Ostracod-based environmental reconstruction of Lake Koronia, (Central Greece) during the Holocene

Abstract

Lake Koronia is located in the western lowland area of the Mygdonia Basin, northeast of the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece (40° 41′ N, 23° 09′ E, 75 m a.s.l.). It is the remnant of a once larger lake in the region (Psilovikos, 1977), but is now a shallow, hypertrophic and heavily polluted water body (Moustaka-Gouni et al., 2012). It has experienced substantial degradation over time due to human activities, but has also dried up several times in the past two decades (2002, 2007, 2009 and 2014), resulting in its current state, formerly the fourth largest lake in Greece (Demertzioglou et al., 2022). Despite its current ecological challenges, Lake Koronia is recognized as a protected wetland under international and national legislation, highlighting its importance (Malamataris et al., 2017). The aim of the present study was to investigate the paleoenvironmental evolution of Lake Koronia and the distribution of ostracod assemblages through time using a combination of core and recent surface sediment samples.