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Mats Rundgren

Mats Rundgren

Senior lecturer

Mats Rundgren

Dynamic early Holocene vegetation development on the Faroe Islands inferred from high-resolution plant macrofossil and pollen data

Author

  • Gina E. Hannon
  • Mats Rundgren
  • Catherine A. Jessen

Summary, in English

Vegetation dynamics during the earliest part of the Holocene (11,250-10,250 cal yr BP) have been reconstructed from a lacustrine sequence on Sandoy, the Faroe Islands, using detailed plant macrofossil and pollen evidence. The plant macrofossils suggest the initial vegetation was sparse herb and shrub tundra, with Salix herbacea and open-ground species, followed by the development of a denser and more species-rich arctic heathland after 11,150 cal yr BP. Despite high pollen values for Betula nana, macrofossils are rare. The bulk of the macrofossils recorded are S. herbacea and Empetrum leaves with numerous herb taxa and an abundance of Racomitrium moss. Conditions start to change around 10,800 cal yr BP, with increased catchment erosion and sediment delivery to the lake from ca. 10,600 cal yr BP, and a transition to alternating Cyperaceae and Poaceae communities between ca. 10,450 and 10,250 cal yr BP. This vegetation change, which has been recorded throughout the Faroes, has previously been interpreted as a retrogressive shift from woody shrubs to a herbaceous community. The detailed plant macrofossil data show the shift is the replacement of an Empetrum arctic heathland by grassland and moist sedge communities. These taxa dominate the modern landscape. (C) 2009 University of Washington. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Department/s

  • Quaternary Sciences
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system

Publishing year

2010

Language

English

Pages

163-172

Publication/Series

Quaternary Research

Volume

73

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Academic Press

Topic

  • Geology

Keywords

  • Empetrum
  • Salix herbacea
  • Arctic heathland
  • Plant macrofossils
  • Faroe Islands
  • Early Holocene

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0033-5894