THE USE OF A PALYNOMORPHIC FINGERPRINT TO IDENTIFY THE FORMER POSITIONS OF JUNCUS ROEMERIANUS IN CORES IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND A POTENTIAL INTERPRETATION OF THESE POSITIONAL CHANGES

Juncus roemerianus is the plant that occurs at the upper reaches of salt water influence in marshes in the southeastern United States. As such, it is a good marker for highest high water, and being able to track its positions over time should enable one to track past changes in sea level. In 2006 a palynomorphic fingerprint to identify surface sediment from Juncus roemerianus marshes was discovered in a South Carolina study. This present study investigates the potential to use that palynomorphic fingerprint to track past positions of Juncus roemerianus marshes over time. Examining a series of cores from the salt marshes of the Baruch Institute for Coastal and Marine Sciences, Georgetown, South Carolina, we show that former positions of Juncus roemerianus can be identified and we present a possible interpretation of the variations in presence and absence of the Juncus roemerianus proxy, Atrotorquata lineata, in these cores.