Surface Pollen Assemblages from 61 Sites in the Taklimakan Desert

61 surface pollen samples collected from bare dunes, vegetated interdunes, and fluvial sediments across the Taklimakan Desert. The dataset, authored by Cao Yu, contains pollen concentration data and assemblage analysis used to investigate distribution patterns and source contributions. It was last updated on April 24, 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling pollen dispersal and deposition in arid dune systems based on the described sedimentary environments.
• Calibrating fossil pollen records for paleovegetation reconstruction based on modern surface pollen assemblages.
• Analyzing the contribution of local versus regional vegetation signals based on xerophytic and arboreal pollen taxa.
• Distinguishing pollen signatures from different depositional settings using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) results mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Contains 61 distinct surface samples, providing a multi-site observational basis.
• Explicitly compares three distinct sedimentary environments: bare dunes, vegetated interdunes, and fluvial sediments.
• Released under a permissive CC-BY-4.0 license, allowing for broad reuse.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is very small at 55.0 KB, indicating limited scope and likely a small number of variables.

Provenance

Source

Cao Yu via figshare

Collection Method

Analysis of surface pollen samples collected from the field.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-24 09:20:08; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Taklimakan Desert