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Chironomid Evidence for Late-Glacial Climatic Reversals in Maine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Les C. Cwynar  and
André J. Levesque
Les C. Cwynar
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 6E1
André J. Levesque
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 6E1
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Abstract

Previously published pollen studies from Maine have not identified any late-glacial reversals despite evidence for them from adjacent areas. The distribution and abundance of midge flies are strongly correlated with summer surface-water temperatures. We analyzed fossils of larval midge flies from the sediments of two ponds (Trout and Tilley) from Maine. Each site reveals a major and a minor oscillation during which inferred summer surface-water temperatures fell by 7-13°C and 2.1-2.6°C, respectively. We tentatively correlate these events with the Younger Dryas cooling and Killarney Oscillation reported from adjacent Maritime Canada, where they have been AMS 14C-dated at 10,770-10,000 and 11,160-10,910 yr B.P., respectively. A third oscillation occurs at the northernmost site, Tilley Pond, and may represent the effects of a local ice advance in northern Maine.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , May 1995 , pp. 405 - 413
Copyright
University of Washington

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