Icelandic volcanic ash and the mid- Holocene Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) pollen decline in northern Scotland

A volcanic ash-layer in peat from northern Scotland has been identified and coincides exactly with an abrupt decline in Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine) pollen frequencies. This provides an isochrone (time-equivalent marker horizon) with which to investigate the timing of the Holocene 'pine-dec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Holocene
Main Authors: Blackford, Jeffrey J., Edwards, Kevin J., Dugmore, Andrew J., Cook, Gordon T., Buckland, Paul C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publications 1992
Subjects:
Paleontology
Earth-Surface Processes
Ecology
Archeology
Global and Planetary Change
Hekla
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/095968369200200308
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/095968369200200308
Description
Summary:A volcanic ash-layer in peat from northern Scotland has been identified and coincides exactly with an abrupt decline in Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine) pollen frequencies. This provides an isochrone (time-equivalent marker horizon) with which to investigate the timing of the Holocene 'pine-decline'. Furthermore, two possible causes of the southward shift of the range of Pinus in Scotland c. 4000 BP are suggested; a direct effect of acid pollution by chemicals produced by the eruption of Hekla (H-4), or a volcanically-induced climatic perturbation. These possibilities have wider implications for the influence of volcanism on postglacial environmental change.

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