Comparison Of Pleistocene And Holocene Type Environments

Introduction

For geographers to understand more our environments in the present day, we would have to learn more about the past and its history. From this, we can observe some evidence and how these environments evolve over time through ‘recent’ past climates, sediment and ice cores, tree rings and fossil pollen to reconstruct this change. The Pleistocene is categorised by the continuous cycle of the expansion and concentration of massive ice sheets. These sheets can deteriorate by the rise of sea level changes. Around 11,500 years ago BP, sea level rapidly rose to today’s level. However, as the ice sheets are further away, less water was available due to the slow hydraulic cycle. The ice began to ware by 18,000 years ago BP. What emerged from the glacial conditions was a series of oscillations that appeared out of last glacial maximum. In this essay, once will discuss evidence that can inform us about Pleistocene and Holocene type environments and we will discuss it through Connemara, with the climate in the region consists of mild winters and cool summers and frequent rainfalls (Birks et al, 1986). This demonstrates a perfect example of how Ireland has changed since the LGM.

Landscape changes in Inagh Valley

One can observe the

The area is covered in blanket bogs which was once covered in ice sheets about 10,000 years ago. Every bog contains millions of micro pollens and every year, layers are added to bogs that don’t decompose. One can deconstruct the past by going through these bogs and lakes and count tiny pollen grains. One thing to note is that bogs don’t record the variation we would get year by year as one would with tree coring. They are maintained so well throughout the years because they contain fossil pollens and when these blanket bogs are in acidic environments, they can be preserved in good