late Pleistocene and Holocene pollen record from Laguna de las Trancas, northern coastal Santa Cruz County, California

A 2.1-m core from Laguna de las Trancas, a marsh atop a landslide in northern Santa Cruz County, California, has yielded a pollen record for the period between about 30,000 B. P. and roughly 5000 B. P. Three pollen zones are recognized. The earliest is characterized by high frequencies of pine pollen and is correlated with a mid-Wisconsinan interstade of the mid-continent. The middle zone contains high frequencies of both pine and fir (Abies, probably A. grandis) pollen and is correlated with the last full glacial interval (upper Wisconsinan). The upper zone is dominated by redwood (Sequoia) pollen and represents latest Pleistocene to middle Holocene. The past few thousand years are not represented in the core. The pollen evidence indicates that during the full glacial period the mean annual temperature at the site was about 2°C to 3°C lower than it is today. We attribute this small difference to the stabilizing effect of marine upwelling on the temperature regime in the immediate vicinity of the coast. Precipitation may have been about 20 percent higher as a result of longer winter wet seasons.