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TWO POSTGLACIAL POLLEN PROFILES FROM THE UPLANDS OF SNOWDONIA, GWYNEDD, NORTH WALES
Author(s) -
INCE J.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1983.tb03480.x
Subject(s) - woodland , younger dryas , pollen , grassland , stadial , geography , ecology , radiocarbon dating , glacial period , archaeology , physical geography , geology , biology , holocene , paleontology
S ummary Pollen diagrams are presented from two upland cwms in Gwynedd, North Wales. The profiles provide a detailed record of vegetational and environmental changes in the uplands of Snowdonia during the early and later postglacial (Flandrian) periods. Radiocarbon dates indicate that at both sites organic sedimentation commenced at around 10000 B.P., and support geomorphological evidence of cwm glaciation during the Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial. Pollen analysis of basal minerogenic sediments, deposited sometime before 10000 B.P., reveal the colonization of the recently deglaciated uplands by grassland communities rich in Rumex and other open habitat taxa. Early herbaceous communities were invaded by Juniperus and Betula , and then replaced by Betula—Corylus woodland, and later by forests of birch, pine, oak, elm and alder. Altitudinal factors ensured the survival of many open habitat taxa in the uplands throughout the Flandrian period. Deteriorating environmental conditions and human interference during mid‐ to late‐Flandrian times resulted in the gradual decline of forests in the uplands and the development of open grassland and heathland communities characteristic of Snowdonia today.