A RADIOCARBON‐DATED POLLEN DIAGRAM FROM LOCH OF WINLESS, CAITHNESS, NORTH‐EAST SCOTLAND

Abstract

A pollen diagram is presented from a 6 metre continuous core taken from Loch of Winless. Ten radiocarbon age determinations have been made from the sediments in relation to pollen stratigraphical changes and the sediments are found to cover the past 12800 years. On the basis of pollen stratigraphy the diagram is divided into five local pollen assemblage zones. Zones 1 and 2 may be correlated with the younger part of the Late Devensian (sensu Mitchell et al., 1973) whilst zones 3, 4 and 5 cover the Flandrian up to the present. The most notable aspect of the vegetational history of the area inferred from the fossil assemblages is the lack of tree‐cover at any time since the last glaciation. With the climatic amelioration at the beginning of the Flandrian period (approximately 10000 years B.P.), ‘dwarf‐shrub’ and ‘dwarf‐herb’ communities typical of the Late Devensian contracted and there was a widespread expansion of rich ‘tall‐herb’ and fern‐dominated communities with some small patches of willow and hazel scrub in sheltered sites. These in turn gave way to Calluna‐dominated heaths on the well drained soils where podsolization and acidification were occurring. Copyright © 1979, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved