Citation:

PANGAEA.995756

Name: Macroscopic charcoal counts and accumulation rates from a sediment core at Purghagoolah (Lake Elusive), southeastern Australia, last ~1000 years
Published: 2026-07-17
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: biomass burning; charcoal accumulation rate; fire history; gippsland; Lake Elusive; Lake sediment; macroscopic charcoal; palaeofire; Purghagoolah; southeastern Australia

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Published: 2026-07-17 • DOI registered: 2026-07-17

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Abstract:

This table reports macroscopic charcoal abundance from a 1 m sediment core at Purghagoolah (Lake Elusive), a lake of approximately 40 ha and 21 m depth in Croajingolong National Park, Gippsland, southeastern Australia, on Gunaikurnai Country (37°44'50"S, 149°27'9"E; decimal -37.747222, 149.452500, WGS84; 50 m a.s.l.), cored on 9 February 2021 with a Universal Corer (Aquatic Instruments), subsampled at 0.5 cm. Sediment subsamples were digested in hydrogen peroxide, sieved at 125 and 250 µm, and charcoal particles counted under a stereomicroscope. Counts were converted to charcoal accumulation rates (particles per square centimetre per year) using the sediment accumulation rate from the lead-210 and radiocarbon age-depth model. Values are reported by depth and modelled age (approximately 844 to 2021 CE) and are used as a proxy for local biomass burning.

Keyword(s):

biomass burning; charcoal accumulation rate; fire history; gippsland; Lake Elusive; Lake sediment; macroscopic charcoal; palaeofire; Purghagoolah; southeastern Australia

Related to:

Fletcher, Michael-Shawn; et al. (submitted): Australia's current wildfire crisis linked to colonial land-use change. Nature

Coverage:

Latitude: -37.747222 * Longitude: 149.452500

Date/Time Start: 2021-02-09T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2021-02-09T00:00:00

Minimum DEPTH, sediment/rock: 0.005 m * Maximum DEPTH, sediment/rock: 0.965 m

Event(s):

Purghagoolah * Latitude: -37.747222 * Longitude: 149.452500 * Date/Time: 2021-02-09T00:00:00 * Elevation: 50.0 m * Location: Lake Elusive, Victoria, Australia * Method/Device: Universal Corer, Aquatic Instruments (UC)

Parameter(s):

#	Name	Short Name	Unit	Principal Investigator	Method/Device	Comment
1	DEPTH, sediment/rock	Depth sed	m	Fletcher, Michael-Shawn		Geocode
2	AGE	Age	ka BP	Fletcher, Michael-Shawn		Geocode
3	Age	Age	a AD/CE	Fletcher, Michael-Shawn
4	Charcoal	Charcoal	#	Fletcher, Michael-Shawn	Stereomicroscope
5	Accumulation rate, charcoal	Acc rate char	#/cm²/a	Fletcher, Michael-Shawn	see abstract

License:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)

Status:

Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)

Size:

579 data points

Data

Download dataset as tab-delimited text — use the following character encoding:

