The palaeoecological and prehistoric context of minerogenic layers in blanket peat: a study from Loch Dee, southwest Scotland

Abstract

Exposures in blanket mire deposits in the Galloway Hills, southwest Scotland, have revealed the presence of minerogenic layers within the peat stratigraphy. These deposits are studied by a variety of methods with a view to the investigation of ecological influences upon deposition, the timing of events and aspects of their geomorphology. The layers were deposited under both wooded and unwooded conditions in the vicinity of the sites, but vegetational disturbances consistent with anthropogenic activity including agriculture, were coeval with minerogenic deposition at various times. The evidence points to a dissimilarity in the formation times of individual layers of pronounced minerogenic deposition, although deposition has been a continuous event over the last 5000 years. The greatest development of distinct layers would seem to be in peat lying at the break of slope, where mineral material came to rest following its removal by water from rotted boulder and sandy podsolic soil sources lying upslope.