A PRELIMINARY APPLICATION OF THE ANALOG APPROACH TO THE INTERPRETATION OF LATE QUATERNARY POLLEN SPECTRA FROM SOUTHEASTERN AUSTRALIA

Pollen spectra from the pre-European settlement phase in 73 pollen dia grams from mainland southeastern Australia are compared with fossil sp ectra from critical past periods in the Northwest Crater pollen record that covers at least the last 18,000 years. Previous interpretations of the fossil record are refined on the basis of individual recent spe ctrum analogues or best matches and on recent spectrum groups determin ed by numerical classification. It is found that spectrum matches gene rally increase through time as modem vegetation associations develop. In line with a number of studies in other parts of the world, true ana logues are not apparent until the early-mid Holocene. Although providi ng useful insights into vegetation composition and climate, particular ly seasonal climatic variation, the limited data base, lack of statist ical manipulation of the data and the general homogeneity of the veget ation have inhibited, at this stage, the production of realistic quant itative climatic estimates. Copyright (C) 1996 INQUA/Elsevier Science Ltd