Abstract
This is the review of vegetational history of the post-glacial period in Korea. most of studies for vegetational changes are located in the lowland alluvial plain, especially below the hilly zone of western and eastern coastal regions of Korea. A couple of methods, pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating, have been employed in these studies. These results lead us to establish the pollen zonation in Korea as the followings. Yasuda et al.(1980) classified six period in Yongrang lake of sokcho. These are as follow I. 17,000-15,000yr B.P.: Picea, Abies, Pinus(Haploxylon), Larix stage, II.15,000-10,000yr B.P:Herb, Pteridophyta stage, III.10.000-6,700yr BP.:Quercus stage, IV.6,700-4,500yr B.P.:Pinus, Quercus, Carpinus stage, V.4,500-1,400yr B.P.:Quercus. Pinus stage, VI.1,400yr B.P.-present: Pinus, Herbs stage. Jo(1979) also divided the period into two stages from the outcomes of analysis done in Jumoonjin and other sites I.10,000-6,000yr B.P.:Quercus stage, II.6,000-present: Pinus-Quercus stage, and three substages: IIa.6,000-3,400 yr B.P.:lower Pinus stage, IIb.3,400-2,000yr B.P.:Pinus-Quercus stage, IIc.2,000-present: Pinus stage. Choi(1993, 1996) divided the period into three stages: I.6,000-5,000yr B.P.:Alnus, Quercus stage, II.5,000-4,000yr B.P.: Alnus, Quercus, Pinus stage, III.4,500-2,600yr B.P.: Alnus, Pinus stage. In the period around 6,000yr B.P. distinct dominant species clearly occupied the lowland of the eastern and western coasts. Thus, this strongly supports the fact that even if Korea experienced its warm and wet climate after the lateglacial, it underwent a different environmental change, dry climate, compared to the regions of Japan.
