Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T18:50:43.444Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late-Glacial to Early Holocene Climate Changes from a Central Appalachian Pollen and Macrofossil Record

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Margaret Kneller  and
Dorothy Peteet
Margaret Kneller
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964, and NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, New York, 10025
Dorothy Peteet
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964, and NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, New York, 10025
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A late-glacial to early Holocene record of pollen, plant macrofossils, and charcoal has been obtained from two cores from Browns Pond in the central Appalachians of Virginia. An AMS radiocarbon chronology defines the timing of moist and cold excursions, superimposed on the overall warming trend from 14,200 to 750014C yr B.P. This site had cold, moist conditions from ca. 14,200 to 12,70014C yr B.P., with warming at 12,730, 11,280, and 10,05014C yr B.P. A decrease in deciduous broad-leaved tree taxa andPinus strobus(haploxylon) pollen, simultaneous with a reexpansion ofAbies,denotes a brief, cold reversal from 12,260 to 12,20014C yr B.P. A second cold reversal, inferred from increases in montane conifers, is centered at 750014C yr B.P. The cold reversals at Browns Pond may be synchronous with climate change in Greenland and northwestern Europe. Warming at 11,28014C yr B.P. shows the complexity of regional climate responses during the Younger Dryas chronozone.

Keywords

pollen, macrofossils, Appalachian Mountains, late-glacial, Holocene, Younger Dryas, Virginia
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , March 1999 , pp. 133 - 147
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaby, B., Berglund, B.E., (1986). Characterization of peat and lake deposits. Handbook of Holocene Paleoecology and Paleohydrology Wiley & Sons, Wiltshire.p. 231–246.Google Scholar
Alley, R.B., Mayewski, P.A., Sowers, T., Stuiver, M., Taylor, K.C., Clark, P.U., (1997). Holocene climatic instability: A prominent, widespread event 8200 yr ago. Geology 25, 483–486.Google Scholar
Alley, R.B., Meese, D.A., Shuman, C.A., Gow, A.J., Taylor, K.C., Grootes, P.M., White, J.W.C., Ram, M., Waddington, E.D., Mayewski, P.A., Zielinski, G.A., (1993). Abrupt increase in Greenland snow accumulation at the end of the Younger Dryas event. Nature 362, 527–529.Google Scholar
Ammann, B., Lotter, A.F., (1989). Late-glacial radiocarbon- and palynostratigraphy on the Swiss Plateau. Boreas 18, 109–126.Google Scholar
Andree, M., Oeschger, H., Siegenthaler, U., Riesen, T., Moell, M., Ammann, B., Tobolski, K., (1986). 14 . Radiocarbon 28, 411–416.Google Scholar
Bick, K.F., (1962). Geology of the Williamsville Quadrangle, Virginia.Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B., Peglar, S.M., (1980). Identification ofPicea . Canadian Journal of Botany 58, 2043–2058.Google Scholar
Björck, S., (1984). Bio- and chronostratigraphic significance of the Older Dryas chronozone—On the basis of new radiocarbon dates. Boreas 106, 81–91.Google Scholar
Björck, S., Möller, P., (1987). Late Weichselian environmental history in southeastern Sweden during the deglaciation of the Scandinavian ice sheet. Quaternary Research 28, 1–37.Google Scholar
Björck, S., Walker, M.J.C., Cwynar, L.C., Johnsen, S., Kundsen, K.-L., Lowe, J.J., Wohlfarth, B., (1998). An event stratigraphy for the Last Termination in the North Atlantic region based on the Greenland ice-core record: A proposal by the INTIMATE group. Journal of Quaternary Science 13, 283–292.Google Scholar
Bond, G., Showers, W., Cheseby, M., Lotti, R., Almasi, P., deMenocal, P., Priore, P., Cullen, H., Hajdas, I., Bonani, G., (1997). A pervasive millennial-scale cycle in North Atlantic Holocene and glacial climates. Science 278, 1257–1266.Google Scholar
Boom, B.M., (1982). Synopsis ofIsoëtes . Castanea 47, 38–59.Google Scholar
Braun, L., (1950). Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America. Hafner, New York.Google Scholar
Chappellaz, J.A., Fung, I.Y., Thompson, A.M., (1993). The atmospheric CH4 . Tellus 45B, 228–241.Google Scholar
Cogbill, C.V., White, P.S., (1991). The latitude–elevation relationship for spruce–fir forest and treeline along the Appalachian mountain chain. Vegetatio 94, 153–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunningham, F.E., (1957). A seed key for five northeastern birches. Journal of Forestry 55, 844–845.Google Scholar
