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The Holocene
Title
The title of the publication or report
Title:
The Holocene
Subtitle
The sub title of the publication or report
Subtitle:
A Major Interdisciplinary Journal Focusing on Recent Environmental Change
Series
The series the publication or report is included in
Series:
The Holocene
Volume
Volume number and part
Volume:
22 (10)
Publication Type
The type of publication - report, monograph, journal article or chapter from a book
Publication Type:
Journal
Year of Publication
The year the book, article or report was published
Year of Publication:
2012
Source
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Source:
BIAB (biab_online)
Relations
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Relations:
URI:
http://hol.sagepub.com/content/22/10.toc
Created Date
The date the record of the pubication was first entered
Created Date:
19 Sep 2012
Please click on an Article link to go to the Article Details.
Article Title
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Author / Editor
Page
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Abstract
Holocene environmental changes in the Lower Thames Valley, London, UK; Implications for understanding the history of Taxu...
Nicholas P Branch
Rob Batchelor
Nigel G Cameron
Russell Russell Coope
Robin Densem
Rowena M O Gale
Christopher P Green
Alan N Williams
1143 - 1158
A radiocarbon-dated multiproxy palaeoenvironmental record from the Lower Thames Valley at Hornchurch Marshes has provided a reconstruction of the timing and nature of vegetation succession against a background of Holocene climate change, relative sea level movement and human activities. The investigation recorded widespread peat formation between c. 6300 and 3900 cal. yr BP (marine 'regression'), succeeded by evidence for marine incursion. The multiproxy analyses of these sediments, comprising pollen, Coleoptera, diatoms, and plant and wood macrofossils, have indicated significant changes in both the wetland and dryland environment, including the establishment of Alnus (Alder) carr woodland, and the decline of both Ulmus (Elm; c. 5740 cal. yr BP) and Tilia (Lime; c. 5600 cal. yr BP, and 4160'“3710 cal. yr BP). The beetle faunas from the peat also suggest a thermal climate similar to that of the present day. At c. 4900 cal. yr BP, Taxus (L.; Yew) woodland colonised the peatland forming a plant community that has no known modern analogue in the UK. The precise reason, or reasons, for this event remain unclear, although changes in peatland hydrology seem most likely. The growth of Taxus on peatland not only has considerable importance for our knowledge of the vegetation history of southeast England, and NW Europe generally, but also has wider implications for the interpretation of Holocene palaeobotanical records. At c. 3900 cal. yr BP, Taxus declined on the peatland surface during a period of major hydrological change (marine incursion), an event also strongly associated with the decline of dryland woodland taxa, including Tilia and Quercus, and the appearance of anthropogenic indicators.