Pollen Grains
Pollen can be found in sediments. Plants produce pollen in large quantities and it is extremely resistant to decay. It is possible to identify a plant species from its pollen grain. The identified plant community of the area at the relative time from that sediment layer, will provide information about the climatic condition. The abundance of pollen of a given vegetation period or year depends partly on the weather conditions of the previous months, hence pollen density provides information on short-term climatic conditions. The study of prehistoric pollen is palynology.
Read more about this topic: Proxy (climate)
Famous quotes containing the words pollen and/or grains:
“Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind.”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)
“Listen. The minstrels sing
In the departed villages. The nightingale,
Dust in the buried wood, flies on the grains of her wings
And spells on the winds of the dead his winter’s tale.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)