Cushing, E.J., (1967). Evidence for differential pollen preservation in Late-Quaternary sediments in Minnesota. Review of Paleobotany and Paleopalynology 4, 87–101.Google Scholar
Cwynar, L.C., Levesque, A.J., (1995). Chironomid evidence for late-glacial climatic reversals in Maine. Quaternary Research 43, 405–413.Google Scholar
Davis, M.B., Moeller, R.E., Ford, J., (1984). Sediment focusing and pollen influx. Haworth, E.Y., Lund, J.W.G. Lake Sediments and Environmental History Univ. of Leicester, Leicester.261–293.Google Scholar
Davis, R.B., Webb, T. III(1975). The contemporary distribution of pollen in eastern North America: A comparison with vegetation. Quaternary Research 5, 395–434.Google Scholar
Dean, W. Jr.(1974). Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: Comparison with other methods. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 44, 242–248.Google Scholar
Delcourt, H.R., (1979). Late Quaternary vegetation history of the eastern Highland Rim and adjacent Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee. Ecological Monographs 49, 255–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delcourt, H.R., Delcourt, P.A., (1985). Quaternary palynology and vegetational history of the southeastern United States. Bryant, V.M. Jr., Holloway, R. Pollen Records of Late-Quaternary North American Sediments Am. Assoc. of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation, Austin.1–37.Google Scholar
Delcourt, P.A., Delcourt, H.R., (1984). Late Quaternary paleoclimates and biotic responses in eastern North America and the western North Atlantic Ocean. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 48, 263–284.Google Scholar
Delcourt, P.A., Delcourt, H.R., Webb, T. III(1984). Atlas of Mapped Distributions of Dominance and Modern Pollen Percentages for Important Tree Taxa of Eastern North America. Am. Assoc. of Stratigraphic Palynologist Foundation, Dallas.Google Scholar
Donner, J.J., Alhonen, P., Eronen, M., Junger, H., Vuorela, I., (1978). Biostratigraphy and radiocarbon dating of the Holocene lake sediments of Työtjärvi and the peats in the adjoining bog Varrassuo west of Lahti in southern Finland. Annales Botanici Fennici 15, 258–280.Google Scholar
Eyre, F.H., (1980). Forest Cover Types of the United States and Canada. Soc. of Am. Foresters, Washington.p. 148.Google Scholar
Faegri, K., Iverson, J., (1975). Textbook of Pollen Analysis. Hafner, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Faegri, K., Kaland, P.E., Krzywinski, K., (1989). Textbook of Pollen Analysis by Knut Faegri and Johs. Iverson. Wiley & Sons, Chichester.Google Scholar
Fernald, M.L., (1970). Gray's Manual of Botany. Van Nostrand, New York.Google Scholar
Gleason, H.A., Cronquist, A., (1991). Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada.Google Scholar
Godman, R.M., Lancaster, K., (1990). Tsuga canadensis . Burns, R.M., Honkala, B.H. Silvics of North America U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington.604–612.Google Scholar
Grimm, E.C., (1987). CONISS: A FORTRAN 77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by the method of incremental sum of squares. Computers & Geosciences 13, 13–35.Google Scholar
Halls, L.K., (1990). Diospyros virginia . Burns, R.M., Honkala, B.H. Silvics of North America U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington.294–298.Google Scholar
Hansen, B.C.S., Engstrom, D.R., (1985). A comparison of numerical and qualitative methods of separating pollen of black and white spruce. Canadian Journal of Botany 63, 2159–2163.Google Scholar
Heusser, L.E., Stock, C.E., (1984). Preparation techniques for concentrating pollen from marine sediments and other sediments with low pollen density. Palynology 8, 225–227.Google Scholar
Hughen, K.A., Overpeck, J.T., Peterson, L.C., Trumbore, S., (1996). Rapid climate changes in the tropical Atlantic region during the last deglaciation. Nature 380, 51–54.Google Scholar
Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B., Dansgaard, W., Fuhrer, K., Gundestrup, N., Hammer, C.U., Iversen, P., Jouzel, J., Stauffer, B., Steffensen, J.P., (1992). Irregular glacial interstadials recorded in a new Greenland ice core. Nature 359, 311–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, R.L., (1990). Nyssa aquatica . Burns, R.M., Honkala, B.H. Silvics of North America U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington.474–478.Google Scholar
Jorgensen, N., (1978). A Sierra Club Naturalist's Guide to Southern New England. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Keffer, T., Martinson, D.G., Corliss, B.H., (1988). The position of the Gulf Stream during Quaternary glaciations. Science 241, 440–442.Google Scholar
