Pollen assemblages and distribution characteristics in surface sediments of karst caves on the Guizhou Plateau, southwestern China.

ABSTRACT: Cave sediments commonly contain crucial sedimentary evidence of past environmental change and human activity. Fossil pollen sequences within these deposits hold great potential for reconstructing paleoenvironmental changes and human-environment relationships; however, the extent to which cave pollen faithfully reflects the external environment remains controversial, especially in complex cave systems. This study conducted pollen analysis in surface sediment samples from two karst caves with complex geometry on the Guizhou Plateau. The pollen assemblages in surface sediment within 5-15 m of the entrance of complex caves with multiple entrances and passages or a single entrance and multiple chambers were highly similar to those of external surface soil/fresh moss samples and they exhibited s

SUBMITTER: Tang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12453262 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature