Windblown trees as a palaeoclimate indicator: regional consistency of a mid-Holocene wind field

The vector-mean fall-direction of trees preserved in an extensive, mid-Holocene peat at Titchwell on the east coast of England is similar to that observed from trees in peats of about the same age exposed in the inner Bristol Channel–Severn Estuary on the opposite coast some 300 km to the southwest. In each area the trees agree in general orientation with contemporary strong winds (Beaufort Scale 7–9). The data indicate that tree fall-directions may be reliably used to establish palaeowind fields over large regions. A westerly air-flow appears to have dominated southern Britain during the Holocene, although the climate is known to have exhibited some variation on millennial and shorter time scales.