ABSTRACT
Quaternary palynology originated in temperate regions and was initially a technique for geological correlation and relative dating. Vegetational reconstruction has usually depended on modern pollen rain data and the application of the uniformitarian principle. Of the palaeoenvironmental reconstructions possible from palynology, three might be the most relevant to geomorphology: vegetational, thermal and hydrologic. Modern pollen rain from the region shows that the tropic-alpine vegetation yields characteristic pollen spectra. Some tree pollen may be carried up into this area, but certain characteristic pollen taxa are usually present as indicators of the tropic-alpine origin of these spectra. A pollen diagram from Lake Inim, at 2550 m, shows that the Holocene vegetation is dominated by rainforest. A series of pollen diagrams from volcanic craters along the rainfall gradient shows evidence for the absence of rainforest during the late Pleistocene, and for its migration across the Tableland during the Holocene.
