Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstracts

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Forest persistence at coastal Waikato, 24 000 years BP to present

C. M. Lees⁺, V. E. Neall*, A. S. Palmer*

Two sites on the western Waikato coast were investigated by pollen analysis. Airstrip Bog (alt. 135 m) contained an unbroken record of Late Otiran vegetation from >23 400 +/- 340 years BP to <16 050 +/- 180 years BP. Cold wet conditions existed between 25 000 and 20 000 years BP. Subalpine shrubs grew on the bog and at least two species of Nothofagus on the surrounding hills. Low temperatures with increasing aridity followed, and the bog flora was much reduced. After 17 200 years BP it became warmer and wetter; Nothofagus extended its range. Throughout the last 10 000-year record, coastal lowland species including Ascarina contributed pollen to the spectrum. Deep Hole, the second site (2 m a.s.l.), records the existence of a lagoon developed behind a rock sill subsequent to the high Holocene sea level c. 6500 years BP. Drainage of the lagoon occurred about 2610 years BP, and the site passed through seral changes until these were interrupted by human intervention. Fuscospora pollen was tentatively identified as N. truncata. Agathis pollen was found only at Deep Hole and only in European times (past 150 years).

This study provides the first information on the late Pleistocene vegetation of coastal Waikato and shows the continuity of forest at low altitudes through glacial times. It establishes the presence of two species of Nothofagus and indicates that N. truncata was present in the vicinity of both sites. The study supports other work indicating Agathis was still advancing southwards in the past 150 years.

Keywords  Otiran, Quaternary, Holocene, pollen analysis, palynology, cold climate, sea level, Ascarina, Nothofagus truncata, Agathis, Waikato.

(c) Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand,

Volume 28, Number 1, March 1998, pp 55-81

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1728K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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