Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:54:59.244Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Environmental Sequence following the Fraser Advance of the Juan de Fuca Lobe, Washington

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Calvin J. Heusser
Calvin J. Heusser*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, New York University, New York, N.Y. 10003 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Stratigraphic palynology and radiocarbon chronology of two bogs and a lake on the northwestern Olympic Peninsula serve to record the environmental sequence postdating the Fraser maximum of the Juan de Fuca lobe. Wastage of the lobe in the terminal area began before 14,460 ± 200 BP. Differential downwasting followed, and the last remnants of dead ice probably disappeared some time before 9,380 ± 180 BP. Ablation moraine became sufficiently thick in the course of wastage for a vegetation cover to become established. Arboreal remains of this cover, found buried in till, date between 12,020 ± 210 and 13,380 ± 250 BP.

Communities of Pinus contorta first succeeded on deglaciated surfaces during the Vashon Stade. Environmental conditions were comparable to those prevailing in the modern subalpine forest, and average July temperature stood near 12°C. Later, during the Everson Interstade (11,000–13,000 BP.), Alnus and Picea multiplied as temperature increased posibly to as much as 14°. During the Sumas Stade (10,000–11,000 BP.), temperature was again ca. 12°, the cooler climate halting wastage and the spread of Alnus and enabling communities of Picea, Tsuga heterophylla, and T. mertensiana to temporarily achieve stability.

Postglacial environments through the Hypsithermal (ca. 3,000 BP) were dominated principally by Alnus. Alnus, succeeded in turn by Picea, invaded the landscape, following the recession of alpine glaciers and the rise in elevation of the snowline. For a time, as suggested by a peak of Pseudotsuga, temperature may have reached close to 17° and annual precipitation less than 760 mm. Arboreal communities were relatively open while light-requiring Pteridium remained conspicuous in the record. After 3000 BP during Neoglaciation, climate became sufficiently cool and moist to favor the development of extensive, closed communities of Tsuga, Picea, Thuja, and other hygrophilous species.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , August 1973 , pp. 284 - 306
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

