Taphonomic influences on the interpretation of the palaeoecological recordfrom Lynch's Crater, northeastern Australia

Pollen and plant macrofossil analysis of a sediment core from the margin of Lynch's Crater provides a discontinuous record of vegetation and environme nts on and around Lynch's Crater through the last glacial cycle. A chronolo gy for the sequence is provided by palynological correlation with an existi ng, more continuous record from the central part of the crater. A compariso n of the two records provides insights into processes of pollen transport a nd deposition that allows clearer separation of regional vegetation from th at growing on the swamp surface. There is evidence from both pollen and mac rofossils for the existence of a previously unsuspected swamp forest which grew on the swamp margins within the early part of the last glacial. The re cords illustrate the extinction of components of this forest in the latter part of the last glacial period and its eventual demise in the Holocene. (C ) 1999 INQUA / Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.