Kitagawa, H., van der Plicht, J., (1998). Atmospheric radiocarbon calibration to 45,000 yr B.P.: Late Glacial fluctuations and cosmogenic isotope production. Science 279, 1187–1190.Google Scholar
Kneller, M, (1996). Paleoclimate from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Present. Pollen and Plant Macrofossil Records from the U.S. Southeast Accompanied by a Goddard Institute for Space Studies General Circulation Model Simulation .Google Scholar
Kneller, M., Peteet, D., (1993). Late-Quaternary climate in the Ridge and Valley of Virginia, U.S.A.: Changes in vegetation and depositional environment. Quaternary Science Reviews 12, 613–628.Google Scholar
Kossuth, S.V., Scheer, R.L., (1990). Nyssa ogeche . Burns, R.M., Honkala, B.H. Silvics of North America U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington.479–481.Google Scholar
Kromer, B., Becker, B., (1993). 230 234 14 . Radiocarbon 35, 191–199.Google Scholar
Larabee, P. A, (1986). Late-Quaternary Vegetational and Geomorphic History of the Allegheny Plateau at Big Run Bog. Tucker County, West Virginia .Google Scholar
Levesque, A.J., Mayle, F.E., Walker, I.R., Cwynar, L.C., (1993). A previously unrecognized late-glacial cold event in eastern North America. Nature 361, 623–626.Google Scholar
Levesque, P.E.M., Dinel, H., Larouche, A., (1988). Guide to the Identification of Plant Macrofossils in Canadian Peatlands. Land Resource Research Centre, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Little, E. L Jr, (1971). Atlas of United States Trees, 1. Conifers and Important Hardwoods, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Maenza-Gmelch, T.E., (1997). Late-glacial–early Holocene vegetation, climate, and fire at Sutherland Pond, Hudson Highlands, southeastern New York, U.S.A. Canadian Journal of Botany 75, 431–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maenza-Gmelch, T.E., (1997). Vegetation, climate, and fire during the late-glacial–Holocene transition at Spruce Pond, Hudson Highlands, southeastern New York, USA. Journal of Quaternary Science 12, 15–24.Google Scholar
Mangerud, J., Andersen, S.T., Berglund, B.E., Donner, J.J., (1974). Quaternary stratigraphy of Norden: A proposal for terminology and classification. Boreas 3, 109–128.Google Scholar
Martin, A.C., Barkley, W.D., (1961). Seed Identification Manual. Univ. of California Press, Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell, J.A., Davis, M.B., (1972). Pollen evidence of Pleistocene and Holocene vegetation on the Allegheny Plateau, Maryland. Quaternary Research 2, 506–530.Google Scholar
Mayle, F.E., Levesque, A.J., Cwynar, L.C., (1993). Accelerator-mass-spectrometer ages for the Younger Dryas event in Atlantic Canada. Quaternary Research 39, 355–360.Google Scholar
McAndrews, J.H., Berti, A., Norris, G., (1988). Key to the Quaternary Pollen and Spores of the Great Lakes Region. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.Google Scholar
McGee, C.E., (1990). Nyssa sylvatica . Burns, R.M., Honkala, B.H. Silvics of North America U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington.482–489.Google Scholar
McIntosh, R.P., Hurley, R.T., (1964). The spruce-fir forests of the Catskill Mountains. Ecology 45, 314–326.Google Scholar
Montgomery, F.H., (1977). Seeds and Fruits of Plants of Eastern Canada and Northeastern United States. Univ. of Toronto Press, Toronto.Google Scholar
(1983). Climate Normals for the U.S. (Base: 1951–80). Gale Research Co, Detroit.Google Scholar
Oosting, H.J., Billings, W.D., (1951). A comparison of virgin spruce-fir forest in the northern and southern Appalachian system. Ecology 32, 84–103.Google Scholar
Outcalt, K.W., (1990). Nyssa sylvatica . Burns, R.M., Honkala, B.H. Silvics of North America U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington.482–489.Google Scholar
Overpeck, J.T., Peterson, L.C., Kipp, N., Imbrie, J., Rind, D., (1989). Climate change in the circum-North Atlantic region during the last deglaciation. Nature 338, 553–557.Google Scholar
Peteet, D., (1995). Global Younger Dryas?. Quaternary International 28, 93–104.Google Scholar
Peteet, D.M., (1986). Modern pollen rain and vegetational history of the Malaspina Glacier district, Alaska. Quaternary Research 25, 100–120.Google Scholar
Peteet, D.M., Daniels, R.A., Heusser, L.E., Vogel, J.S., Southon, J.R., Nelson, D.E., (1993). late-glacial pollen, macrofossils and fish remains in northeastern U.S.A.—The Younger Dryas oscillation. Quaternary Science Reviews 12, 597–612.Google Scholar
