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Abstract: New data are provided on the history of Holocene vegetation based on pollen records from a coastal sequence on the Cantabrian coast. A core with a continuous record corresponding to a complex sequence reflecting upward shallowing was studied, and two 14C dates of 6180±40 (7030 cal.) yr BP and 2610±70 (2775 cal.) yr BP were obtained. The pollen study highlights the development in the area of an oak forest with Corylus, the presence of an interesting thermophilous floral assemblage and alder forests that spread around 3000 years ago. The latter appears to be related to the availability of large areas of territory close to the Villaviciosa Estuary main channel and to a high phreatic zone. It is interpreted as a response to autocyclic sedimentary discontinuity (channel displacement) rather than as an episode of sea-level fall. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pollen analysis from a 14.1 m core recovered from a valley mire at Espinosa de Cerrato (Palencia, Spain), suggests that Pinus woodland has dominated this area of the Northern Meseta throughout almost the entire Holocene, in contrast to many other locations in Iberia where early-Holocene conifer woodland was progressively replaced by deciduous taxa. This unique pattern of vegetation development is attributable to a combination of continental climate, edaphic conditions of these Mesetas, and perhaps fire. These data suggest that vegetation in this area has been remarkably stable over an extended timescale and that arguments concerning Pinus communities not being native in the region are unfounded. Anthropogenic impact can be detected at c. 4500 [sup 14C] yr BP, affecting evergreen Quercus woodlands, and between c. 3000 and 2000 [sup 14]C yr BP affecting Pinus woodlands. The pine forests were replaced by plant communities resembling the present-day landscape (shrubs and cereals) from c. 1500 [sup 14]C yr BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]