Holocene vegetation and palaeoenvironments of the Southern Cederberg mountains of South Africa : palynological evidence from fossil hyrax (Procavia) dung middens
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-121). === Late Quaternary vegetation and palaeoenvironments are relatively easy to reconstruct in humid regions as polled traps (swamps and peat bogs) there are usually abundant. However arid and semi-arid regions (such as southern Africa) lack fossil...
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| Format: | Dissertation |
| Language: | English |
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University of Cape Town
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/4804 |
| Summary: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-121). === Late Quaternary vegetation and palaeoenvironments are relatively easy to reconstruct in humid regions as polled traps (swamps and peat bogs) there are usually abundant. However arid and semi-arid regions (such as southern Africa) lack fossil pollen because of the scarcity of pollen preserving bodies. This attribute results in difficulties in palynological studies regarding the late Quaternary vegetation and palaeoenvironmental resconstruction in arid and semi-arid regions. But the advent of pollen analysis of fossil faunal dung middens in arid and semi-arid areas has enabled palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and interpretation in places where this could not otherwise have been easy. This project is based on pollen analysis of hyrax (Procavia) dung middens for the reconstruction and interpretation of vegetation history in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, thus filling the void of inadequate palaeoenvironmental records in semi-arid southern Africa. |
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