Anderson, F.E., (1968). Seaward terminus of the Vashon continental glacier in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Marine Geology 6, 419–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, J.E., Crandell, D.R., Easterbrook, D.J., Noble, J.B., (1965). Late Pleistocene stratigraphy and chronology in southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin 76, 321–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, R., (1906). Geological reconnaissance of the coast of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin 17, 451–468.Google Scholar
Bretz, J.H., (1913). Glaciation of the Puget Sound region. Washington Geological Survey Bulletin 8, 244.Google Scholar
Bretz, J.H., (1920). The Juan de Fuca lobe of the Cordilleran ice sheet. Journal of Geology 28, 333–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, R.D. Jr., Gower, H.D., Snavely, P.D. Jr., (1960). Geology of the Port Angeles-Lake Crescent area, Clallam County, Washington. U.S. Geological Survey Oil and Gas Investigation Map OM-203, .Google Scholar
Carson, R.J., (1970). Quaternary geology of the south-central Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Washington.Google Scholar
Clapp, C.H., (1912). Southern Vancouver Island. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 13, .Google Scholar
Crandell, D.R., (1965). The glacial history of western Washington and Oregon. Wright, H.E. Jr., Frey, D.G., The Quaternary of the United States Princeton University Press Princeton, N.J 341–353.Google Scholar
Crandell, D.R., Mullineaux, D.R., Waldron, H.H., (1958). Pleistocene sequence in southeastern part of the Puget Sound lowland, Washington. American Journal of Science 256, 384–397.Google Scholar
Crandell, D.R., Miller, R.D., (1964). Post-Hypsithermal glacier advances at Mount Rainier, Washington. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 501-D, D110–D114.Google Scholar
Danner, W.R., (1955). Geology of Olympic National Park. University of Washington Press Seattle.Google Scholar
Deevey, E.S., Flint, R.F., (1957). Postglacial Hypsithermal interval. Science 125, 182–184.Google Scholar
Easterbrook, D.J., (1963). Late Pleistocene glacial events and relative sea-level changes in the northern Puget Lowland, Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin 74, 1465–1484.Google Scholar
Easterbrook, D.J., (1966). Radiocarbon chronology of late Pleistocene deposits in northwest Washington. Science 152, 764–767.Google Scholar
Easterbrook, D.J., (1969). Pleistocene chronology of the Puget Lowland and San Juan Islands, Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin 80, 2273–2286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easterbrook, D.J., (1970). Glacial events in the Puget Lowland, Washington between 14,000 and 10,000 years ago. American Quaternary Association Abstracts, First Meeting 39, .Google Scholar
Faegri, K., Iversen, J., (1964). Textbook of Pollen Analysis. Munksgaard Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Fisher, L.C., (1941). Climate of Washington. Climate and Man U.S. Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C 1170–1181.Google Scholar
Flint, R.F., (1971). Glacial and Quaternary Geology. Wiley New York.Google Scholar
Florer, L.E., (1972). Quaternary paleoecology and stratigraphy of the sea cliffs, western Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Quaternary Research 2, 202–216.Google Scholar
Fonda, R.W., Bliss, L.C., (1969). Forest vegetation of the montane and subalpine zones, Olympic Mountains, Washington. Ecological Monographs 39, 271–301.Google Scholar
Fulton, R.J., (1971). Radiocarbon geochronology of southern British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 71-37, 29.Google Scholar
Gower, H.D., (1960). Geology of the Pysht quadrangle, Washington. U.S. Geological Survey Map GQ-129, .Google Scholar
Gross, M.G., McManus, D.A., Ling, H-Y., (1967). Continental shelf sediment, northwestern United States. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 37, 790–795.Google Scholar
Halstead, E.C., (1968). The Cowichan ice tongue, Vancouver Island. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 5, 1409–1415.Google Scholar
Hansen, H.P., (1938). Postglacial forest succession and climate in the Puget Sound region. Ecology 19, 528–542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, H.P., (1941). Further pollen studies of post-Pleistocene bogs in the Puget Lowland of Washington. Torrey Botanical Club Bulletin 68, 133–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, H.P., (1943). A pollen study of two bogs on Orcas Island, of the San Juan Islands, Washington. Torrey Botanical Club Bulletin 70, 236–243.Google Scholar
Hansen, H.P., (1947). Postglacial forest succession, climate, and chronology in the Pacific Northwest. American Philosophical Society Transactions 37, 1–130.Google Scholar
Hansen, H.P., (1950). Pollen analysis of three bogs on Vancouver Island, Canada. Journal of Ecology 38, 270–276.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1957). Variations of Blue, Hoh, and White Glaciers during recent centuries. Arctic 10, 139–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1960). Late-Pleistocene environments of North Pacific North America. American Geographical Society Special Publication 35, 308.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1964). Palynology of four bog sections from the western Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Ecology 45, 23–40.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1969). Modern pollen spectra from the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Torrey Botanical Club Bulletin 96, 407–417.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1972). Palynology and phytogeographical significance of a late-Pleistocene refugium near Kalaloch, Washington. Quaternary Research 2, 189–201.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1973a). Age and environment of allochthonous peat clasts from the Bogachiel River Valley, Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin 84, 797–804.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1973b). Modern pollen spectra from Mount Rainier, Washington. Northwest Science 47, 1–8.Google Scholar
Hitchcock, C.L., Cronquist, A., Ownby, M., Thompson, J.W., (1955, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1969). Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press Seattle.Google Scholar
Jones, G.N., (1936). A botanical survey of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. University of Washington Publications in Biology 5, 1–286.Google Scholar
Kuramoto, R.T., Bliss, L.C., (1970). Ecology of subalpine meadows in the Olympic Mountains, Washington. Ecological Monographs 40, 317–347.Google Scholar
LaChapelle, E.R., (1960). The Blue Glacier Project 1959 and 1960. Office of Naval Research Contract 477(18) (NR307-244) Final Report 54.Google Scholar
Mathews, W.H., Fyles, J.G., Nasmith, H.W., (1970). Postglacial crustal movements in southwestern British Columbia and adjacent Washington state. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 7, 690–702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, J.M. Jr., (1961). Recent secular changes of global temperature. Fairbridge, R.W., Solar Variations, Climatic Change, and Related Geophysical Problems. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 95, 235–250.Google Scholar
Mullineaux, D.R., Waldron, H.H., Rubin, M., (1965). Stratigraphy and chronology of late interglacial and early Vashon glacial time in the Seattle area, Washington. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1194-0, 10.Google Scholar
Phillips, E.L., (1963). Northwest Olympic Peninsula. Climatography of the United States. U.S. Weather Bureau and Washington State Department of Commerce and Economic Development 20–45.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., (1970). Glacier recession in the southern and central Puget Lowland, Washington, between 14,000 and 13,000 BP. American Quaternary Association Abstracts, First Meeting 107, .Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., Denton, G.H., (1967). Chronology of Neoglaciation in the North American cordillera. American Journal of Science 265, 177–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, S.C., Carson, R.J. III, (1971). Problems of interpreting radiocarbon dates from dead-ice terrain with an example from the Puget Lowland of Washington. Quaternary Research 1, 410–414.Google Scholar
Reagan, A.B., (1909). Some notes on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Kansas Academy of Science Transactions 22, 131–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rigg, G.B., (1958). Peat resources of Washington. Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 44, 272.Google Scholar
Rowley, J.R., Dahl, A.O., (1956). Modifications in design and use of the Livingstone piston sampler. Ecology 37, 849–851.Google Scholar
Tabor, R.W., Yeats, R.S., Sorensen, M.L., (1972). Geologic map of the Mount Angeles quadrangle, Clallam and Jefferson Counties, Washington. U.S. Geological Survey Map GQ-958, .Google Scholar
Vallentyne, J.R., (1955). A modification of the Livingstone piston sampler for lake deposits. Ecology 36, 139–141.Google Scholar
Willis, B., (1897). Drift phenomena of Puget Sound. Geological Society of America Bulletin 9, 111–162.Google Scholar
Wilson, J.T., (1958). Glacial map of Canada. The Geological Association of Canada (Chairman).Google Scholar