Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:54:18.291Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A multiproxy environmental investigation of Holocene wood from a submerged conifer forest in Lake Huron, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

R. Douglas Hunter ,
Irina P. Panyushkina ,
Steven W. Leavitt ,
Alex C. Wiedenhoeft  and
John Zawiskie
R. Douglas Hunter*
Affiliation:
Biological Sciences, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309-4476, USA
Irina P. Panyushkina
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Steven W. Leavitt
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Alex C. Wiedenhoeft
Affiliation:
Center for Wood Anatomy Research, USDA Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726-2398, USA
John Zawiskie
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202 and Cranbrook Institute of Science, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +1 248 370 4225. E-mail address:[email protected] (R.D. Hunter).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Remains of a Holocene drowned forest in southern Lake Huron discovered in 12.5 m of water (164 m above sea level), 4.5 km east of Lexington, Michigan USA (Sanilac site), provided wood to investigate environment and lake history using several proxies. Macrofossil evidence indicates a forest comprised primarily of conifers equivalent to the modern “rich conifer swamp” community, despite generally low regional abundance of these species in pollen records. Ages range from 7095 ± 50 to 6420 ± 70 14C yr BP, but the clustering of stump dates and the development of 2 floating tree-ring chronologies suggest a briefer forest interval of no more than c. 400 years. Dendrochronological analysis indicates an environment with high inter-annual climate variability. Stable-carbon isotope composition falls within the range of modern trees from this region, but the stable-oxygen composition is consistent with warmer conditions than today. Both our tree-ring and isotope data provide support for a warmer environment in this region, consistent with a mid-Holocene thermal maximum. This drowned forest also provides a dated elevation in the Nipissing transgression at about 6420 14C yr BP (7350 cal yr BP) in the southern Lake Huron basin, a few hundred years before reopening of the St. Clair River drainage.

