sub-Atlantic

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sub-Atlantic A colder, wetter climatic phase which followed more continental sub-Boreal times. The change from sub-Boreal to sub-Atlantic conditions in Britain is roughly coincident with the transition from Bronze to Iron Age cultures. The sub-Atlantic marks a period of renewed peat growth on bog surfaces that in late sub-Boreal times were sufficiently dry and humified to support healthy vegetation (e.g. Calluna vulgaris, ling, heather). This renewed peat growth gives a major recurrence surface, the Grenz horizon, which in Britain defines the zone VIIb/zone VIII (sub-Boreal/sub-Atlantic) boundary of the standard pollen stratigraphy (see pollen zone).

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