Lateglacial/Early Flandrian Vegetation Change on Northern Dartmoor, South-West England

Abstract

Pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating of a 2.12 m blanket peat profile from Black Ridge Brook, northern Dartmoor, reveals the presence of deposits of Lateglacial/early Flandrian age. Sites of this period are not only rare on Dartmoor but there are relatively few in the South West and central southern England as a whole. Pollen assemblages show the persistence of open ground plant communities into the Flandrian and the radiocarbon dating implies a significant delay in woodland development. It is suggested that this delay was caused by a combination of edaphic and climatic factors, although there is also evidence in the section for the early influence of fire. Birch-hazel woodland did eventually spread onto the higher areas of Dartmoor by c. 8000 BP but treelines began to fall by c. 7700-7600 BP. From this time charcoal is continually present in the profile and it is suggested that woodland recession and blanket peat development were, at least in part, due to the activities of Mesolithic communities.