Abstract
The present reconstruction of vegetation since the Last Glacial Termination (LT) from the fossil pollen in the Kokubu Plain, southern Kyushu, advanced our understanding of the vegetation history in southwestern Japan. The pollen profile in the plain indicated: 1) Cool-temperate deciduous broad-leaved (CTDB) woodland mainly of Quercus subgen. Lepidobalanus developed in ca. 13.0–12.5 ka, 2) the woodland components changed from CTDB to warm-temperate evergreen broad-leaved (WTEB) with warming in ca. 12.5–7.3 ka, 3) WTEB woodland dominated by Q. subgen. Cyclobalanus and Castanopsis developed after 7.3 ka. The pollen data in the plain show that Kikai-Akahoya ash fall had little impact on vegetation. We compiled spatial-temporal distribution of vegetation since the LT, using the pollen data from southern Kyushu. Mixed woodland of boreal conifers and CTDB covered southern Kyushu in ca. 14.0 ka, and CTDB woodland developed firstly in the Kokubu Plain after ca. 13.0 ka. WTEB woodland expanded after ca. 10.0 ka and became the major woodland after ca. 6.0 ka. Furthermore, it is highly possible that the time-lag in the establishment of WTEB woodlands between Kokubu and Kimotsuki Plains was caused by the flow of Kuroshio Warm Current into Kagoshima Bay.