Peteet, D.M., Daniels, R., Heusser, L.E., Vogel, J.S., Southon, J.R., Nelson, D.E., (1994). Wisconsinan Late-glacial environmental change in southern New England: A regional synthesis. Journal of Quaternary Science 9, 151–154.Google Scholar
Peteet, D.M., Vogel, J.S., Nelson, D.E., Southon, J.R., Nickmann, R.J., Heusser, L.E., (1990). Younger Dryas climatic reversal in northeastern USA? AMS ages for an old problem. Quaternary Research 33, 219–230.Google Scholar
Powell, D.S., (1980). White pine-hemlock. Eyre, F.H. Forest Cover Types of the United States and Canada Soc. of Am. Foresters, Washington.26–27.Google Scholar
Radford, A.E., Ahles, H.E., Bell, C.R., (1968). Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. Univ. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.Google Scholar
Reiners, W.A., Lang, G.E., (1979). Vegetational patterns and processes in the Balsam fir zone, White Mountains, New Hampshire. Ecology 60, 403–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rheinhardt, R.D., Ware, S.A., (1984). Vegetation of the Balsam Mountains of southwest Virginia: A phytosociological study. The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 111, 287–300.Google Scholar
Rind, D., Peteet, D., Broecker, W., McIntyre, A., Ruddiman, W., (1986). The impact of cold North Atlantic sea surface temperatures on climate: Implications for the Younger Dryas cooling (11-10k). Climate Dynamics 1, 3–33.Google Scholar
Rogers, R.S., (1978). Forest dominated by hemlock (Tsuga canadensis . Canadian Journal of Botany 56, 843–854.Google Scholar
Shane, L.C., (1987). Late-glacial vegetational and climatic history of the Allegheny Plateau and the Till Plains of Ohio and Indiana, U.S.A. Boreas 16, 1–20.Google Scholar
Shane, L.C.K., Anderson, K.H., (1993). Intensity, gradients and reversals in late glacial environmental change in east-central North America. Quaternary Science Reviews 12, 307–320.Google Scholar
Siccama, T.G., (1974). Vegetation, soil, and climate on the Green Mountains of Vermont. Ecological Monographs 44, 325–349.Google Scholar
Sowers, T., Bender, M., (1995). Climate records covering the last deglaciation. Science 269, 210–214.Google Scholar
Stockmarr, J., (1971). Tablets with spores used in absolute pollen analysis. Pollen et Spores 13, 615–621.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., (1993). Extended14 14 . Radiocarbon 35, 215–230.Google Scholar
von Grafenstein, U., Erlenkeuser, H., Müller, J., Jouzel, J., Johnsen, S., (1998). The cold event 8200 years ago documented in oxygen isotope records of precipitation in Europe and Greenland. Climate Dynamics 14, 73–81.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., (1979). Late Quaternary vegetation of central Appalachia and the New Jersey coastal plain. Ecological Monographs 49, 427–469.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., (1980). Late-Quaternary vegetation history at White Pond on the inner coastal plain of South Carolina. Quaternary Research 13, 187–199.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., (1983). Vegetational history of the eastern United States 25,000 to 10,000 years ago. Porter, S.C. Late-Quaternary Environments of the United States Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.294–310.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., Allen, J.R.M., Huntley, B., Fritz, S.C., (1996). Vegetation history and climate of the last 15,000 years at Laghi di Monticchio, southern Italy. Quaternary Science Reviews 15, 113–132.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., Hansen, B.C.S., (1988). Environments of Florida in the late Wisconsin and Holocene. Purdy, B. Wet Site Archaeology Telford Press, West Caldwell.307–323.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., Hansen, B.C.S., (1994). Pre-Holocene and Holocene pollen records of vegetation history from the Florida peninsula and their climatic implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 109, 163–176.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., Hansen, B.C.S., Grimm, E.C., (1992). Camel Lake: A 40,000-yr record of vegetational and forest history from northwest Florida. Ecology 73, 1056–1066.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., Winter, T.C., (1966). Plant macrofossils from Kirchner Marsh, Minnesota—A paleoecological study. Geological Society of America Bulletin 77, 1339–1360.Google Scholar
Wilkins, G.R., Delcourt, P.A., Delcourt, H.R., Harrison, F.W., Turner, M.R., (1991). Paleoecology of central Kentucky since the last glacial maximum. Quaternary Research 36, 224–239.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr., Mann, D.H., Glaser, P.H., (1984). Piston corers for peat and lake sediments. Ecology 65, 657–659.Google Scholar