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
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (814K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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