1. Quaternary Environments Pollen Analysis

2. Pollen Analysis
Millions of tons of organic material is dispersed into the atmosphere by flowering plants and cryptogams every year
Sedimentation rate is important for fine resolution

3. Basis of Pollen Analysis
Distinct morphology of pollen grains
Produced in vast quantities by wind-pollinated plants
Extremely resistant to decay
Reflect natural vegetation

4. Pollen 10 – 150 microns Exine – Chemically resistant outer layer
Morphology
Shape
Size
Sculpturing
Number of apertures

6. Treatment Hydrochloric Acid Sulfuric Acid Hydrofluoric Acid
Acetic Anhydride
Pollen Solution
Lycopodium Control

7. Pollen Prep and Microscope Work

8. Pollen Morphology

11. Catchment Preservation sites Lakes Bogs Estuaries Alluvial deposits
Marine sediments
Glacial ice
Archaeological sites
Packrat middens
Coprolites

12. Scale Basin size determines catchment area Based on dispersal distance
Based on pollen productivity
Different spatial and temporal scales of pollen change are driven by different processes

14. Lake Coring

17. Sediment Core

18. Other Factors that Affect Pollen Dispersal
Fire
Insect infestation
Plant successional changes
Season of pollination
Interference by humans

19. Under and Over Represented Pollen Types

20. Dispersal Model

22. Problems Differential production Differential preservation
Wind versus insect or animal pollinated
Differential preservation
Populus pollen disintegrates easily
Number of pollen grains to count
Greater than 200
Bioturbation

23. Biostratigraphic Zones
Biostratigraphic Zone: "A biostratigraphic zone is defined solely by the fossils it contains, without reference to lithology, inferred environment, or concepts of time." Code of Stratigraphic Nomenclature. Bull.Amer.Assoc.Petrol.Geol. 45(5):

25. Vegetation versus Modern Pollen
Hickory
Oak
Ash
Elm

26. Callibration
Compare pollen assemblages to known temperature and precipitation
Develop transfer functions to reconstruct past climate

29. Pollen Diagram

30. Pollen Diagram from Carp Lake, Oregon

31. Temporal Reconstruction of Temperature and Precipitation

32. Spatial Reconstruction of Vegetation

33. Isochrones of Vegetation Migration

34. Altitudinal Changes in vegetation zones in the Eastern Cordillera of Columbia