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Vegetation Changes Viewed from Pollen Analysis in Rarotonga, Southern Cook Islands, Eastern Polynesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Toshiyuki Fujiki ,
Mitsuru Okuno ,
Hiroshi Moriwaki ,
Toshio Nakamura ,
Kei Kawai ,
Gerald McCormack ,
George Cowan  and
Paul T Maoate
Toshiyuki Fujiki*
Affiliation:
AIG Collaborative Research Institute for International Study on Eruptive History and Informatics (ACRIFIS-EHAI), Fukuoka University, 8-19-1 Nanakuma, Jonan-ku, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan
Mitsuru Okuno
Affiliation:
AIG Collaborative Research Institute for International Study on Eruptive History and Informatics (ACRIFIS-EHAI), Fukuoka University, 8-19-1 Nanakuma, Jonan-ku, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan Department of Earth System Science, Faculty of Science, Fukuoka University, 8-19-1 Nanakuma, Jonan-ku, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan
Hiroshi Moriwaki
Affiliation:
Physical Geography Section, Faculty of Law, Economics and Humanities, Kagoshima University, 1-21-30 Korimoto, Kagoshima 890–0065, Japan
Toshio Nakamura
Affiliation:
Center for Chronological Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464–8602, Japan
Kei Kawai
Affiliation:
Research Center for the Pacific Islands, Kagoshima University, 1-21-24 Korimoto, Kagoshima 890–8580, Japan
Gerald McCormack
Affiliation:
Natural Heritage Trust, Cook Islands, PO Box 781, Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
George Cowan
Affiliation:
The New Zealand Institute of Surveyors, PO Box 807, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Paul T Maoate
Affiliation:
Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning, PO Box 227, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
*
3. Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

This study presents accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates and pollen assemblages of 400-cm core sediments collected from the Karekare Swamp in Rarotonga, Southern Cook Islands, to investigate vegetation changes on the island, in particular those induced by human impacts. Eight 14C dates of charcoal and higher plant fragment samples indicate that the sediments accumulated since ∼6.0 cal kBP, with an apparent interruption of deposition (hiatus) from 130 to 132 cm in depth, corresponding to ∼2.8 to 0.7 cal kBP. The appearance of Chenopodiaceae pollen from upland weeds, and Cucurbitaceae and Vigna pollen grains from cultivated plants suggest that human influence existed in core sediments above 130 cm in depth. The increased abundance of Pandanus pollen and monolate-type fern spores also implies the existence of human activity.

Type
Methodology: Tree Rings and Plants
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , 2014 , pp. 699 - 708
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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