Three Flandrian Pollen Profiles From the Teith Valley, Perthshire, Scotland

Abstract

SUMMARYDeteriorated pollen grains have been recorded from Flandrian sediments in three sites near Callander in Perthshire, and diagrams are presented of deteriorated pollen as opposed to the overall pollen totals discussed in the previous paper. The problems of interpreting records of deteriorated pollen are discussed, a format for pollen diagrams conveying detailed information on deteriorated grains is introduced, and the palaeoenvironmental implications of the records are considered. It is shown that major changes in deteriorated pollen totals are common to all three diagrams, with low percentages in the early Flandrian, and pronounced increases in deteriorated totals coincident with the Corylus decline at each site. It is suggested that similar studies at other sites in northern Britain may prove these trends to be consistent features of Flandrian pollen diagrams.

Modern pollen from the catchment and surficial sediments of a Scottish sea loch (fjord)

“…In addition, during counting the state of preservation of all pollen was recorded using four categories; undamaged, folded, split, corroded. This categorisation is similar to that first proposed by Cushing (1964) although the corroded category in the present work also includes pollen described as degraded by Cushing and amorphous by Lowe (1982). All dry land pollen identified during counting irrespective of its state of preservation is included in the pollen sum.…”

Modelling land use around an early Neolithic timber ‘hall’ in north east Scotland from high spatial resolution pollen analyses

“…Few grains were well-preserved or normal. Most grains determined to taxon were crumpled, and the origin of this crumpling might readily be found in abrasion in the comparatively coarse mineral sediment (Cushing, 1964;Lowe, 1982;Tipping, 1995). Samples with more crumpled determinate grains tend, weakly, to have lower proportions of taxa resistant to decay (Test 8), suggesting that such damage has not distorted the representation of pollen taxa in these assemblages.…”

“…Degraded or amorphous pollen are, in the absence of experimental data, often assumed to be a product of sustained biochemical or physical deterioration (Cushing, 1964;Lowe, 1982;Tipping et al, 1994;Tipping, 1995). Samples with more crumpled determinate grains have higher proportions of degraded determinate grains, but there is no such relation between severe corrosion and degradation, suggesting that degradation has an origin in mechanical damage rather than biochemical decay.…”

A new flow cytometry method enabling rapid purification of fossil pollen from terrestrial sediments for AMS radiocarbon dating

“…The use of pollen concentrates offers the potential to directly date the formation of specific entities, a major advantage over bulk sediment samples, particularly for sequences susceptible to the hard‐water effects (Regnell, ). Although the introduction of older carbon through reworked pollen can be problematic, such grains are invariably observed to be damaged and degraded, allowing them to be easily recognized under a light microscope and the sample, if necessary, to be rejected for dating (Lowe, ; Tweddle and Edwards, ).…”