Postglacial history and palynology of Sable Island, Nova Scotia

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Abstract
Sable Island holds especial interest in postglacial palynology because it lies about 180 miles east of Halifax, Nova Scotia, near the edge of the continental shelf and is the only emerged part left of an extensive archipelago which existed on the shelf during the last glaciation. A series of buried soil and peat horizons, ranging in age from about 200 to 11,000 radiocarbon years, has been studied palynologically in addition to surface samples and atmospheric pollen deposition. This study has failed to substantiate the claimed presence of interglacial surfaces (soils) on the island and supports instead the hypothesis of a continuously changing and slowly eastwardly migrating complex of sand deposits. The absence of trees on the island facilitates studies on long distance atmospheric transport of pollen and spores from the mainland; a quantitative study of atmospheric pollen is now being continued by J. C. Ritchie of Dalhousie University at Halifax.

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