Acta Palaeobotanica 35(1): 57-72, 1995

Peculiarities of recent pollen spectra of lake sediments in the Caucasus.

Summary: Pollen spectra have been analysed of recent bottom sediments in small lakes of high-mountain parts of the Caucasus. The lakes under study are of glacial origin. They are situated along the Greater Caucasian Watershed Range in the alpine meadow belt. The main peculiarity of the pollen spectra is availability of large amount of pollen transported from vegetation belts lying below. In the lakes above 2800-3000 m the pollen of local origin accounts for not more than 15-20% of the spectrum composition. Comparison of lake and soil spectra has revealed very interesting peculiarities of pollen spectra formation in high-mountain lakes.

Keywords: pollen analysis, glacial lakes, transported pollen