Mg. Pellatt et al., High-resolution Holocene vegetation history and climate from Hole 1034B, ODP leg 169S, Saanich Inlet, Canada, MARINE GEOL, 174(1-4), 2001, pp. 211-226
High-resolution pollen analysis of laminated marine sediments from ODP Hole
1034B in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia reveals changes in vegetation and
inferred climate during the Holocene, Four main pollen zones are discerned
using constrained cluster analysis. Although the timing of major vegetatio
n changes at the Saanich Inlet is similar to other study sites in the Pacif
ic Northwest, the composition of pollen assemblage zones is different from
the mainland sites. Vegetation assemblages reconstructed from the pollen an
d spore record include a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) parkland with
abundant grass (Poaceae) and bracken (Pteridium) between 11,450 and 8300 BP
(all ages are calibrated calendar years), oak (Quercus) savanna or parklan
d with high grass and bracken (8300-7040 BP), a mixed deciduous/coniferous
forest with oak, western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and Douglas-fir (7040
-5750 BP), and the development of modem coastal temperate forest with the m
arked expansion of cedar (Cupressaceae), western hemlock, spruce (Picea) an
d Douglas-fir (5750-1050 BP). Climatic periods inferred from the cores incl
ude an early Holocene warm/dry interval (11,450-8300 BP), a warm period wit
h mild winters (8300-7040 BP), a period of transitional mid-Holocene climat
e (7040-5750 BP), and the advent of a relatively cool/ wet neoglacial clima
te after 5750 BP, Modern conifer forests and oak savannas became establishe
d by about 3800 BP. The Saanich Inlet pollen record indicates that vegetati
on and inferred climate change was particularly rapid between 8700 and 8300
BP when grass and bracken abruptly decrease and oak becomes a significant
component of the paleovegetation. Because neoglacial conditions have prevai
led from 3800 years to present in the Pacific Northwest, factors other than
climate, such as anthropogenic modification of the landscape, may be respo
nsible for the persistence of oak savannas. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.
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