Hydroclimatic variability and water management in the northwestern Mediterranean (Provence, SE France): reconstructions from environmental and archaeological carbonate archives from the Quaternary to the present day. In Mediterranean regions, water availability is a key constraint increasingly pressured by climate change, with profound environmental, socio-economic, and health impacts. Provence (SE France) exemplifies these issues: rainfall has declined, flood intensity increased, and droughts lengthened over recent decades. To anticipate future challenges, investigating past hydroclimatic responses through natural and cultural archives is essential. Speleothems and fluvial tufas are robust proxies for Holocene hydroclimate dynamics, while carbonate deposits in Roman hydraulic structures provide unique insights into ancient water management under climatic stress. The “Provence Verte” region, especially the upper Argens catchment, offers an exceptional field site with karstic and fluvial systems intertwined with rich archaeological remains (oppida, aqueducts, mills). Laminated carbonates—speleothems, tufas, aqueduct concretions—record environmental (precipitation, temperature) and anthropogenic signals. Speleothems from the Sainte-Baume massif yield continuous climatic archives, with isotopic (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C) and elemental data revealing fine-scale variability and extremes. Upper Argens tufas, still active despite declining carbonate deposition since ~4000 BP, are rare archives of hydrological history. Roman engineering in the region established extensive water networks; studying these, alongside annually laminated carbonates, enables reconstruction of past climate and water use strategies. Historical data from later periods (Middle Ages to Modern times) complement this approach, assessing continuity or change in hydroclimate and societal adaptation.
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