QUB | Archaeology and Palaeoecology | The 14Chrono Centre

Manual for psimpoll and pscomb

Format of main input file

Item 4: First character

%

data are presented as proportions, for plotting and labelling as percentages;

a

data are pollen accumulation rate data (grains cm-² year-¹);

b

data are as for c (below), but are to be converted to accumulation rate data. A C14 file must be present;

c

data are pollen concentration data by volume (grains cm-³);

g

data are pollen concentration data by weight (grains g-¹);

l

data are values of the Lomb periodogram (the file was probably written from Fourier analysis within a previous run of the program: see menu Me);

m

data are non-pollen data, where sample thickness is large, and varies between samples. The data will be plotted as histograms. Each sample value must be the mid-value of the histogram, and must be followed by a value for the histogram width. For example, a sample extending from 310 cm to 320 cm should be given as 315 10. If the sample width is the same for all samples, then this can be given more easily in menu Dg. A label giving the x-axis units must follow each taxon name;

x

data are non-pollen data. A label giving the x-axis units must follow each taxon name.

Item 4: Second character

a

data presented by age (years);

d

data presented by depth (cm);

f

data presented as frequencies (cycles kyr-¹), probably output from Fourier analysis in a previous run of the program: see menu Me);

m

data presented by depth (m);

s

data are surface samples, presented by sample numbers;

t

data are surface samples, presented by sample labels.

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