PALYNOLOGY OF LATE QUATERNARY COASTAL SEDIMENTS, PERAK, MALAYSIA

Twenty eight samples of peat, clay and silty clay from a tin mine expo sure near Pantai Remis, Perak, Malaysia, were palynologically analyzed . Six pollen zones and eight subzones were delineated based on the dom inant floral components. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarb on and thermoluminescence datings on selected samples indicate late Pl eistocene and older age. The occurrence of Podocarpus imbricatus polle n suggests that the deposit is no older than late Pliocene. The fluctu ation of sea level during the late Pleistocene is believed to be the m ain factor that influenced the development of vegetation at the Pantai Remis area. The presence of mangrove peat at depths between 13.0 m an d 14.0 m, which overlies a freshwater Pandanus peat, indicates the pos ition of a former shoreline at Pantai Remis when the area was inundate d sometime during the last interglacial marine incursion. During this period of high sea level, the Pandanus swamp was probably being gradua lly replaced by mangrove vegetation. The mangrove sequence is regarded as equivalent to the Kempadang formation. A slight drop in sea level sometime during the last glacial interstadial stage probably caused a small, open alluvial swamp to be developed over the mangrove forest. T his freshwater deposit may be the equivalent of the Simpang formation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.