Palynological Studies at Sodon Lake: I. Size-Frequency Study of Fossil Spruce Pollen

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Abstract
The vegetational history of Sodon Lake, Mich., begins with the preBoreal spruce-dominated pollen spectrum referable to Period I in the scheme of Sears (1942). This is the only level at which spruce is dominant. Of 322 grains at this level, 85.7% were spruce. The number of measurable grains was insufficient to indicate whether one or more spp. of Picea were involved in the sedimentation. Pollen was prep. from contemporaneous material of P mariana and P. canadensis. Size-frequency curves were established for those spp. The results were disappointing. The size-frequency characteristics of P. rubra were compared with the fossil grains. One collection of pollen showed the sp. to have grains large enough to account for the balance of the size-frequency array for fossil grains at Sodon Lake. It is a question whether the present data are sufficient to warrant the conclusion that the P rubra was present far west of its modern area during preBoreal time. The hypothesis that it was is a reasonable one. Further evidence for the presence of fossil P rubra pollen grains in the Sodon Lake sediments lies in the forms of the grains, many of which match the typical form of this sp.

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