Middle and Late Holocene vegetation and landscape evolution of the Scheldt estuary. A palynological study of a peat deposit from Doel (N-Belgium).
Flemish Heritage Institute, Koning Albert II-laan 19 bus 5, 1210 Brussel, Belgium. Email: koen.deforce@rwo.vlaanderen.be.
Abstract
Local and regional environmental conditions for the south-eastern Scheldt estuary during the middle and late Holocene period have been reconstructed based on pollen analysis, loss-on-ignition and radiocarbon dating of a sediment core from Doel (N-Belgium) and the comparison with existing data from other sites from the same region. Postglacial relative sea level rise resulted in the formation of alder carr vegetation in the lower parts of the landscape from c. 7640 cal BP onwards. The vegetation succession was weakly influenced by the deposition of tidal clay deposits between c. 6550 and 5650 a cal BP and eventually culminated in the development of an oligotrophic bog. Peat accumulation seems to have ceased between c. 2030 and 1220 a cal BP, well before it was covered by marine sediments in the late Middle Ages.