Secondary Forest Succession Following Abandonment of Mesa Verde

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Abstract
Relative increases of juniper and pine pollen have previously been observed in post-Puebloan abandonment deposits at Mesa Verde, Colorado, and have been attributed to secondary forest succession. However, the magnitude of these increases could not be determined from pollen percentages. Pollen analysis of soil samples from Mummy Lake, a Pueblo II-III reservoir on Chapin Mesa, Mesa Verde National Park, yielded a pollen diagram extending from Puebloan habitation (A.D. 1000) to near the present. Arboreal pollen increases from 19 percent during habitation to a maximum of 36 percent following abandonment. Lycopodium “tracer” spores were used to estimate fossil pollen/ gram of sediment. During occupation, arboreal pollen averaged about 4000 grains/gram of sediment; post-habitation deposits varied from about 9000 to 14,000 grains/gram. The numbers of arboreal pollen (Pinus, Juniperus and Quercus) increased two to three times following abandonment. I interpret the greater arboreal pollen deposition to result from secondary forest succession onto previously disturbed, cleared, and cultivated lands.