Palaeoecology of Africa and of the Surrounding Islands and AntarcticaEdited by E. M. van Zinderen Bakker. Vol. 2: Covering the years 1964 and 1965. Pp. 184. Vol. 3: Pollen Analytical Studies in East and Southern Africa. By J. A. Coetzee. Pp. xi + 147 + 8 plates. (Balkema: Cape Town and Amsterdam, 1967.) R6.00 each volume.

Recent coastal erosion has cut into the filling of a former inter-drumlin lake and exposed an excellent sequence of Late-glacial deposits. These have been investigated by pollen analyses, identification of seeds, Mollusca, ostracods, and Algae; by stratigraphic studies and by radiocarbon dating. The coincidence of all this evidence strongly confirms that the greater part of the depositional sequence embraces the north-west European Late-glacial stages of the Older and Younger Dryas or Salix herbacea clays, with the intervening milder Allerod oscillation. This sequence is overlain by a small thickness of Post-glacial peat. The Late- and Post-glacial filling is shown to be sandwiched between deposits laid down during two phases of marine submergence; the earlier transgression is represented by a red marine clay which had a widespread occurrence on the Co. Down coast, and the later transgression is represented by the local development of the Postglacial raised beach. The pollen analyses from the close sampling of the organic Allerød phase muds have yielded unusually detailed data on vegetational conditions in the Late-glacial period. The radiocarbon dates, while fully confirming the age attribution, have not enough precision to give a close measure of the duration of the Allerød phase. The pollen evidence on vegetation and climate is augmented and clarified by identifications of seeds, shells, ostracods and Algae. The ostracods confirm the marine character of the early red clay, and freshwater shells were found in the overlying Allerød mud. The algal species from the Late-glacial layers have been compared with recent algal floras from Ireland, and with those found in Late- and Inter-glacial sediments elsewhere. The most notable feature is the prominence of species representative of a base-rich habitat.

SummaryThe development and stratigraphy of the raised beach shingle ridge at Ballyhalbert, on the east coast of the Strangford Peninsula, are described.A pollen diagram from the peat layer buried beneath the beach gravels shows that the lowest of the gravels was deposited towards the close of the Boreal period, namely sub‐zone VIc.The discussion emphasizes that the precise date of the maximum of the marine transgression in Ireland cannot be obtained from present Irish data. However, it is reasonable to accept tentatively that in Ireland, as in England, the maximum arrived during the Atlantic period.

THE recent discovery of a fine suite of Late-glacial strata near Ballyhalbert on the north-eastern Irish coast in an accessible position has allowed a careful study to be made of the different layers for plant and animal macrofossils. Particularly interesting has been the recovery of numerous characteristic telsons of the freshwater notostracan Lepidurus arcticus, a species which was reported recently by Mitchell1 from Late-glacial levels at Ballaugh in the Isle of Man, at Neasham, Co. Durham, and at Mapastown, Co. Louth. Records from these Late-glacial contexts are significant since the species is not known in the present fauna of the British Isles. Its modern distribution is circumpolar, between 65° and 80° N.

Previous articleNext article No AccessNew Biological BooksThe Black Fens. A. K. Astbury M. E. S. Morrison and Askell LoveM. E. S. Morrison Search for more articles by this author and Askell Love Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 34, Number 3Sep., 1959 Published in association with Stony Brook University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/402754 Views: 1Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.