Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Pollen distribution in marine sediments from the south-eastern Indonesian waters
Introduction
A number of marine palynological studies from the Indonesian waters have been published (Caratini and Tissot, 1988, Van der Kaars, 1991, Barmawidjaja et al., 1993, Wang et al., 1999, Van der Kaars et al., 2000). However, very little is known about pollen transport in the Indonesian marine realm and about pollen distribution in sediments from the Indonesian waters and their relation with the onshore vegetation. In this paper, the pollen distribution in marine surface sediments from the south-eastern Indonesian waters is analysed in relation to the source vegetation distribution and subsequent pollen transport.
Section snippets
Environmental setting
The climate in the study area is dominated by the monsoonal circulation, the migration of the ITCZ, as well as the land–sea distribution in the Malay Archipelago (see Verstappen, 1975, Fontanel and Chantefort, 1978, Monk et al., 1997). During the southern summer, the northwest monsoon gathers large amounts of moisture while crossing the sea from the Asian high-pressure belt on its way to the ITCZ, which reaches northern Australia in January. At the ITCZ the moisture laden air rises, resulting
Material and methods
Selected box cores from the Indonesian–Dutch Snellius-II expedition (see Van Hinte, 1989a, Van Hinte, 1989b) were sampled for this study giving some coverage for the south-eastern Indonesian waters (see Fig. 1). Samples were taken as close to the core tops as possible under the assumption that this strategy would provide the closest approximation of modern conditions. Radiocarbon dates on marine cores from the region indicate maximum ages of around 3000 yr B.P. for core tops (see Van der Kaars,
Results
A total of 31 samples was processed for pollen analysis (see Table 1). Five of these samples (G6-2, G5-104B, G5-106B, G5-116B and G5-139B) proved to have very low pollen counts. These samples were only used to establish pollen and Pteridophyta spore concentrations: all other samples were used to establish pollen distribution patterns. Although, many taxa have wide ecological and geographical distributions and pollen identification rarely went below genus or even family level, pollen taxa were
Discussion and conclusions
The vegetation types in the study area range from tropical lowland and montane vegetation types in the Indonesian Archipelago to dry woodlands and grasslands in north-western Australia. A number of factors complicate the study of the modern pollen distribution in the marine sediments of the region. Many of the plant taxa in the region have wide ecological and geographical distributions, making it difficult to establish pollen source areas. In addition, the level of pollen identification is
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Simon Troelstra and Tjeerd van Weering for access to the box core material at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam and the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel, respectively, Gary Swinton and Sue Drumond for drafting the figures, and Peter Kershaw and the reviewers for critically reviewing the manuscript. This research was supported by a Logan Research Fellowship.
References (25)
- et al.
Paleogeographical evolution of the Mahakam Delta in Kalimantan, Indonesia, during the Quaternary and Late Pliocene
Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol.
(1988) Pollen distribution in the bottom sediments of the western North Atlantic Ocean
Mar. Micropaleontol.
(1983)Pollen distribution in marine sediments on the continental margin off northern California
Mar. Geol.
(1988)- et al.
Pollen distribution in hemipelagic surface sediments of the South China Sea and its relation to modern vegetation distribution
Marine Geology
(1999) Palynology of eastern Indonesian marine piston-cores: a Late Quaternary vegetational and climatic record for Australasia
Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimat., Palaeoecol.
(1991)Palynofacies analysis of surface sediments from the northeastern Banda Sea (Indonesia)
Netherlands Journal of Sea Research
(1989)- et al.
A record of vegetation and climate through the last three glacial cycles from Lombok Ridge core G6-4, eastern Indian Ocean, Indonesia
Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimat., Palaeoecol.
(1999) - Ashton, P.S., 1982. Dipterocarpaceae. Flora Malesiana, Serie I-Spermatophyta (flowering plants) 9 (2)....
- Backer C.A., Van Steenis, C.G.G.J., 1951. Sonneratiaceae. Flora Malesiana, Serie I-Spermatophyta (flowering plants) 4...
- et al.
Glacial conditions in the northern Molucca Sea region (Indonesia)
Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimat., Palaeoecol.
(1993)
The Vegetation of Australia
Problems of the geography of the tropical eucalyptus
Cited by (81)
Microfossils from the Bangkok Clay Formation (Upper Holocene) of central Thailand: Paleoenvironmental insight
2023, Revue de MicropaleontologieLate Quaternary mangrove biogeography and paleoenvironments in the reef area of the South China Sea based on analysis of palynomorph assemblages
2023, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, PalaeoecologyHigh-resolution palynology signals in surface sediments of coastal Hainan Island of China
2023, Marine MicropaleontologyLate Neogene chronostratigraphy and integrated paleoecological trends in the southwestern Caribbean Sea
2022, Marine Micropaleontology