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, 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
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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