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Icelandic volcanic ash and the mid- Holocene Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) pollen decline in northern Scotland

School of Geography, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

Kevin J. Edwards

School of Geography, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

Andrew J. Dugmore

Department of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK

Gordon T. Cook

Scottish Universities Research Reactor Centre, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 OQ U, UK

Paul C. Buckland

Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2 TN, UK)

A volcanic ash-layer in peat from northern Scotland has been identified and coincides exactly with an abrupt decline in Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine) pollen frequencies. This provides an isochrone (time-equivalent marker horizon) with which to investigate the timing of the Holocene 'pine-decline'. Furthermore, two possible causes of the southward shift of the range of Pinus in Scotland c. 4000 BP are suggested; a direct effect of acid pollution by chemicals produced by the eruption of Hekla (H-4), or a volcanically-induced climatic perturbation. These possibilities have wider implications for the influence of volcanism on postglacial environmental change.

Key Words: tephra • palynology • pine-decline • Hekla • acid deposition • climate change • Scotland.

The Holocene, Vol. 2, No. 3, 260-265 (1992)
DOI: 10.1177/095968369200200308


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