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Article

Blanket peat in the Scottish Highlands: timing, cause, spread and the myth of environmental determinism

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Citation

Tipping R (2008) Blanket peat in the Scottish Highlands: timing, cause, spread and the myth of environmental determinism. Biodiversity and Conservation, 17 (9), pp. 2097-2113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-007-9220-4

Abstract
This contribution describes the geomorphic, stratigraphic, palaeoclimatic, palaeoecological and 14C dating evidence for the timing within the present interglacial of blanket peat initiation and extension (¡®spread¡¯) from five localities throughout the upland and northern regions of Scotland. The results suggest that blanket peat was common or abundant over much of the highland landscape within a few thousand years of the beginning of the Holocene period. Blanket peat developed either as an inevitable but rapid end-stage to soil development in this generally cold and wet climate or was promoted by climatic change. There is no evidence from this data-set that blanket peat developed as a result of anthropogenic activities. It is suggested, indeed, that farming communities successfully resisted the natural spread of peat across their fields.

Keywords
blanket peat; Scotland; Holocene; Climate change; Human activity; Paleoecology Scotland; Neolithic period Scotland; Forests and forestry Scotland History; Geology Scotland; Scotland Antiquities; Afforestation Scotland

Journal
Biodiversity and Conservation: Volume 17, Issue 9

StatusPublished
Publication date31/08/2008
Publication date online12/09/2007
URL
PublisherSpringer
ISSN0960-3115
eISSN1572-9710