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

• Published in: The Holocene
• Main Authors: Blackford, J. J., Edwards, K. J., Dugmore, A. J., Cook, G. T., Buckland, P. C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: tephra; palynology; pine-decline; Hekla; acid deposition; climate change; Scotland; /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2306; name=Global and Planetary Change; /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200/1204; name=Archaeology; /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2303; name=Ecology; /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1904; name=Earth-Surface Processes; /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1911; name=Palaeontology
• Online Access: https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/c5ce773c-770c-4f86-9098-7ad2a35a4f3c; https://doi.org/10.1177/095968369200200308; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0027088706&partnerID=8YFLogxK

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.