Radiocarbon-dated Holocene pollen and ostracod sequences from barrage tufa- dammed fluvial systems in the White Peak,Derbyshire,UK

Abstract

Sedimentary evidence, in the form of pollen, ostracod and radiocarbon-age data from three barrage tufa-dammed systems in the White Peak area of Derbyshire, is used to reconstruct the region's environmental history from 10000 to 4000BP. The data highlight the useful role that such fluvial systems can play in environmental reconstructions, through their ability to act as sumps for a wide range of proxy indicators, in a region where environmental change during the Holocene period has been relatively poorly documented. Pollen data suggest that the period of climatic amelioration following the last (Devensian) glaciation facilitated the spread of thermophilous woodland taxa on the White Peak, although there are some indications that the first immigrant trees were not established until a relatively late date. Forest clearance commencing during the mid-Holocene, and possibly as early as the late Mesolithic, was most probably to provide land for grazing, and was virtually complete by 4000BP. Ostracod data reveal fluctuations in discharge of the River Lathkill draining the White Peak, particularly lower flow rates after 7400 BP, which are difficult to explain simply in terms of climate change.