Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T10:29:34.641Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Full-Glacial Environment of the Northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska, Reconstructed from the 21,500-Year-Old Kitluk Paleosol

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Claudia Höfle ,
Mary E. Edwards ,
David M. Hopkins ,
Daniel H. Mann  and
Chien-Lu Ping
Claudia Höfle
Affiliation:
Alaska Quaternary Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775
Mary E. Edwards
Affiliation:
Alaska Quaternary Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775
David M. Hopkins
Affiliation:
Alaska Quaternary Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775
Daniel H. Mann
Affiliation:
Alaska Quaternary Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775
Chien-Lu Ping
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station, Palmer Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 533 E. Fireweed, Palmer, Alaska, 99645
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Paleoenvironmental conditions are reconstructed from soils buried under volcanic ash ca. 21,500 years ago on the Seward Peninsula. Soil development was minimal, reflecting the continuous regional deposition of loess, which originated from river floodplains and the exposed Chukchi shelf. Cryoturbated soil horizons, ice wedges, and ice-lens formation indicate a permafrost environment and mean annual temperatures below −6° to −8°C. Shallow active layers (average 45 cm), minimal evidence for chemical leaching of soils, and the presence of earthen hummocks indicate a cold and seasonally dry climate. Neither steppe nor polar desert soils are appropriate analogues for these zonal soils of loess-covered central Beringia. No exact analogues are known; however, soils underlying dry tundra near the arctic coast of northern Yakutia, Russia, and under moist, nonacidic tundra of the Alaskan North Slope have properties in common with the buried soils.

Keywords

BeringiaBering Land Bridgepaleosolspaleoenvironmental reconstructionpermafrost soilslast glacial maximum
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , March 2000 , pp. 143 - 153
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

