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The aim of this study is to determine the species of parasite that infected the population of Brussels during the Medieval and Renaissance periods, and determine if there was notable variation between different households within the city. We compared multiple sediment layers from cesspits beneath three different latrines dating from 14th-17th centuries. Helminths and protozoa were detected using microscopy and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We identified Ascaris sp. Capillaria sp. Dicrocoelium dendriticum, Entamoeba histolytica, Fasciola hepatica, Giardia duodenalis, Taenia sp. and Trichuris sp. in Medieval samples, and continuing presence of Ascaris sp. D. dendriticum, F. hepatica, G. duodenalis and Trichuris sp. into the Renaissance. While some variation existed between households, there was a broadly consistent pattern with the domination of species spread by faecal contamination of food and drink (whipworm, roundworm, and protozoa that cause dysentery). These data allow us to explore diet and hygiene, together with routes for spread of fecal-oral parasites. Key factors explaining our findings are manuring practices with human excrement in market gardens, and flooding of the polluted River Senne during the 14th-17th centuries., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Geological investigations of coastal sediment sequences play a key role in verifying earthquake and tsunami characteristics inferred from historical records. In this paper, we present a multi-proxy investigation of a coastal lowland site facing the Nankai-Suruga megathrust and appraise evidence for tsunamis and earthquake-triggered terrestrial mass movements occurring over the last 800 years. Combining a high-resolution chronology with X-ray computed tomography and analyses of particle size, diatoms, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and aerial photographs, we present the most compelling geological evidence of the 1361 CE Koan (also known as Shohei) tsunami reported to date from any site along the megathrust. This finding is consistent with either of two recent hypotheses: a single larger rupture of both the Nankai and Tnankai regions or two smaller ruptures separated by a few days. Enhancing the site chronology using Bayesian age modelling, we verify evidence for inundation during the 1498 CE Mei tsunami. While previous investigations identified evidence for historically recorded tsunamis in 1605, 1707 and 1854 CE and a storm surge in 1680 or 1699 CE, we encountered a thick sand layer rather than discrete extreme wave deposits in this interval. The overprinting of evidence highlights the potential for geological records to underestimate the frequency of these events. A terrestrial mass movement also deposited a sand layer at the site; radionuclide dating and aerial photographs provide independent confirmation that this may have been triggered by intense shaking in 1944 CE during the most recent great Nankai-Suruga megathrust earthquake.

Geological investigations of coastal sediment sequences play a key role in verifying earthquake and tsunami characteristics inferred from historical records. In this paper, we present a multi-proxy investigation of a coastal lowland site facing the Nankai-Suruga megathrust and appraise evidence for tsunamis and earthquake-triggered terrestrial mass movements occurring over the last 800 years. Combining a high-resolution chronology with X-ray computed tomography and analyses of particle size, diatoms, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and aerial photographs, we present the most compelling geological evidence of the 1361 CE Koan (also known as Shohei) tsunami reported to date from any site along the megathrust. This finding is consistent with either of two recent hypotheses: a single larger rupture of both the Nankai and Tnankai regions or two smaller ruptures separated by a few days. Enhancing the site chronology using Bayesian age modelling, we verify evidence for inundation during the 1498 CE Mei tsunami. While previous investigations identified evidence for historically recorded tsunamis in 1605, 1707 and 1854 CE and a storm surge in 1680 or 1699 CE, we encountered a thick sand layer rather than discrete extreme wave deposits in this interval. The overprinting of evidence highlights the potential for geological records to underestimate the frequency of these events. A terrestrial mass movement also deposited a sand layer at the site; radionuclide dating and aerial photographs provide independent confirmation that this may have been triggered by intense shaking in 1944 CE during the most recent great Nankai-Suruga megathrust earthquake.

Black carbon (BC) plays an important role in terrestrial carbon storage. Nevertheless, the effect of cultivation on long term dynamics of BC in soil has been poorly addressed. To fill this gap, we studied the chemical properties of charcoal particles extracted from preindustrial kilns in Wallonia, Belgium, along a chronosequence of land use change from forest to agricultural soil, up to 200 years of cultivation. Preindustrial charcoal samples were compared with charcoal subjected to short term ageing in a currently active kiln. Cultivation increased the association of charcoal with soil minerals, which is favored by deprotonation of carboxylic acids under liming, thereby enhancing the reactivity of charcoal toward mineral surfaces. The large specific surface area of charcoal, related to its porosity, promotes the precipitation of 2:1 phyllosilicates and CaCO3. Both ageing and cultivation decreased the resistance of charcoal to dichromate oxidation, related to an increase in the H/C of charcoal. Differential scanning calorimetry revealed the presence of three fractions of distinct thermal stability. Saturation of carboxylate groups with Ca2+ under liming decreased the thermal stability of the O-rich, less thermally stable fraction of charcoal. This fraction decreased over time of cultivation, leading to a relative accumulation of the thermally most stable fraction of charcoal. This might result from the preferential loss of the O-rich fraction or the slowdown of charcoal from oxidation via association with minerals. Our results highlight the idea that land use significantly affects the properties of BC through the modification of soil conditions, which might influence the kinetics of BC loss from soil.

Black carbon (BC) plays an important role in terrestrial carbon storage. Nevertheless, the effect of cultivation on long term dynamics of BC in soil has been poorly addressed. To fill this gap, we studied the chemical properties of charcoal particles extracted from preindustrial kilns in Wallonia, Belgium, along a chronosequence of land use change from forest to agricultural soil, up to 200 years of cultivation. Preindustrial charcoal samples were compared with charcoal subjected to short term ageing in a currently active kiln. Cultivation increased the association of charcoal with soil minerals, which is favored by deprotonation of carboxylic acids under liming, thereby enhancing the reactivity of charcoal toward mineral surfaces. The large specific surface area of charcoal, related to its porosity, promotes the precipitation of 2:1 phyllosilicates and CaCO3. Both ageing and cultivation decreased the resistance of charcoal to dichromate oxidation, related to an increase in the H/C of charcoal. Differential scanning calorimetry revealed the presence of three fractions of distinct thermal stability. Saturation of carboxylate groups with Ca2+ under liming decreased the thermal stability of the O-rich, less thermally stable fraction of charcoal. This fraction decreased over time of cultivation, leading to a relative accumulation of the thermally most stable fraction of charcoal. This might result from the preferential loss of the O-rich fraction or the slowdown of charcoal from oxidation via association with minerals. Our results highlight the idea that land use significantly affects the properties of BC through the modification of soil conditions, which might influence the kinetics of BC loss from soil.

info:eu-repo/semantics/published