Open AccessAge, origin and development of blanket mires in Sør‐Trøndelag, Central Norway
Author(s) -
SOLEM THYRA
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
boreas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.95
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1502-3885
pISSN - 0300-9483
DOI - 10.1111/j.1502-3885.1986.tb00073.x
Subject(s) - peat , drumlin , mire , geology , physical geography , vegetation (pathology) , stratigraphy , period (music) , geomorphology , water table , hydrology (agriculture) , paleontology , archaeology , geography , groundwater , oceanography , sea ice , medicine , cryosphere , physics , geotechnical engineering , pathology , acoustics , ice stream , tectonics
Pollen analysis, 14 C datings and peat stratigraphy from blanket mires overlying two of the six drumlins in the Momyr area NW of the Trondheimsfjord in Sør‐Trøndelag county are presented in order to trace the peat development and vegetational history. 14 C datings of the mineral soil/peat transition in 9 of the II profiles indicate that peat formation started about 7,800 years ago on the drumlin plateaux which at that time had a vegetation of scattered birch trees. From the plateaux the peat formation spread slowly down the slopes. Eventually, the mire surface bore a cover of pines which disappeared about 4,900 years ago, at the same time as peat formation commenced at the foot of the drumlins. This was probably a result of a change in the water table and onset of erosion in the already existing peat on the drumlin plateaux. During a period of about 1,000 years this new peat buried a dense birch vegetation existing at the lower part of the drumlins. Peat growth then spread upslope, and the drumlins' overall blanket of peat was completed well before the Subatlantic chronozone.