Postglacial Environmental History of Rannoch Moor, Scotland. II. Pollen Diagrams and Radiocarbon Dates from the Rannoch Station and Corrour Areas

Abstract

This paper presents the results of further investigations into the early Postglacial environmental history of Rannoch Moor, Scotland. Detailed pollen analyses were carried out at four sites in the eastern and northern parts of the Moor, and radiocarbon dates were obtained from three of the profiles. The pollen stratigraphic and radiocarbon data lend considerable support to conclusions reached from previous research in the Rannoch Moor area. The evidence suggests that glacier ice of the Loch Lomond Advance had dis- appeared completely well before 10 000 BP by which time a dwarf shrub heath vegetation had become firmly established locally. Birch woodlands were wide- spread in the Rannoch Moor area by c. 9800 BP, and were succeeded by a forest cover of birch, hazel, pine and alder. The close similarities between the pollen records from all the sites on Rannoch Moor suggest that apart from minor local variations there was very little regional differentiation in vegetation composition throughout this area of the Grampians during the Postglacial period. This in turn suggests that the regional pollen assemblage zones (R-zones) defined here can be used for the correlation of ecological changes within the Rannoch Moor area.