Abstract
Pollen analysis from a well-dated sedimentary sequence of the Santo Andr6 lagoon (SW Portugal) reflects the vegetational and environmental changes that occurred during the Lateglacial and the Holocene in this coastal area. The Wtnrm/Weichselian Lateglacial interstadial was contemporaneous with a well-developed local Pinus forest. During the early Holocene (between 10 020 and 5300 yr BP), a Mediterranean forest with Pinus colonized the Santo Andre basin. After 5300 yr BP the local development of Alnus, Salix and aquatic plants suggests the development of freshwater ponds as a consequence of the formation of a coastal barrier. Contemporaneously, the expansion of evergreen Quercus, which partially replaced the Pinus forest, suggests a regional drying trend at c. 5000 yr BP, a change also observed elsewhere in southern Iberia.
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