The late-Holocene vegetation history of the Central Caspian (Hyrcanian) forests of northern Iran

Abstract

Pollen analysis of the peat in a small mire on the northern slope of the Alborz Mountains (550 m a.s.l.) in the Central Caspian forests of Iran reveals changes in forest and wetland vegetation during the last millennium. A forest, principally of Alnus and Carpinus occurred over almost the whole period. Quercus, Ulmus and Parrotia were less common, while Fagus, Pterocarya, Acer and Diospyros fluctuated as a probable result of human interference and/or climatic change. Two phases of clay deposition in the mire can be dated to the `Mediaeval Climatic Anomaly' (AD 1100) and the beginning of the `Little Ice Age' (AD 1560—1600). Although human activity seems to have persisted in the region during the whole of the past millennium, increased NAP values point to intensified human interference since the beginning of the nineteenth century.