The stratigraphy and detailed pollen analysis of the top 4 m of sediment in Lake Leake were used to describe the vegetation history and past changes in the water level in the lake basin. Some of the changes described have climatic significance. Six radiocarbon dates are used to place a chronology on these events and the results are used to compare previous work carried out in western Victoria. It is suggested that in south-eastern South Australia, immediately prior to 10,000 B.P., conditions were drier than at present and that after this time conditions became wetter, the wettest period of the last 10,000 years occurring between 6900 and 5000 B.P. After this time conditions became drier, marginally wetter again between 2000 and 1300 B.P., then relatively dry until the present day. Keys to aid in the identification of pollen of the Casuarinaceae, Myriophyllum and the Myrtaceae for species growing in the Lower South-East of South Australia are given.

Two cores from Lake Keilambete, a saline volcanic crater lake in western Victoria, were analysed for pollen and carbonates and a description of the vegetation record over the last 10,000 years is presented. Vegetation changes and carbonate identifications are used to describe the climatic history of the area in association with what is known about the changes which occurred at the nearby salt lake, Lake Gnotuk. With both sets of data it has been possible to describe, in general terms, how the climate has varied in the Western District. The climate gradually became wetter after 9700 B.P. and the wettest period in the last 10,000 years occurred between 6500 B.P. and 5000 B.P. After this time the water levels in the lakes fell and the presence of dolomite carbonates indicates that the water levels in the lakes were lowest at about 3500 B.P. and later at about 770 B.P. Water levels rose again and reached their peak in the second half of the 19th ccntury.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract