LATE HOLOCENE VEGETATION AND ENVIRONMENT HISTORY OF DAJIU LAKE BASIN,SHENNINGJIA, CHINA USING POLLEN, MACROFOSSILS AND GEOCHEMISTRY

Shennongjia is a relatively closed high mountain area, where lakes and swamps are relatively undisturbed by human activities. A stable and continuous layer of peat ca. 3 m thick accumulated during the Holocene. We examined a stratigraphic sequence of 120 cm from the Dajiuhu Lake Basin for pollen, macrofossils and geochemistry; the profile represents the vegetation history from ca. 2500 yrs. B.P until today. The profile revealed that climate in this area has been generally cool and wet throughout the period, but some vegetation and climatic fluctuations and small human disturbances can also be seen clearly in the pollen, geochemistry and plant macrofossil record. Good correlations exist between Rumex, Juniperus, Rhus, Cerealia, Alnus and geochemistry. For macrofossils, Sphagna Section Subsecunda and Drepanocladus spec. correspond well with geochemistry. We conclude that combining the three analytical methods has great potential for providing high-resolution reconstructions of vegetation and climate.