New Zealand Journal of Botany abstract

The late-Quaternary pollen record of south-east Nelson, South Island, New Zealand

W. L. McLEA

Geology Department
Victoria University of Wellington
P. O. Box 600
Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract  South-east Nelson at the northern end of the Southern Alps was extensively glaciated during the Last Glacial Maximum. For areas not covered by ice the pollen record shows that grassland was the plant cover. Below 500 m a.s.l. and to the west there were refuges of beech (Nothofagus). When the ice retreated, after 12 000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. grassland was colonised by shrubland dominated by Halocarpus and Phyllocladus. By 8000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. beech forest was migrating from refuges into the shrubland by discontinuous population advance. West of the mountains, in the Lake Rotoiti-Lake Rotoroa area, beech forest was established by 6000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Forest then advanced up the river valleys, into the Southern Alps, to give today's nearly continuous beech forest cover. The process is not yet complete, and grassland on the eastern side is still being colonised by beech.

Keywords  Late Quaternary; Aranuian; palynology; Southern Alps; Lake Rotoiti; Lake Rotoroa; Lake Tennyson; beech (Nothofagus) forest; Last Glacial Maximum; discontinuous population advance

B95005

Received 3 February 1995; accepted 10 June 1996

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