The usefulness of pollen analysis in interpretation of stratigraphic horizons, both Late-glacial and Post-glacial

SummaryIn the English Lake District, it has been shown on chemical evidence that the lake sediments originated in the soils of the drainage basins. Changes in the stratigraphy of the sediments, in both Late-glacial and Post-glacial times, correspond with changes in the pollen spectra in a consistent manner, indicating a close correlation between soil and vegetation history. Evidence is presented to show that the major factor determining the stratigraphy of the sediments was the erosion rate in the drainage basin. During the Late-glacial and early Post-glacial period the erosion rate was controlled by temperature. In the mid-Post-glacial (Atlantic) period of deciduous forest, erosion was at a minimum, and comparison of many sites shows that during the last 5000 years, the degree of modification or destruction of the original cover of deciduous forest has been the dominating factor in determining the stratigraphy of the lake sediments, because of the accelerated rate of erosion which resulted from modification or destruction of the forest cover.