1 Depth sed [m]	2 Age [ka BP]	3 Age [a AD/CE]	4 Charcoal [#]	5 Acc rate char [#/cm²/a]
0.005	-0.0710	2021.0	139	0.00086469
0.010	-0.0606	2010.6	36	0.00456871
0.015	-0.0530	2003.0	364	0.00045185
0.020	-0.0454	1995.4	27	0.00609162
0.025	-0.0378	1987.8	58	0.00283575
0.030	-0.0302	1980.2	43	0.00387597
0.035	-0.0227	1972.7	42	0.00391604
0.040	-0.0151	1965.1	80	0.00205592
0.045	-0.0075	1957.5	128	0.00128495
0.050	0.0001	1949.9	594	0.00027689
0.055	0.0077	1942.3	503	0.00276121
0.060	0.0086	1941.4	61	0.02276867
0.065	0.0095	1940.5	105	0.01322751
0.070	0.0104	1939.6	163	0.00852079
0.075	0.0113	1938.7	156	0.01001603
0.080	0.0121	1937.9	106	0.01310273
0.085	0.0130	1937.0	67	0.02072969
0.090	0.0139	1936.1	138	0.01006441
0.095	0.0148	1935.2	94	0.01477541
0.100	0.0157	1934.3	132	0.01052189
0.105	0.0166	1933.4	33	0.01893939
0.110	0.0186	1931.4	71	0.00880282
0.115	0.0206	1929.4	125	0.00500000
0.120	0.0226	1927.4	136	0.00437675
0.125	0.0247	1925.3	67	0.00932836
0.130	0.0267	1923.3	39	0.01602564
0.135	0.0287	1921.3	36	0.01736111
0.140	0.0307	1919.3	116	0.00538793
0.145	0.0327	1917.3	220	0.00270563
0.150	0.0348	1915.2	165	0.00378788
0.155	0.0368	1913.2	115	0.00310559
0.160	0.0403	1909.7	201	0.00172747
0.165	0.0439	1906.1	182	0.00196232
0.170	0.0474	1902.6	137	0.00253447
0.175	0.0510	1899.0	57	0.00609162
0.180	0.0546	1895.4	72	0.00496032
0.185	0.0581	1891.9	86	0.00415282
0.190	0.0616	1888.4	121	0.00295159
0.195	0.0651	1884.9	84	0.00425170
0.200	0.0686	1881.4	121	0.00295159
0.205	0.0721	1877.9	197	0.00075538
0.210	0.0805	1869.5	166	0.00089644
0.215	0.0889	1861.1	105	0.00145180
0.220	0.0971	1852.9	79	0.00195343
0.225	0.1052	1844.8	81	0.00190520
0.230	0.1133	1836.7	173	0.00089203
0.235	0.1214	1828.6	117	0.00131898
0.240	0.1295	1820.5	139	0.00111022
0.245	0.1376	1812.4	87	0.00177380
0.250	0.1457	1804.3	70	0.00220459
0.255	0.1538	1796.2	102	0.00106564
0.260	0.1653	1784.7	81	0.00135369
0.265	0.1767	1773.3	95	0.00113430
0.270	0.1883	1761.7	89	0.00123201
0.275	0.1997	1750.3	61	0.00178190
0.280	0.2112	1738.8	111	0.00097924
0.285	0.2227	1727.3	138	0.00079456
0.290	0.2341	1715.9	53	0.00206885
0.295	0.2455	1704.5	64	0.00175957
0.300	0.2566	1693.4	98	0.00113885
0.305	0.2678	1682.2	136	0.00089235
0.310	0.2781	1671.9	268	0.00044848
0.315	0.2885	1661.5	100	0.00120192
0.320	0.2989	1651.1	215	0.00056446
0.325	0.3092	1640.8	324	0.00036743
0.330	0.3197	1630.3	190	0.00063259
0.335	0.3301	1619.9	186	0.00064620
0.340	0.3405	1609.5	298	0.00040333
0.345	0.3509	1599.1	225	0.00052910
0.350	0.3614	1588.6	107	0.00113420
0.355	0.3717	1578.3	107	0.00111260
0.360	0.3822	1567.8	81	0.00145586
0.365	0.3928	1557.2	278	0.00043235
0.370	0.4032	1546.8	216	0.00054084
0.375	0.4139	1536.1	298	0.00039949
0.380	0.4244	1525.6	133	0.00088665
0.385	0.4350	1515.0	91	0.00129587
0.390	0.4456	1504.4	176	0.00067003
0.395	0.4562	1493.8	190	0.00062657
0.400	0.4667	1483.3	122	0.00099475
0.405	0.4770	1473.0	195	0.00061637
0.410	0.4874	1462.6	147	0.00081764
0.415	0.4978	1452.2	99	0.00120250
0.420	0.5083	1441.7	190	0.00062657
0.425	0.5188	1431.2	43	0.00279517
0.430	0.5292	1420.8	133	0.00090370
0.435	0.5396	1410.4	232	0.00050829
0.440	0.5502	1399.8	116	0.00102627
0.445	0.5607	1389.3	67	0.00177683
0.450	0.5712	1378.8	159	0.00076327
0.455	0.5815	1368.5	144	0.00085103
0.460	0.5917	1358.3	247	0.00050106
0.465	0.6018	1348.2	157	0.00076556
0.470	0.6122	1337.8	138	0.00088804
0.475	0.6224	1327.6	126	0.00095391
