A REEVALUATION OF THE VEGETATION HISTORY OF THE EASTERN PYRENEES (FRANCE) FROM THE END OF THE LAST GLACIAL TO THE PRESENT

Fourteen pollen records obtained from 10 sites in the eastern Pyrenees are presented along with the results of 40 new radiocarbon dates of samples obtained from these sites. The data (784 pollen spectra) provide a more comprehensive evaluation of the vegetation history of the region than has hitherto been possible. The salient elements of the regional plant succession are described in the light of a study of regional pollen rain/vegetation relationships. Vegetational developments during the last glacial-interglacial transition and the Holocene are compared with those of other regions in France and the western Mediterranean. This approach therefore provides a new synthesis of published and unpublished information over a large area. A consistent and coherent pattern emerges and the new evidence indicates a number of previously-held views on the vegetation history of the Pyrenees to be erroneous.