Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T19:25:18.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late-Glacial Vegetation and Climate Change in Western Oregon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Laurie D. Grigg  and
Cathy Whitlock
Laurie D. Grigg
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403
Cathy Whitlock
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pollen records from two sites in western Oregon provide information on late-glacial variations in vegetation and climate and on the extent and character of Younger Dryas cooling in the Pacific Northwest. A subalpine forest was present at Little Lake, central Coast Range, between 15,700 and 14,850 cal yr B.P. A warm period between 14,850 and 14,500 cal yr B.P. is suggested by an increase in Pseudotsuga pollen and charcoal. The recurrence of subalpine forest at 14,500 cal yr B.P. implies a return to cool conditions. Another warming trend is evidenced by the reestablishment of Pseudotsuga forest at 14,250 cal yr B.P. Increased haploxylon Pinus pollen between 12,400 and 11,000 cal yr B.P. indicates cooler winters than before. After 11,000 cal yr B.P. warm dry conditions are implied by the expansion of Pseudotsuga. A subalpine parkland occupied Gordon Lake, western Cascade Range, until 14,500 cal yr B.P., when it was replaced during a warming trend by a montane forest. A rise in Pinuspollen from 12,800 to 11,000 cal yr B.P. suggests increased summer aridity. Pseudotsuga dominated the vegetation after 11,000 cal yr B.P. Other records from the Pacific Northwest show an expansion of Pinus from ca. 13,000 to 11,000 cal yr B.P. This expansion may be a response either to submillennial climate changes of Younger Dryas age or to millennial-scale climatic variations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , May 1998 , pp. 287 - 298
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

Agee, J.K., 1993. Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests. Island Press, Washington. 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
Bacon, C.R., 1983. Eruptive history of Mount Mazama and Crater Lake caldera, Cascade Range, U.S.A. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 18 57–115.Google Scholar
Bard, E., Hamelin, B., Fairbanks, R.G., Zindler, A., 1990. Calibration of the14 . Nature. 345 405–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bard, E., Arnold, M., Fairbanks, R.G., Hamelin, B., 1993. 230 234 14 . Radiocarbon. 35 191–199.Google Scholar
Barnosky, C.W., 1981. A record of late Quaternary vegetation from Davis Lake, southern Puget Lowland, Washington. Quaternary Research. 16 221–239.Google Scholar
Barnosky, C.W., 1985. Late Quaternary vegetation near Battle Ground Lake, southern Puget Trough, Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 96 263–271.Google Scholar
Barnosky, C.W., Anderson, P.M., Bartlein, P.J., 1987. The northwestern U.S. during deglaciation: Vegetational history and paleoclimatic implications. North America and Adjacent Oceans during the Last Glaciation. Geological Society of America, Boulder, p. 289–232.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P.J., Edwards, M.E., Shafer, S.L., Barker, E.D. Jr., 1995. Calibration of radiocarbon ages and the interpretation of paleoenvironmental records. Quaternary Research. 44 417–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, A., 1978. Long-term variations of caloric insolation resulting from the Earth's orbital elements. Quaternary Research. 9 139–167.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., 1994. Massive iceberg discharges as triggers for global change. Nature. 372 421–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cwynar, L.C., Burden, E., McAndrews, J.H., 1979. An inexpensive method for concentrating pollen and spores from fine grained sediments. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 16 1115–1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, M.B., Brubaker, L.B., Webb, T. III, 1973. Calibration of absolute influx. Birks, H.J.B., West, R.G., Quaternary Plant Ecology. Wiley, New York, 109–116.Google Scholar
Denton, G.H., Hendy, C.H., 1994. Younger Dryas age advance of Franz Josef Glacier in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Science. 264 1434–1437.Google Scholar
Engstrom, D.R., Hansen, B.C.S., Wright, H.E. Jr., 1990. A possible Younger Dryas record in southwestern Alaska. Science. 250 1383–1385.Google Scholar
Faegri, K., Kaland, P.E., Krzywinski, K., 1989. Textbook of Pollen Analysis. Wiley, London. Google Scholar
Fairbanks, R.G., 1989. A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: Influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation. Nature. 342 637–642.Google Scholar
Fowells, H.A., 1965. Silvics of Forest Trees of the United States. Google Scholar
Franklin, J.F., Dryness, C.T., 1988. Natural Vegetation of Oregon and Washington. Oregon State Univ. Press, Corvallis. Google Scholar
Grigg, L.D., 1996. Late-Glacial Vegetation and Climate Change in Western Oregon. Univ. of Oregon.Google Scholar
Grimm, E.C., 1988. Data analysis and display. Huntley, B., Webb, T. III, Vegetation History. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, 43–76.Google Scholar
Hansen, B.C.S., Engstrom, D.R., 1996. Vegetation history of Pleasant Island, southeastern Alaska since 13,000 yr B.P. Quaternary Research. 46 161–175.Google Scholar
