The Late Devensian and Holocene of industrial Severnside and the Vale of Gordano: stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating and palaeoecology

With the aid of a series of locally defined pollen assemblage zones and some new radiocarbon dates, the paper summarises the nature of vegetational changes which have occurred in the Vale of Gordano and Severnside areas from the beginning of the Loch Lomond Stadial of the Late Devensian to the modem day. The vegetational history of the area matches that found elsewhere in southern Britain but two variations attributable to location conditions are evident, especially within the enclosed basin of the Vale of Gordano. Firstly, a two-stage "elm decline " is evident, dated to about 5260 and 5000 years BP. Secondly, the deposits at the base of the Holocene coastal alluvium include freshwater and carr peats whereas the thin peats interbedded within the main coastal alluvium appear to have accumulated on salt marshes