The late Holocene vegetation history of lowland fynbos, Verlorenvlei, southwestern Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract

The late Quaternary vegetation history of fynbos a sclerophyllous shrubland of the south‐western Cape Province of South Africa, has only recently begun to be revealed by a series of pollen diagrams from mountain sites. Until now, however, a reconstruction of the vegetation history of sites in lowland or coastal fynbos communities has not been possible, principally because of an apparent lack of suitable organic and fossil pollen‐bearing sedimentary material in such environments. The search for appropriate sediments has, however, now revealed a sequence of pollen‐rich deposits in the Verlorenvlei, a coastal lake some 180 km north of Cape Town. The sediments accumulated during the last 5500 years, although the record is not complete as a hiatus in sedimentation is apparent. The sequence has been well radiocarbon dated. This has facilitated a precise reconstruction of the late Holocene vegetation history. The area is today characterised by a mosaic of different fynbos communities and has been much disturbed by anthropogenic activities, especially during the last few hundred years. The vegetation history may be compared with the picture which has emerged for the Cederberg mountains to the east of the site, enabling conclusions to be made about the relative roles of climatic change, sea‐level fluctuations and human activities in shaping the fynbos communities.

Key words:

• Palynology
• vegetation history
• fynbos
• South Africa
• late Holocene

Notes

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