Papers by Montana Puscas
Carbon (C) and oxygen (O) stable isotopes from tooth enamel have become a valuable tool in both g... more Carbon (C) and oxygen (O) stable isotopes from tooth enamel have become a valuable tool in both geosciences and archeology in reconstructing past environmental and climatic conditions. Oxygen isotopic values in bone apatite and tooth enamel are directly related to body fluids, which in turn are dependent upon the source of drinking water, thus being a suitable paleoclimate proxy. On the other hand, the stable isotope ratio of C from tooth enamel is based on differences in C isotope discrimination between plants using the two major photosynthetic pathways (C3/trees and C4/grasses). The abundance of trees versus grasses is controlled by climate variables and the transfer of this "signature" amid plant foods in the diet of mammals and mammalian tooth enamel δ 13 C values (ε diet−enamel) allows us to use C isotopic composition of bioapatite as a climate proxy. This study is the first of its kind from an archaeological site in Romania, which is dated back to before the Roman co...
Neues Jahrbuch f??r Mineralogie - Abhandlungen: Journal of Mineralogy and Geoche, 2014
ABSTRACT
European Journal of Mineralogy, 2000
ABSTRACT
Carbonates and Evaporites, 2010
Eighteen minerals belonging to eight chemical groups were identified from three caves within Ş ȃl... more Eighteen minerals belonging to eight chemical groups were identified from three caves within Ş ȃlitrari Mountain, in the upper Cerna River basin (Romania) by means of scanning electron microscopy, electron microprobe analysis, and X-ray powder diffraction. One passage in the Great Cave from Ş ȃlitrari Mountain, the largest cave investigated, exhibits abnormal relative humidity and temperature ranges, allowing for a particular depositional environment. The cave floor is covered by alluvial sediments (ranging from cobble, sand, and clay to silt-sized material), bear bones, bat guano, and rubble. These materials reacted with percolating meteoric water and hydrogen sulfide-rich hypogene hot solutions, precipitating a variety of secondary minerals. Most of these minerals are common in caves (e.g. calcite, gypsum, brushite), however, some of them (alunite, aluminite, and darapskite) require very particular environments in order to form and persist. Cave passage morphologies suggest a complex speleogenetic history that includes changes from phreatic to vadose conditions. The latter was punctuated by a sulfuric acid dissolution/precipitation phase, partly overprinted by present-day vadose processes. The cave morphology and the secondary minerals associated with the alluvial sediments in these caves are used to unravel the region's speleogenetic history.
… Babes-Bolyai, Geologia, Jan 1, 2010
In one of the passages in the Great Cave of Șălitrari Mountain the floor is completely covered by... more In one of the passages in the Great Cave of Șălitrari Mountain the floor is completely covered by an alluvial deposit at least 6 m in thickness, ranging from boulders, and cobbles, to sand and clay, topped by a layer of dry bat guano. Sediment and mineral samples collected from six profiles underwent broad analyses to determine their petrological and mineralogical makeup, grain-size distribution, and paleoclimatic significance. The complicated facies alternation suggests frequent changes in the former stream's hydrological parameters, with frequent flooding, leading to the hypothesis that the climate was somewhat wetter than today. Both the mineralogical composition of the sediment (ranging from quartz, mica, gypsum, phosphates, and calcite to garnet, zircon, titanite, olivine, serpentine, tourmaline, sphalerite, pyrite/chalcopyrite, and feldspars) and the petrological composition of the larger clasts (limestone, sandstone, mudstone, granitoids, serpentinite, amphibolite, diorite, gneiss, quartzite, microconglomerate, and schist) ascribe the potential source rocks to an area with contrasting lithologies, such as amphibolites, felsic and basic metaigneous, and metasedimentary rocks, mixed with a variety of detritic rocks. These rock types are not entirely comprised by the catchment area of the modern Presacina Brook, thus implying that due either to hydrological conditions, or to changes in the base level caused by river down cutting or active tectonics, the former source area was much more extensive. Based on morphological and sedimentological criteria, the cave started under pipe-full flow conditions, and further evolved during a prolonged and complex vadose phase. Evidence to support the existence of hypogene conditions is also present. Once the underground stream left the cave and most of the sediment was removed, speleothem precipitation was initiated. In this contribution we put forward evidence that argue for an extra-basinal origin of some of the alluvial sediments, an uncommon fact documented in few cave environments so far.
Archaeological Reports by Montana Puscas
Previous archaeological campaigns on the site at Oarda-Bulza, carried out in 2018 and 2019, revea... more Previous archaeological campaigns on the site at Oarda-Bulza, carried out in 2018 and 2019, revealed the existence of an assemblage of buildings and annexes belonging to a very large Roman villa rustica. The short archaeological campaign in 2020 targeted the area to the east of the main buildings and the surroundings of the water source of the villa. In the eastern area, the field survey identified a concentration of iron processing debris probably belonging to a workshop. The field survey in the surroundings of the water source identified traces of a Roman built structure, as well as ceramic and iron finds. Aside from field surveys, the 2020 campaign also continued the interdisciplinary investigations. These included the analysis of a number of glass samples recovered from the main building and that of the painted plaster recovered from both the main building and the annex B. The results provided important information regarding the supply sources with glass objects, as well as about the building technologies use in the construction and embellishing of the villa and its main annex.
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Papers by Montana Puscas
Archaeological Reports by Montana Puscas