A late Holocene pollen record from the Lake Falin Peat-bog (Piedmont, Western Italian Alps)

This paper reports on the results of palynological analysis and radiocarbon dating carried out on a peat-bog core of lake falin, a small basin located at 1691 m a.s.l., in the Western Italian Alps. Samples from a 209 cm core obtained by continuous drilling with a piston corere, were prepared according to Girad and Renault Miskowki method (1969) and were analysed for the pollen content. The three levels most rich in organic matter were dated with the radiocarbon method. Fifthythree palynological entitie were observed. The constant dominance of Poaceae, Pinus, Abies and Alnus through the whole pollen diagram highlights a quite stable vegetation landscape over the study area during the investigated time-span. The deepmost (209-170 cm in depth) among the four recognised pollen zones was dated at 2120+/- 60 yr BP and therefore could have been assigned to the Subatlantic. Finally the occurence of some anthropogenic markers as cereals, castanea, Juglans, Chenopodiaceae, Polygonaceae...in the all analysed core samples provided data for depicting the evolution of human impact in the study area during the last 2500 years.