A Holocene pollen diagram from Northland, New Zealand

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This is the first Holocene pollen diagram from Northland. It is constructed from a small bog close to the east coast near Whangarei. Sediment accumulation commenced about 6500 years ago, probably due to a rise in the water table as sea level rose close to its present position. Mixed conifer-hardwood forest dominated the region until it was cleared after the arrival of European man. Dacrydium cupressinum was the dominant pollen producer but its proportion gradually decreased relative to Podocarpus and Nothofagus fusca type, particularly after 4000 years B.P. Agathis australis was always present and had its maximum abundance from about 3500 to sometime after 3000 yrs B.P. Major changes in the vegetation and within the bog stratigraphy suggest that the climate was wetter and warmer than today before 4000 B.P., became drier and cooler around 3500 B.P., and then effectively wetter in the last few thousand years. The results are generally consistent with other published pollen diagrams from the North Island.