0.480	0.6328	1317.2	81	0.00149826
0.485	0.6431	1306.9	105	0.00114469
0.490	0.6535	1296.5	167	0.00072670
0.495	0.6638	1286.2	162	0.00075648
0.500	0.6740	1276.0	142	0.00085464
0.505	0.6843	1265.7	57	0.00365497
0.510	0.6903	1259.7	222	0.00097080
0.515	0.6961	1253.9	28	0.00731850
0.520	0.7022	1247.8	115	0.00181159
0.525	0.7082	1241.8	136	0.00153186
0.530	0.7142	1235.8	183	0.00113843
0.535	0.7202	1229.8	149	0.00142191
0.540	0.7261	1223.9	136	0.00153186
0.545	0.7321	1217.9	179	0.00116387
0.550	0.7381	1211.9	161	0.00131593
0.555	0.7440	1206.0	214	0.00149772
0.560	0.7479	1202.1	175	0.00183150
0.565	0.7518	1198.2	164	0.00205999
0.570	0.7555	1194.5	155	0.00217960
0.575	0.7592	1190.8	162	0.00203054
0.580	0.7630	1187.0	173	0.00190143
0.585	0.7668	1183.2	177	0.00181081
0.590	0.7707	1179.3	123	0.00282294
0.595	0.7743	1175.7	257	0.00131454
0.600	0.7780	1172.0	270	0.00121832
0.605	0.7818	1168.2	236	0.00135811
0.610	0.7857	1164.3	289	0.00110904
0.615	0.7896	1160.4	274	0.00116975
0.620	0.7935	1156.5	291	0.00113040
0.625	0.7973	1152.7	278	0.00112410
0.630	0.8013	1148.7	461	0.00069526
0.635	0.8052	1144.8	213	0.00154435
0.640	0.8090	1141.0	175	0.00183150
0.645	0.8129	1137.1	99	0.00323750
0.650	0.8168	1133.2	196	0.00159439
0.655	0.8208	1129.2	178	0.00180063
0.660	0.8247	1125.3	189	0.00165344
0.665	0.8287	1121.3	209	0.00153355
0.670	0.8326	1117.4	208	0.00150240
0.675	0.8366	1113.4	308	0.00101461
0.680	0.8406	1109.4	298	0.00102308
0.685	0.8447	1105.3	196	0.00159439
0.690	0.8487	1101.3	227	0.00137665
0.695	0.8527	1097.3	282	0.00110816
0.700	0.8567	1093.3	175	0.00174216
0.705	0.8608	1089.2	153	0.00220809
0.710	0.8645	1085.5	176	0.00191953
0.715	0.8682	1081.8	114	0.00288550
0.720	0.8720	1078.0	128	0.00244141
0.725	0.8760	1074.0	147	0.00236206
0.730	0.8796	1070.4	143	0.00224135
0.735	0.8835	1066.5	241	0.00136493
0.740	0.8873	1062.7	149	0.00220770
0.745	0.8911	1058.9	161	0.00209837
0.750	0.8948	1055.2	128	0.00250401
0.755	0.8987	1051.3	151	0.00223734
0.760	0.9024	1047.6	145	0.00226860
0.765	0.9062	1043.8	186	0.00176853
0.770	0.9100	1040.0	172	0.00186345
0.775	0.9139	1036.1	111	0.00288750
0.780	0.9178	1032.2	314	0.00104760
0.785	0.9216	1028.4	192	0.00166934
0.790	0.9255	1024.5	267	0.00123201
0.795	0.9293	1020.7	168	0.00186012
0.800	0.9333	1016.7	180	0.00178063
0.805	0.9372	1012.8	180	0.00147754
0.810	0.9419	1008.1	75	0.00354610
0.815	0.9466	1003.4	109	0.00238914
0.820	0.9514	998.6	154	0.00169102
0.825	0.9562	993.8	349	0.00077862
0.830	0.9608	989.2	220	0.00120890
0.835	0.9655	984.5	251	0.00103752
0.840	0.9703	979.7	193	0.00137802
0.845	0.9750	975.0	217	0.00120008
0.850	0.9798	970.2	149	0.00178495
0.855	0.9845	965.5	125	0.00196078
0.860	0.9896	960.4	82	0.00293152
0.865	0.9948	955.2	289	0.00084809
0.870	0.9999	950.1	127	0.00189279
0.875	1.0051	944.9	145	0.00169033
0.880	1.0102	939.8	125	0.00196078
0.885	1.0153	934.7	98	0.00245290
0.890	1.0205	929.5	131	0.00183500
0.895	1.0257	924.3	125	0.00196078
0.900	1.0308	919.2	79	0.00304284
0.905	1.0360	914.0	71	0.00359299
0.910	1.0409	909.1	120	0.00204248
0.915	1.0460	904.0	96	0.00265731
0.920	1.0509	899.1	71	0.00352113
0.925	1.0559	894.1	27	0.00907771
0.930	1.0610	889.0	59	0.00423729
0.935	1.0660	884.0	233	0.00105192
0.940	1.0711	878.9	259	0.00096525
0.945	1.0761	873.9	211	0.00120901
0.950	1.0810	869.0	553	0.00044322
0.955	1.0861	863.9	313	0.00081502
0.960	1.0910	859.0	160	0.00162760
0.965	1.0958	854.2	213	0.00119766