A 12 500 year record of vegetational history at Sluggan Bog, Co. Antrim, N. Ireland (incorporating a pollen zone scheme for the non‐specialist)
summary A radiocarbon‐dated pollen diagram from a typical lowland raised bog in County Antrim is presented, together with a limited stratigraphic study. The record of vegetational development described is unusually complete for the last 12 FDD years. The pollen diagram is divided into ten pollen zon...
Saved in:
| Published in: | The New phytologist 1991-05, Vol.118 (1), p.167-187 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | summary
A radiocarbon‐dated pollen diagram from a typical lowland raised bog in County Antrim is presented, together with a limited stratigraphic study. The record of vegetational development described is unusually complete for the last 12 FDD years. The pollen diagram is divided into ten pollen zones which it is hoped will be useful to the non‐specialist. A visual summary is given in Figure 5.
Deposits of the Midlandian late‐glacial are contained in a small basin beneath the reedswamp and later Sphagnum peats of the mire. Birch woodland developed early in the sequence (approx, 12 350 BP) in the Belling interstadial period. Declines of this woodland occurred at approx. 12 200 BP and 11 700 BP. The probability that the 12200 BP decline represents the end of the thermal maximum of the late‐glacial interstadial is discussed. In the period equivalent to the classical Allerod interstadial, the vegetation appears to have been essentially treeless. A summary comparison of Irish Late‐glacial pollen assemblage zones is given. All radiocarbon dates are conventional, without calibration.
The birch woods of the early post‐glacial (early Littletonian) were subject to a set‐back at approx. 9400 BP that lasted some 200 years during which time there appears to have been a reversion to the unstable soils characteristic of earlier times. The possibility of an early post‐glacial climatic oscillation is discussed.
In the zonation scheme, attention is drawn to the decline of hazel pollen at approx. 8600 bp which appears to represent a turning point in woodland development. The mire surface was invaded by pines in the Late Boreal period. The decline of the pine pollen curve at the Boreal‐Atlantic transition (our S: V1‐S: VII pollen zone boundary, dated to approx. 7000 DP) is discussed in relation to evidence of burning and possible human activity.
Neolithic forest clearance activity on a minor scale is attested at the elm decline which at Sluggan falls rather late in the usual range for this horizon, at approx. 4900 bp. Major episodes of forest clearance took place in the Bronze Age. Thereafter woodland largely regenerated before further clearance starting in the seventh century AD which must have become substantial by Viking times. The local woodlands appear to have recovered again, however, and despite some further clearance in the Late Anglo‐Norman period persisted substantially until relatively recent times.
The possibility of climatic influences on the later vegetational h |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0028-646X 1469-8137 |