Heine, J. T, Extent, timing, and climatic implications of glacier advances near Mount Rainier, Washington, USA, at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition, Quaternary Science Reviews, 17.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., 1977. Quaternary palynology of the Pacific Slope of Washington. Quaternary Research. 8 282–306.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., 1978. Modern pollen spectra from western Oregon. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 105 14–17.Google Scholar
Keigwin, L.D., Jones, G.A., 1990. Deglacial climatic oscillations in the Gulf of California. Paleoceanography. 5 1009–1023.Google Scholar
Kennett, J.P., Ingram, B.L., 1995. A 20,000-year record of ocean circulation and climate change from the Santa Barbara basin. Nature. 377 305–308.Google Scholar
Kromer, B., Becker, B., 1993. German oak and pine14 . Radiocarbon. 35 125–135.Google Scholar
Lowell, T.V., Heusser, C.J., Anderson, B.G., Moreno, P.I., Hauser, A., Heusser, L.E., Schlüchter, C., Marchant, D.R., Denton, G.H., 1995. Interhemispheric correlation of late Pleistocene glacial events. Science. 269 1541–1549.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mack, R.N., Bryant, V.M., Pell, W., 1978. Modern forest pollen spectra from eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Botanical Gazette. 138 249–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manabe, S., Stouffer, R.J., 1995. Simulation of abrupt climate change induced by freshwater input to the North Atlantic Ocean. Nature. 378 165–167.Google Scholar
Mathewes, R.W., 1993. Evidence for Younger Dryas-age cooling on the North Pacific coast of America. Quaternary Science Reviews. 12 321–331.Google Scholar
Mazaud, A., Laj, C., Bard, E., Arnold, M., Tric, E., 1991. Geomagnetic field control of14 . Geophysical Research Letters. 18 1885–1888.Google Scholar
McAndrews, J.H., Berti, A.A., Norris, G., 1973. Key to the Quaternary Pollen and Spores of the Great Lakes Region. Life Sciences Miscellaneous PublicationsRoyal Ontario Museum Toronto.Google Scholar
Mikolajewicz, U., Crowley, T.J., Schiller, A., Voss, R., 1997. Modelling teleconnections between the North Atlantic and Pacific during the Younger Dryas. Nature. 387 384–387.Google Scholar
Millspaugh, S.H., Whitlock, C., 1995. A 750-year fire history based on lake sediment records in central Yellowstone National Park. Holocene. 5 283–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minore, D, 1979, Comparative Autecological Characteristics of Northwestern Tree Species—A Literature Review.Google Scholar
Mock, C.J., 1996. Climatic controls and spatial variations of precipitation in the western United States. Journal of Climate. 9 1111–1125.Google Scholar
Moore, P.D., Webb, J.A., 1978. An Illustrated Guide to Pollen Analysis. Wiley, New York. Google Scholar
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1964–1991, Multiple summaries of climatological data, Oregon section, Asheville, NC.Google Scholar
Pearson, G.W., Stuiver, M., 1993. High-precision bidecadal calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, 500–2500 BC. Radiocarbon. 35 25–33.Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R., 1994. Ice age paleotopography. Science. 265 195–201.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., 1976. Pleistocene glaciation in the southern part of the North Cascade Range, Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 87 61–75.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., 1978. Glacier Peak tephra in the North Cascade Range, Washington: Stratigraphy, distribution, and relationship to late-glacial events. Quaternary Research. 10 30–41.Google Scholar
Sea, D.S., Whitlock, C., 1995. Postglacial vegetation and climate of the Cascade Range, central Oregon. Quaternary Research. 43 370–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Becker, B., 1993. High-precision decadal calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, AD 1950–6000 BC. Radiocarbon. 35 35–65.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Pearson, G.W., 1993. High-precision bidecadal calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, AD 1950–500 BC. and 2500–6000 BC. Radiocarbon. 35 1–23.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., 1993. Extended14 14 . Radiocarbon. 35 215–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, R.S., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., Harrison, S.P., Spaulding, W.G., 1993. Climatic changes in the western United States since 18,000 yr B.P. Wright, H.E. Jr., Kutzbach, J.E., Ruddiman, W.F., Street-Perrott, F.A., Webb, T. III, Bartlein, P.J., Global Climates Since the Last Glacial Maximum. Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 468–513.Google Scholar
Törnqvist, T.E., De Jong, A.F.M., Oosterbaan, W.A., Van Der Borg, K., 1992. Accurate dating of organic deposits by AMS14 . Radiocarbon. 34 566–577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsukada, M., Sugita, S., Hibbert, D.M., 1981. Paleoecology of the Pacific Northwest I. Late Quaternary vegetation and climate. Verhandlungen der Internationalen Vereingung für theoretische und angewandte Limnologie. 21 730–737.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., 1997. Vegetation and climate change in northwest America during the past 125 kyr. Nature. 388 57–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Worona, M.A., Whitlock, C., 1995. Late-Quaternary vegetation and climate history near Little Lake, central Coast Range, Oregon. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 107 867–876.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr., Mann, D.H., Glaser, P.H., 1983. Piston cores for peat and lake sediments. Ecology. 65 657–659.Google Scholar