QUATERNARY SOIL-SALINITY EVENTS AND AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION HISTORY

A late Quaternary history of Australian soil salinization is produced by comparing Chenopodiaceae and Casuarina pollen curves. Although salinity development varied between sites, its occurrence was generally associated with arid phases and when high rainfall or high sea level caused regionally high groundwater tables. Soil salinization contributed to the shift from Casuarina- to Eucalyptus-dominance of interglacial sclerophyll vegetation. The deposition of saline sediments deflated from the Murray Basin seems more likely than Aboriginal burning to have caused the decline of Casuarina at Lake George. Soil salinization probably resulted in other vegetation changes and must be taken into account in environmental reconstructions. The renewed increase in soil salinity caused by European land-use practices and an associated decline in Casuarina are evident in the pollen records of many sites.