Blanket peat in the Scottish Highlands: timing, cause, spread and the myth of environmental determinism
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- 作者：Richard Tipping
- 关键词：Blanket peat ; Scotland ; Holocene ; Stratigraphy ; Climate change ; Human activity
- 刊名：Biodiversity and Conservation
- 出版时间：August, 2008
- 出版年：2008
- 期刊代码：17_09603115
- 类别：bio
- 卷：17
- 期：9
- 页码：2097-2113
- 数据来源：sp
摘要
This contribution describes the geomorphic, stratigraphic, palaeoclimatic, palaeoecological and 14C dating evidence for the timing within the present interglacial of blanket peat initiation and extension (‘spread’) from five localities throughout the upland and northern regions of Scotland. The results suggest that blanket peat was common or abundant over much of the highland landscape within a few thousand years of the beginning of the Holocene period. Blanket peat developed either as an inevitable but rapid end-stage to soil development in this generally cold and wet climate or was promoted by climatic change. There is no evidence from this data-set that blanket peat developed as a result of anthropogenic activities. It is suggested, indeed, that farming communities successfully resisted the natural spread of peat across their fields.