature as it have happened on Sumerian people of TelUmmulakareb ancient city where it had been destroyed bydryness of their river and hoar by foreigner invaders inabout <2,100 years B.C.

Palynological studies of organic matters in Ahwar'srecent soil have clarified that Ahwar area have stabilizedecosystem especially in Hoar Al-Hwaiza with continuity ofgrowing plants in the soil and many phytoplanktons and

Fig. 12 Pollen diagram of 31/2 m depth in the flank of anancient river within the TelUmmulakareb archeological site

Table 1 Case study of an ancient city (Tel Ummulakareb), evolution, development, and demise according to natural environmental changes thatended with fire and sand dune creep

Dating years B.C. Habitat Paleoclimate Plant community Human settlements

3,500–2,900 Near shore with wetland Cold Wild and some cultivated plants Human gathering

2,900–2,100 Near share with wetlandand river channel

Temperate Dominance of cultivated plants such as palms(Palmidites, Phoenix, Retimonocalpites),corn (Cerialia), and Zinia flowers (Escalonia)

City evolution

~2,100 Share retreat with wetland Temperate Continuous dominance of cultivated plants Town development

>2,100 Land become dry andprogressed desertification

Temperate 100% charcoal in the royal house showingburning phenomena that indicate probablehistoric fire that destroyed all the community

The demise

Present Sand dunes Warm and dry Rare shrub vegetation of mainly chenopodacea Few settlement

Arab J Geosci

fungi made their fertilization from the soil. The fungiformed the main base as primary food producers for thefood web that produced the human food resources in Ahwarregion (Fig. 13). Limuloids and crustacean arthropods arethe intermediate organisms in the food chain that transferfood to the human food resources of fishes and birds. Onthe other hand, the wetlands of Mashab, Baghdadia,Kurmashyia, and Abo Zarak were subjected to drynessduring the 1990s and hence have a nonstable ecosystem.Accordingly, their fungal constituents changed to moreadaptive forms for more aridity and, hence, the food chainhave collapsed and caused decreases in the human foodresources of fishes and birds.

In land plants, extinction of the aquatic and humid formswas performed with evolution or increased percentages of themore arid plants, viz chenopodacean. This desertificationphase could destroy the cultivated plants, harm domesticatedanimals, and remove agricultural soil into dunes within manydecades as it have happened to Tel Ummulakareb ancient city.For these reasons, human settlements are forced to immigrateaway from their land (Fig. 12).

Accordingly, we could suggest the following:

1. Reactivation of the Ahwar regions by water from Tigrisand Euphrates rivers to give wettability to the soil andhence stacked against the wind dunes. Water covercould rejuvenate the ecosystem and the return to theinitial food chain before dryness. Ten years of drynessmight be very short and hence the Ahwar situationcould be returned by getting more water.

2. Cultivate the area with shrubs, vegetable, and palm inorder to rebuild the agricultural soil, improve theclimate, and get fruits and vegetable out of it, as wellas animal domestication on these vegetation to increasefood resources

3. Reconstruct accommodation sites from the typhaceantubes abundantly present in this wetland to buildChbishas for the local human settlements and living onthe dispersed mini-island in the Ahwar region (Fig. 14).

4. Develop the transportation media between these multi-islands by improving the local boat (Al-Mashhoof) aswell as different types of ridges.

Acknowledgements This study is performed in cooperation withNature Iraq Institute by getting their help with the field work andusing their laboratory facilities. Accordingly, we gratefully acknowl-edge and thank them.

Appendix

Locations and statistical count of the pollen analysis for thestudied sections (Tables 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6).

Table 2 Drill core locations of the studied section in SouthernMesopotamia (ex. Fig. 1)

Core number Location Coordinates

Latitudes Longitudes

Core 2 Hwaiza-Udaem 31°–42′–53″ 47°–45′–29″

Core 1A Hwaiza-Ummulnaage 31°–36′–53″ 47°–34′–22″

Core 11A Hwaiza-Ummulnaage 31°–35′–26″ 47°–40′–02″

Core 8C Al-Baghdadia 31°–02′–09″ 47°–02′–08″

Core 11C Al-Mashab 30°–40′–04″ 47°–38′–25″

K6A Al-Kurmashiya 30°–49′–47″ 46°–34′–33″

AZ5 Abu Zarak 31°–09′ 46°–38′

AZ11 Abu Zarak 31°–05′ 46°–37′

Deep borehole 18 West of Qul'at Saleh 31°–02′ 47°–25′

Tel Ummulaqareb West of Al-Rifae 31°–35′ 45°–48′

Fig. 14 Dreamland of Ahwar region with mini-multi-islands, Chbi-shas accommodation sites, and “Mashhoof” boat for transport

Fig. 13 Food web for the production of human food resources inAhwar region

Arab J Geosci

Tab

le3

Pollencoun

tsin

numberof

specim

ensforAhw

arAl-Hwaiza

Ummulnaag

(cores

11A

and2;

ex.Fig.8)

Sam

pleno

.Depth

(cm)

Lith

olog

yGraminae

Fun

giCuticle

Charcoal

FTL

Cheno

podacea

Plochmop

elinites

Palmae

Typ

haIson

andra

Lilliacea

Lycop

ods

15–

6Brownish

gray

sand

yclay

98

12–

––

4–

––

618

210–11

Brownish

gray

sand

yclay

1212

126

––

6–

7–

––

319–2

0Peatin

brow

nish

gray

sand

yclay

715

28–

––

6–

2–

––

429–3

0Peatin

brow

nish

gray

sand

yclay

818

22–

52

––

––

420

533–3

4Black

peat

310

152

––

4–

74

––

639–4

0Brownpeat

525

105

––

––

633

415

745–4

6Brownpeat

922

1513

–2

––

–3

86

850–5

1Greenishgray

silty

clay

515

18–

––

6–

––

–14

959–6

0Greenishgray

silty

clay

730

408

––

26

––

––

1066–6

7Greenishgray

silty

clay

88

5–

––

––

––

––

1170–7

1Greenishgray

silty

clay

370

5–

––

––

––

––

1277–8

0Green

marlandgastropo

ds12

298

––

––

––

5–

–

Tab

le4

Pollencoun

tsin

numberof

specim

ensforAhw

arAl-Baghd

adia

(core8C

;ex.Fig.9a)

Sam

pleno

.Depth

(cm)

Lith

olog

yGraminae

Fun

giCuticle

Cheno

podacea

Fusiforma

Charcoal

Palmae

FTL

Spegazzinites

Lycop

odium

10–2

Graysilt

3418

207

4–

––

83

26–7

Graysilt

2818

1210

7–

––

89

311–1

2Brownish

gray

silt

1810

711

––

––

–8

416–1

7Brownish

gray

silt

158

106

––

––

–12

522–2

3Brownish

gray

silt

3818

15–

7–

––

–12

629–3

0Graysilty

clay

2428

25–

–12

4–

–12

735–3

6Graysilty

clay

2618

23–

––

5–

–7

840–4

1Black

silty

clay

1215

8–

––

––

–6

945–4

6Black

silty

clay

189

12–

–8

33

––

1050–5

1Greenishgray

marlandgastropo

ds12

95

––

–2

3–

–

1157–5

8Greenishgray

marlandgastropo

ds15

10–

––

––

29–

–

Arab J Geosci

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