Barnosky, C.W., Anderson, P.M., Bartlein, P.J., (1987). The northwestern U.S. during deglaciation; Vegetational history and paleoclimatic implications. Ruddiman, W.F., Wright, H.E. Jr., North America and adjacent oceans during the past deglaciation, The geology of North America, Vol. K-3 Geological Society of America, Boulder.289–321.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P.J., Anderson, K.H., Anderson, P.M., Edwards, M.E., Mock, C.J., Thompson, R.S., Webb, R.S., Webb, T. III, Whitlock, C., (1998). Paleoclimate simulations for North America over the past 21,000 years: Features of the simulated climate and comparisons with paleoenvironmental data. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, 549–585.Google Scholar
Begét, J., Hopkins, D.M., Charron, S.D., (1996). The largest known maars on earth, Seward Peninsula, northwest Alaska. Arctic 49, 62–69.Google Scholar
Begét, J., Mann, D.H., (1992). “Caldera” formation by unusually large phreatomagmatic eruptions through permafrost in arctic Alaska. Eos 73, 636.Google Scholar
Bespalyy, V.G., (1984). Late Pleistocene mountain glaciation of the northeastern USSR. Velichko, A.A., Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.31–33.Google Scholar
Bliss, L.C., Richards, J.H., (1982). Present-day arctic vegetation and ecosystems as a predictive tool for the arctic-steppe mammoth biome. Hopkins, D.M., Matthews, J.V., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B., Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press, New York.241–257.Google Scholar
Bockheim, J.G., Ping, C.L., Moore, J.P., Kimble, J.M., (1994). Gelisols: A new proposed order for permafrost-affected soils. Kimble, J.M., Ahrens, R.J., Proceedings of the Meeting of the Classification, Correlation, and Management of Permafrost-Affected Soils, July, 1993 USDASoil Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln.25–44.Google Scholar
Carter, L.D., Heninbottom, J.A., Woo, M.K., (1987). Arctic lowlands. Graf., W.L., Geomorphic Systems of North America 583–628.Google Scholar
Chapin, F.S., Starfield, A.M., (1997). Time lags and novel ecosystems in response to transient climatic change in arctic Alaska. Climatic Change 35, 449–461.Google Scholar
Colinvaux, P.A., (1964). The environment of the Bering Land Bridge. Ecological Monographs 34, 297–329.Google Scholar
Creager, J.S., McManus, D.A., (1967). Geology of the floor of Bering and Chukchi Seas—American studies. Hopkins, D.M., The Bering Land Bridge Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford.7–31.Google Scholar
Dinter, D.A., Carter, L.D., Brigham-Grette, J., (1990). Late Cenozoic geologic evolution of the Alaskan North Slope and adjacent continental shelves. Grantz, A., Johnson, L., Sweeney, J.F., The Arctic Ocean Region, The Geology of North America, Vol. L Geological Society of America, Boulder.459–490.Google Scholar
Edwards, M.E., Armbruster, W.S., (1989). A tundra-steppe transition on Kathul Mountain, Alaska, USA. Arctic and Alpine Research 21, 296–304.Google Scholar
Elias, S.A., Short, S.K., Nelson, C.H., Birks, H.H., (1996). Life and times of the Bering Land Bridge. Nature 382, 60–63.Google Scholar
Elias, S.A., Short, S.K., Birks, H.H., (1997). Late Wisconsin environments of the Bering Land Bridge. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 136, 293–308.Google Scholar
Goetcheus, V.G., Hopkins, D.M., Edwards, M.E., Mann, D.H., (1994). Window on the Bering Land Bridge: A 17,000-year-old paleosurface on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Current Research in the Pleistocene 11, 131–132.Google Scholar
Guthrie, R.D., (1982). Mammals of the mammoth-steppe as paleoenvironmental indicators. Hopkins, D.M., Matthews, J.V., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B., Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press, New York.307–326.Google Scholar
Guthrie, R.D., (1990). Frozen fauna of the mammoth steppe. The story of Blue Babe. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Hamilton, T.D., Craig, J.L., Sellmann, P.V., (1988). The Fox permaforst tunnel: A late Quaternary geologic record in central Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin 100, 948–969.Google Scholar
Höfle, C., (1995). Buried soils on Seward Peninsula, northwest Alaska: A window into the late-Pleistocene environment of the Bering Land Bridge. University of Alaska–Fairbanks, Fairbanks.Google Scholar
Höfle, C., Ping, C.L., (1996). Properties and soil development of late-Pleistocene paleosols from Seward Peninsula, northwest Alaska. Geoderma 71, 219–243.Google Scholar
Höfle, C., Ping, C.-L., Kimble, J.M., (1998). Properties of permafrost soils on Northern Seward Peninsula, Northwest Alaska. Soil Science Society of America Journal 62, 1629–1639.Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M., (1967). The Bering Land Bridge. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Hopkins, D. M., (1963). Geology of the Imuruk Lake area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U. S.. Geological Survey Bulletin 1141-c, 100 pp.Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M., (1982). Aspects of the paleogeography of Beringia during the late Pleistocene. Hopkins, D.M., Matthews, J.V., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B., Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press, New York.3–28.Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M., Kidd, J.G., (1988). Thaw-lake sediments and sedimentary environments. Fifth International Permafrost Conference Proceedings p. 790–795.Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M., Giterman, R.E., Matthews, J.V. Jr., (1976). Interstadial mammoth remains and associated pollen and insect fossils, Kotzebue Sound area, northwestern Alaska. Geology 4, 169–172.Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M., Matthews, J.V., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B., (1982). Paleoecology of Beringia. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Kubatzki, C., Claussen, M., (1998). Simulation of the global bio-geophysical interactions during the Last Glacial Maximum. Climate Dynamics 14, 461–471.Google Scholar
Laxton, N.F., Burn, C.R., Smith, C.A.S., (1996). Productivity of loessal grasslands in the Kluane Lake region, Yukon Territory, and the Beringian “production paradox”. Arctic 49, 129–140.Google Scholar
Mackay, J.R., (1980). The origin of hummocks, western Arctic Coast, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 17, 996–1006.Google Scholar
Mann, D.H., Hamilton, T.H., (1995). Late-Pleistocene and Holocene paleoenvironments of the North Pacific coast. Quaternary Science Reviews 14, 449–471.Google Scholar
Matthews, J.V. Jr., (1976). Arctic steppe—An extinct biome. AMQUA Abstracts 4, 73–77.Google Scholar
McCulloch, D., Hopkins, D.M., (1966). Evidence for an early Recent warm interval in northwestern Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin 77, 1089–1108.Google Scholar
Péwé, T. L., (1975). Quaternary Geology of Alaska.. Geological Survey Paper 835, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC..Google Scholar
Ritchie, J.C., Cwynar, L.C., (1982). The late-Quaternary vegetation of the Northern Yukon. Hopkins, D.M., Matthews, J.V., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B., Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press, New York.113–126.Google Scholar
Schaaf, J.M., (1995). Understanding northern environments and human populations through cooperative research: a case study in Beringia. Peterson, D.L., Johnson, D.R., Human Ecology and Climate Change: People and Resources in the Far North Taylor and Francis, Washington.Google Scholar
Schweger, C.E., (1982). Late Pleistocene vegetation of eastern Beringia: Pollen analysis of date alluvium. Hopkins, D.M., Matthews, J.V., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B., Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press, New York.95–112.Google Scholar
Shackleton, J., (1982). Environmental histories from Whitefish and Imuruk Lakes, Seward Peninsula, Alaska.. Institute of Polar Studies Report No. 76, Ohio State Univ., Columbus.. 49 pp.Google Scholar
Shur, Y.L., (1988). Verkhniy Gorizont Tolshchi Merzlykh Porod I Termokarst. (Thermokarst and the upper horizon of permafrost.). Nauka, Moscow.Google Scholar
Shur, Y.L., Ping, C.L., (1994). Permafrost dynamics and soil formation. Kimble, J.M., Ahrens, R.J., Proceedings of the Meeting of the Classification, Correlation, and Management of Permafrost-Affected Soils, July, 1993 USDASoil Conservation ServiceNational Soil Survey Center, Lincoln.112–117.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., (1993). Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, 215–230.Google Scholar
Tedrow, J.C.F., (1977). Soils of the polar landscapes. Rutgers Univ. Press, New Brunswick.Google Scholar
Thorson, R.M., Guthrie, R.D., (1992). Stratigraphy of the Colorado Creek mammoth locality, Alaska. Quaternary Research 37, 214–228.Google Scholar
Walker, D.A., Auerbach, N.A., Bockheim, J.G., Chapin, F.S. III, Eugster, W., Kling, J.Y., McFadden, J.P., Michaelson, G.J., Nelson, F.E., Oechel, W.C., Ping, C.L., Reeburg, W.S., Regli, S., Shiklomanov, N.I., Vourlitis, G.L., (1998). Energy and trace-gas fluxes across a soil pH boundary in the Arctic. Nature 394, 469–472.Google Scholar
Washburn, A.L., (1980). Geocryology. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
West, F.H., (1997). American Beginnings. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Wolf, V. G, Birks, H. H., In press, Full-glacial upland tundra vegetation preserved under tephra in the Beringia National Park, Seward Peninsula. Quaternary Science Reviews .Google Scholar
Yurtsev, B.A., (1982). Relics of the xerophyte vegetation of Beringia in northeastern Asia. Hopkins, D.M., Matthews, J.V., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B., Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press, New York.157–177.Google Scholar
Zhestkova, T.N., (1982). Formirovaniye Kriogennogo Stroeniya Gruntov. (The formation of cryogenic soil structure). Nauka, Moscow.Google Scholar