A preliminary survey of the post-glacial vegetational history of the Kashmir valley.

Abstract

Pollen-analytical investigations of Post-glacial deposits from four sites (Toshmaidan, Braman, Walanwar and Damamsar) distributed over the Kashmir Valley slopes of the Pirpanjal Range constitute the subject matter of this paper. The study reveals for the first time the Post-glacial vegetational history of the Kashmir Valley especially with regard to Post-glacial climatic alterations, biotic influences on vegetational development and the phytogeography of the region. The sequence is divisible into eight stages. The forest history began with an open vegetation with conifer woods consisting of blue pine (Pinus wallichiana) and cedar (Cedrus deodara). During the ensuing period a set of warmth and moisture demanding broad-leaved elements such as oaks, alder, birch (Betula alnoides), elm, walnut, maple and Rhus immigrated indicating a climatic trend towards increasing warmth. Later, forests comprised dominantly of broad-leaved elements established themselves marking thereby a phase of optimum warmth which in turn was followed by the re-establishment of conifers, a fact pointing towards the return of colder conditions. The conifer woods were mainly comprised of Pinus wallichiana and Abies webbiana. Some of the changes in the vegetational sequence are also believed to have been induced by man's direct or indirect influence on vegetation. Evidence of maize cultivation in the past has also been brought out. The bearing of this work on the history of some of the mesophytic elements such as Quercus spp., Alnus and Betula alnoides, which are today absent from the Kashmir Valley, is also discussed.