Abstract
Pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating of lake sediment cores from four localities in the Frederikshåb district, South-West Greenland, provide a chronology of vegetation changes in the area since c. 10000 B.P. An initial pioneer phase with the early development of some heath communities is followed by amid postglacial phase in which there is the successive appearance of woody scrub species. A final phase shows the decline of some of these. This is interpreted as a general response to a broad amplitude fluctuation in climate, with its optimal period lying between c. 7600 and 3200 B.P. The detailed composition of the vegetation however is influenced by immigration phenomena, with the appearance of many species lagging behind the attainment of their climatic thresholds. Detailed consideration is given to the possibility of Alnus crispa being present as a scrub component during the climatic optimum.
Highlights
General introduetionThe pioneering pollen analytieal work by the late Johannes Iversen (1934, 1953) showed that the evolution of the vegetation of Greenland sinee its partial deglaeiation has been in response to the twofold influenees of c1imatie ehange and the differential rate of immigration of species into this relatively isolated region
During geological mapping of the Frederikshåb distriet of South-West Greenland in 1964, 1965 and 1966, eores of lake sediments were obtained with the aim of determining the applieability of these eonc1usions to another part of Greenland, and of eorrelating this palaeo-elimatie information with the geological evidenee of the behaviour of the Greenland iee sheet
A great deal of information has eome from the detailed studies by Fredskild (1973) of lake sediments, mainly from south Greenland, and the present work has to be considered in the eontext of this
Summary
The pioneering pollen analytieal work by the late Johannes Iversen (1934, 1953) showed that the evolution of the vegetation of Greenland sinee its partial deglaeiation has been in response to the twofold influenees of c1imatie ehange and the differential rate of immigration of species into this relatively isolated region. During geological mapping of the Frederikshåb distriet of South-West Greenland in 1964, 1965 and 1966, eores of lake sediments were obtained with the aim of determining the applieability of these eonc1usions to another part of Greenland, and of eorrelating this palaeo-elimatie information with the geological evidenee of the behaviour of the Greenland iee sheet. The analysed sites eomprise three at low elevations lying on an east-west line from the outer eoast to c10se to the present iee margin, parallel to the present elimatic gradient and to the direetion of retreat of the iee sheet (Qaqarssuaq: plate 1, Nigerdleq: plate 2, Kvanefjord: plate 3), and a fourth site in the extreme south of the area (Neria: plate 4).
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