Keywords

Lake StanleyTree ringsStable isotopesLake HuronHoloceneLake levelsThuja
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , July 2006 , pp. 67 - 77
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, W.T., Bernasconi, S.M., McKenzie, J.A., and Saurer, M. Oxygen and carbon isotopic record of climatic variability in tree ring cellulose (Picea abies): an example from central Switzerland (1913–1995). Journal of Geophysical Research 103, (1998). 31625–31636.Google Scholar
Arseneault, D., and Sirois, L. The millennial dynamics of a boreal forest stand from buried trees. Journal of Ecology 92, (2004). 490–504.Google Scholar
Bailey, R.E., and Ahearn, P.J. A late- and postglacial pollen record from Chippewa Bog, Lapeer Co., MI: further examination of white pine and beech immigration into the central Great Lakes region. Romans, R.C. Geobotany II. (1981). Plenum Press, New York. 53–74.Google Scholar
Chrzastowski, M.J., Pranschke, F.A., and Shabica, C.W. Discovery and preliminary investigations of the remains of an early Holocene forest on the floor of southern Lake Michigan. Journal of Great Lakes Research 17, 4 (1991). 543–552.Google Scholar
Cohen, J.C., (2000). Natural community abstract for mesic northern forest. Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Lansing, MI. 7 pp. Http://web4.msue.msu.edu/mnfi/pub/abstracts.cfm#Communities.Google Scholar
Coplen, T.B. New guidelines for reporting stable hydrogen, carbon and oxygen isotope-ratio data. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 602, (1996). 3359–3360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crane, H.R., and Griffin, J.R. University of Michigan radiocarbon dates XIII. Radiocarbon 12, (1970). 161–180.Google Scholar
Crane, H.R., and Griffin, J.R. University of Michigan radiocarbon dates XV. Radiocarbon 14, (1972). 195–222.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W. Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16, (1964). 436–468.Google Scholar
Dettman, D.L., Smith, A.J., Rea, D.K., Moore, T.C., and Lohmann, K.C. Glacial meltwater in Lake Huron during early postglacial time as inferred from single-valve analysis of oxygen isotopes in ostracodes. Quaternary Research 43, (1995). 297–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, T.W.D., Aravena, R.O., Fritz, P., and Morgan, A.V. Interpreting paleoclimate from 18O and 2H in plant cellulose: comparison with evidence from fossil insects and relict permafrost in southwestern Ontario. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 22, (1985). 1720–1726.Google Scholar
Flanagan, L.B., Comstock, J.P., and Ehleringer, J.R. Comparison of modeled and observed environmental influences on the stable oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition of leaf water in Phaseolus vulgaris L. Plant Physiology 96, (1991). 588–596.Google Scholar
Francey, R.J., and Farquhar, G.D. An explanation of 13C/12C variations in tree rings. Nature 297, (1982). 28–31.Google Scholar
Fullerton, D.S. Preliminary correlation of post-Erie interstadial events (16,000 to 10,000 radiocarbon years before present). Geological Survey Professional Paper 1089, (1980). (51) Google Scholar
Gat, J.R. Oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in the hydrologic cycle. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 24, (1996). 225–262.Google Scholar
Hansel, A.K., Michelson, D.M., Schneider, A.F., and Larsen, C.E. Late Wisconsinan and Holocene history of the Lake Michigan basin. Karrow, P.F., and Calkin, P.E. Quaternary Geological Evolution of the Great Lakes. Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper vol. 30, (1985). 39–53.Google Scholar
Holcombe, T.L., Reid, D.F., Virden, W.T., Niemeyer, T.C., De la Sierra, R., Divins, D.L., (1996). Bathymetry of Lake Michigan. NOAA Report MGG-11 Google Scholar
Hough, J.L. Lake Stanley: a low stage of Lake Huron indicated by bottom sediments. Geological Society of America Bulletin 73, (1962). 613–620.Google Scholar
Indermühle, A., Stocker, T., Fischer, H., Smith, H., Joos, F., Wahlen, M., Deck, B., Mastroianni, D., Tschumi, J., Blunier, T., Meyer, R., and Stauffer, B. Holocene carbon-cycle dynamics based on CO2 trapped in ice at Taylor Dome, Antarctica. Nature 398, (1999). 121–126.Google Scholar
Kendall, C., and Coplen, T.B. Distribution of oxygen-18 and deuterium in river waters across the United States. Hydrological Processes 15, (2001). 1363–1393.Google Scholar
Kost, M.A., (2002). Natural community abstract for rich conifer swamp. Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Lansing, MI. 9 pp. http://web4.msue.msu.edu/mnfi/pub/abstracts.cfm#Communities.Google Scholar
Krist, F., and Schaetzl, R.J. Paleowind (11,000 BP) directions derived from lake spits in Northern Michigan. Geomorphology 38, (2001). 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsen, C.E. A stratigraphic study of beach feature on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan: new evidence of Holocene lake level fluctuations. Illinois State Geological Survey Environmental Geology Note 63, (1985). (31 pp.) Google Scholar
Larsen, C.E. Geologic History of Glacial Lake Algonquin and the Upper Great Lakes. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1801, (1987). (36 pp.) Google Scholar
Leavitt, S.W. Tree-ring characteristics of wood samples from the Southport buried forest, Kenosha, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters Annual Meeting, Green Bay, April 29, Conference Proceedings. (1989). 28–29.Google Scholar
Leavitt, S.W. Seasonal 13C/12C changes in tree rings: species and site coherence, and a possible drought influence. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 23, (1993). 210–218.Google Scholar
Leavitt, S.W. Prospects for reconstruction of seasonal environment from tree-ring δ13C: baseline findings from the Great Lakes area, U.S.A.. Chemical Geology 192, 1–2 (2002). 47–58.Google Scholar
Leavitt, S.W., and Danzer, S.R. Method for batch processing small wood samples to holocellulose for stable-carbon isotope analysis. Analytical Chemistry 65, (1993). 87–89.Google Scholar
Lewis, C.F.M., and Anderson, T.W. Oscillations of levels and cool phases of the Laurentian Great Lakes caused by inflows from glacial Lakes Agassiz and Barlow–Ojibway. Journal of Paleolimnology 2, (1989). 99–146.Google Scholar
Lewis, C.F.M., Moore, T.C., Rea, D.K., Dettman, D.L., Smith, A.M., and Mayer, L.A. Lakes of the Huron basin: their record of runoff from the Laurentide ice sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews 13, (1994). 891–922.Google Scholar
Mandelbaum, H. Analysis of sediment cores in the St. Clair river delta. 12th Conference on Great Lakes Research. Proceedings of the International Assoc. Great Lakes Research. (1969). 271–299.Google Scholar
Panyushkina, I.P., Leavitt, S.W., Wiedenhoeft, A., Noggle, S., Curry, B., and Grimm, E. Tree ring records of near-Younger Dryas time in central N. America—Preliminary results from the Lincoln Quarry site, central Illinois, USA. Radiocarbon 46, (2004). 933–941.Google Scholar
Reimer, J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Bertrand, C.J.H., Blackwell, P.G., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Cutler, K.B., Damon, P.E., Edwards, R.L., Fairbanks, R.G., Friedrich, M., Guilderson, T.P., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., Manning, S.W., Ramsey, C.B., Reimer, R.W., Remmele, S., Southon, J.R., Stuiver, M., Talamo, S., Taylor, F.W., Weyhenmeyer, J., and van der Plicht, C.E. IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 26-0 ka BP. Radiocarbon 46, (2004). 1029–1058.Google Scholar
Rinn, F., (2003). Time Series Analysis and Presentation software (TSAP-Win). User Reference (Version 0.53), RinnTech, Heidelberg, Germany. (http://www.rinntech.com/Products/index.htm).Google Scholar
Roden, J.S., Lin, G.H., and Ehleringer, J.R. A mechanistic model for interpretation of hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios in tree-ring cellulose. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 64, 1 (2000). 21–35.Google Scholar
Sander, P. A buried forest in Kenosha County. Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, Wisconsin Academy Review. (1962). 49–51.Google Scholar
Schneider, A.F., Sander, P., and Larsen, C.E. Late Quaternary Buried Forest Bed in Southeastern Wisconsin. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs vol. 11, (1979). 256 Google Scholar
Stanley, G.M. The submerged valley through Mackinac Straits. Journal of Geology 46, (1938). 966–974.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Braziunas, T.F. Tree cellulose 13C/12C isotope ratios and climate change. Nature 328, (1987). 58–60.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P.J. Extended 14C database and revised CALIB radiocarbon calibration program (Version 5.0). Radiocarbon 35, (1993). 215–230.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S., Anderson, K.H., and Bartlein, P.J. Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1650A. Available on-line at http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1650-a/.Google Scholar
Williams, C.N. Jr., Menne, M.J., Vose, R.S., Easterling, D.R., (2005). United States Historical Climatology Network Monthly Temperature and Precipitation Data. ORNL/CDIAC-118, NDP-019. Available on-line at http://cdiac.ornl.gov/epubs/ndp/ushcn/usa_monthly.html.Google Scholar
Yakir, D. Variations in the natural abundance of oxygen-18 and deuterium in plant carbohydrates. Plant, Cell and Environment 15, (1992). 1005–1020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yakir, D., and DeNiro, M.J. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope fractionation during cellulose metabolism in Lemna gibba L. Plant Physiology 93, (1990). 325–332.Google Scholar