Book contents
- Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern AfricaPhysical and Human Dimensions
- Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 The context of Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 2 A brief geological history of southern Africa
- 3 A continental-scale perspective on landscape evolution in southern Africa during the Cenozoic
- 4 Hominin origins and evolution during the Neogene
- 5 Hominin evolution in Africa during the Quaternary
- 6 Quaternary environmental change on the southern African coastal plain
- 7 Dating the southern African landscape
- 8 Glacial and periglacial geomorphology
- 9 Colluvial deposits and slope instability
- 10 Desert dune environments
- 11 Changes in fluvial systems during the Quaternary
- 12 Wetlands in southern Africa
- 13 Sandy coasts
- 14 Environmental change during the Pleistocene and Holocene: Estuaries and lagoons of southern Africa
- 15 Soils and duricrusts
- 16 Karstic systems
- 17 Terrestrial ecosystem changes in the late Quaternary
- 18 Faunal evidence for mid- and late Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 19 Pollen, charcoal and plant macrofossil evidence of Neogene and Quaternary environments in southern Africa
- 20 Minerogenic microfossil records of Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 21 Development of the archaeological record in southern Africa during the Earlier Stone Age
- 22 Development of the archaeological record during the Middle Stone Age of South Africa
- 23 Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers and herders
- 24 Southernmost Africans, archaeology and the environment during the Holocene
- 25 Landscape–climate–human relations in the Quaternary of southern Africa
- Index
- References
19 - Pollen, charcoal and plant macrofossil evidence of Neogene and Quaternary environments in southern Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2016
- Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern AfricaPhysical and Human Dimensions
- Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 The context of Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 2 A brief geological history of southern Africa
- 3 A continental-scale perspective on landscape evolution in southern Africa during the Cenozoic
- 4 Hominin origins and evolution during the Neogene
- 5 Hominin evolution in Africa during the Quaternary
- 6 Quaternary environmental change on the southern African coastal plain
- 7 Dating the southern African landscape
- 8 Glacial and periglacial geomorphology
- 9 Colluvial deposits and slope instability
- 10 Desert dune environments
- 11 Changes in fluvial systems during the Quaternary
- 12 Wetlands in southern Africa
- 13 Sandy coasts
- 14 Environmental change during the Pleistocene and Holocene: Estuaries and lagoons of southern Africa
- 15 Soils and duricrusts
- 16 Karstic systems
- 17 Terrestrial ecosystem changes in the late Quaternary
- 18 Faunal evidence for mid- and late Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 19 Pollen, charcoal and plant macrofossil evidence of Neogene and Quaternary environments in southern Africa
- 20 Minerogenic microfossil records of Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 21 Development of the archaeological record in southern Africa during the Earlier Stone Age
- 22 Development of the archaeological record during the Middle Stone Age of South Africa
- 23 Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers and herders
- 24 Southernmost Africans, archaeology and the environment during the Holocene
- 25 Landscape–climate–human relations in the Quaternary of southern Africa
- Index
- References
Summary
Pollen and macrofossils are an integral part of palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Here we discuss palaeobotanical evidence for vegetation and climate changes since the origins of modern biomes in southern Africa during the Miocene, and through the Pleistocene and Holocene. Examples of palaeobotanical records are provided from different biomes in different climate zones across southern Africa. These examples show that different biomes responded in different ways to climate changes throughout the Neogene and Quaternary, and that these environmental changes are also recorded in different ways though pollen, charcoal and macrofossils. In the latter part of the record, biome composition also reflects the impact of human activity.
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- Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern AfricaPhysical and Human Dimensions, pp. 306 - 323Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2016
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