Pre-Boreal period
From The Encyclopedia of Earth
March 26, 2010, 12:00 am
August 21, 2012, 11:23 pm
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Geology (main)
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Mountain birch forest, one of the pioneer species of the Pre-Boreal. Creative Commons
The Pre- Boreal period is part of the current geological epoch known as Holocene which began about 11,700 years ago (~9700BC) and continues up to the present.
| This article is written at a definitional level only. Authors wishing to improve this entry are inivited to expand the present treatment, which additions will be peer reviewed prior to publication of any expansion. |
The Pre-Boreal succeeded the much colder Younger Dryas period, following an abrubt climate change and rapid rise of seawaters. Most of Eurasia and North America had been covered by tundra during the Younger Dryas with swaths of Taiga. The Pre-Boreal ushered in a rapid Plant succession of temperate forests with pioneering species such as birch.
Divisions of the Holocene
The chief divisions of the Holocene are:
- Pre-Boreal period (8300 to 7000 BC)
- Boreal period (7000 to 6000 BC)
- Atlantic period (6000-3000 BC)
- Sub-Boreal period (3000 to 1000-500 BC)
- Sub-Atlantic period (1000-500 BC to Present)
Further Reading
- Jens Bischof. 2000. Ice drift, ocean circulation, and climate change. (Google eBook). Springer. 215 pages
- Jacquetta Hawkes. 1965. Prehistory. New York: the New American Library (a Mentor Book).
- Frank Hibben. 1958. Prehistoric Man in Europe. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.
- H. H. Lamb. Climatic History and the Future. Princeton Univ. Press, 1985. p. 372.
