Preliminary evidence for pollen as an indicator of recent floodplain accumulation rates and vegetation changes: The Barmah-Millewa Forest, SE Australia

Abstract

Preliminary analysis of pollen in three shallow sediment cores demonstrates that pollen is preserved in the seasonally dry, vertically accreting Barmah-Millewa Forest floodplain of the Murray River, SE Australia. Deposition characteristics of a floodplain are a critical component of catchment sediment budgets, but it has proven difficult to identify this important stratigraphic point in floodplains using radionuclide dating techniques. Pollen in a floodplain, as opposed to that preserved in lacustrine settings, provides opportunities for investigating the impact of European land-use on both sediment deposition and floodplain vegetation. Pollen from exotic plant taxa identified in floodplain ..