Data for: Vegetation change and evolutionary response of the large mammal fauna during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition in north temperate East Asia
Description
Sediment core Tianjin-G3 (117°25′59.5″N, 38°49′57.6″E) was drilled in the eastern part of the North China Plain, close to Bohai Bay. The core is 250 m in length and the recovery ratio is 90.0%, which meets the requirements for magnetostratigraphic study. The lithology consists of river and lake facies with varying amounts of clay, silt, and silty sand. Typical marine facies are present at depth of 5.0-18 m, representing a marine transgression from 8000-5000 cal yr BP which is widely represented in east China. Pollen samples were collected from the interval 0-250 m depth of the Tianjin-G3 core. 100 g of sample was used for pollen analysis and pretreatment consisted of the following stages: 1) Addition of hydrochloric acid to remove carbonates; 2) flotation with 2.0 second-class heavy liquid flotation (with ZnCl2 and KI-ZnI2); 3) addition of a 1:9 solution of concentrated sulfuric acid and acetic anhydride; 4) suspension in glycerol and mounting on microscope slides. At least three pollen slides were produced and checked for each sample. Pollen counting was conducted with an OLYMPUS biological photomicroscope at ×400 magnification. Fossil pollen grains were identified via comparison with published photomicrographs and modern pollen reference slides. The total pollen count exceeded 150 grains in most samples, 167 grains per sample in average. The samples below 170 meter failed to yield sufficient pollen grains for analysis.