Microfossil contents of two soil profiles from western Kolmården, southern central Sweden

Abstract

Microfossil diagrams have been made from two profiles in a mineral soil resembling normal podsolized till. The C-horizon contains a boreal flora. The bottom part of the B-layer is almost devoid of pollen and spores. The upper part of the B-layer and the A-layer (in all, about 50 cm in thickness) are fairly rich in microfossils and the diagrams display a clear stratification. Thus it seems that part of the local vegetation history is recorded in the upper part of the diagrams from the profiles: a transition from deciduous forest with Quercetum mixtum (e.g. Tilia), through a questionable clearance phase (Chamaenerion) with much Calluna, to present-day vegetation with Picea. The diagrams resemble those from mineral soils published by A.J. Havinga in 1963 and by P.A. Riezebos & R.T. Slotboom in 1974.