Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T03:50:10.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ostracode Geochemical Record of Holocene Climatic Change and Implications for Vegetational Response in the Northwestern Alaska Range

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Feng Sheng Hu ,
Emi Ito ,
Linda B. Brubaker  and
Patricia M. Anderson
Feng Sheng Hu
Affiliation:
Limnological Research Center and Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455
Emi Ito
Affiliation:
Limnological Research Center and Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455
Linda B. Brubaker
Affiliation:
College of Forest Resources and Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195
Patricia M. Anderson
Affiliation:
College of Forest Resources and Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Trace-element analysis of the calcareous shells of ostracodes in a sediment core from Farewell Lake provides the first limno-geochemical record for climatic reconstructions in Alaska. When compared with pollen data from the same site, this record offers new insights into climatic controls over vegetation dynamics during the Holocene. The low Mg/Ca ratios and high Sr/Ca ratios suggest that a relatively cold dry climate prevailed in this region between 11,000 and 9000 yr B.P. (uncalibrated 14C ages are used throughout the paper). This result contrasts with previous interpretations of a thermal maximum at this time, corresponding to the widespread establishment of Populus woodland/forest. The trace-element record suggests, instead, that the warmest period of the early Holocene at Farewell Lake was between 8500 and 8000 yr B.P. during the decline of Populus. Marked decreases in Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca suggest a major increase in effective moisture around 6500 yr B.P., which coincided with the establishment of Piceaboreal forests in the Farewell Lake region. This climatic change was probably widespread throughout much of Alaska and adjacent Canada and might have induced the rapid spread of Alnus and the shift from Picea glauca to P. mariana dominance across that region. Our geochemical record also suggests that the late-Holocene climate history was more complex than previously thought on the basis of palynological studies. According to this record, growing-season temperatures increased 6000–4500 yr B.P., decreased 4500–1500 yr B.P., and increased with fluctuations afterward. After 6000 yr B.P. stratigraphic changes in pollen percentages of Picea appear to be positively related with those of Mg/Ca. This relationship implies that once the threshold of effective moisture was crossed for the establishment of Picea forests temperature was the primary control of Picea population density.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 1998 , pp. 86 - 95
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

Abbott, M. B, 1996, Holocene climatic variability for lake sites in the Bolivian Andes and interior Alaska based on sedimentology and radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Google Scholar
Ager, T. A, 1975, Late Quaternary Environmental History of the Tanana Valley. Alaska, Ohio State University Institute for Polar Studies, Columbus, OH. Google Scholar
Anderson, P.M., 1985. Late Quaternary vegetational change in the Kotzebue Sound area, northwestern Alaska. Quaternary Research. 24 307–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, P.M., 1988. Late Quaternary pollen records from the Noatak and Kobuk River drainages, northwestern Alaska. Quaternary Research. 29 263–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, P.M., Bartlein, P.J., Brubaker, L.B., Gajewski, K., Ritchie, J.C., 1991. Vegetation-pollen-climate relationships for the Arcto-Boreal region of North America and Greenland. Journal of Biogeography. 18 565–582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, P.M., Brubaker, L.B., 1994. Vegetation history of northcentral Alaska: A mapped summary of late-Quaternary pollen data. Quaternary Science Reviews. 13 71–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, P.M., Reanier, R.E., Brubaker, L.B., 1988. Late Quaternary vegetational history of the Black River region in northeastern Alaska. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 25 84–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnosky, C.W., Anderson, P.M., Bartlein, P.J., 1987. The northwestern U.S. during deglaciation: Vegetation history and paleoclimatic implications. North America and Adjacent Oceans during the Last Deglaciation. Geological Society of America, Boulder, p. 289–321.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
Bigelow, N. H, 1997, Late Quaternary vegetation and lake-level changes in central Alaska, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Google Scholar
Bonan, G.B., Pollard, D., Thompson, S.L., 1992. Effects of boreal forest vegetation on global climate. Nature. 359 716–718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonan, G.B., Shugart, H.H., Urban, D.L., 1990. The sensitivity of some high-latitude boreal forests to climatic parameters. Climatic Change. 16 9–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calkin, P.E., 1988. Holocene glaciation of Alaska (and adjoining Yukon Territory, Canada). Quaternary Science Reviews. 7 159–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, L.D., Nelson, R.E., Galloway, J.P., 1984. Evidence for early Holocene increased precipitation and summer warmth in arctic Alaska. Abstracts of the Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section 80th Meeting. 274.Google Scholar
Chivas, A.R., De Deckker, P., Cali, A., Chapman, A., Kiss, E., Shelley, J.M.G., 1993. Coupled stable-isotope and trace-element measurements of lacustrine carbonates as paleoclimatic indicators. Swart, P.K., Lohmann, K.C., McKenzie, J., Savin, S., Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records. American Geophysical Union 113–122.Google Scholar
Chivas, A.R., De Deckker, P., Shelley, J.M.G., 1986. Magnesium content of non-marine ostracod shells: A new palaeosalinometer and palaeothermometer. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 54 43–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chivas, A.R., De Deckker, P., Shelley, J.M.G., 1985. Strontium content of ostracods indicates lacustrine palaeosalinity. Nature. 316 251–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, A.H., 1979. Gastropods as indicators of trophic lake stages. Nautilus. 94 138–142.Google Scholar
Science. 241 1988 1043–1052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, J.H., Hodell, D.A., 1993. An isotopic and trace element study of ostracods from Lake Miragoane, Haiti: A 11,000 year record of paleosalinity and paleotemperature changes in the Caribbean. Swart, P.K., Lohmann, K.C., McKenzie, J., Savin, S., Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records. American Geophysical Union 135–152.Google Scholar
Cwynar, L.C., 1982. A late-Quaternary vegetation history from Hanging Lake, northern Yukon. Ecological Monographs. 52 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cwynar, L.C., Spear, R.W., 1995. Paleovegetation and paleoclimatic changes in the Yukon at 6 ka yr B.P. Geographie physique et Quaternaire. 49 29–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delorme, L.D., 1970. Freshwater ostracodes of Canada, part III, Family Candonidae. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 48 1099–1127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, M.E., Barker, E.D. Jr., 1994. Climate and vegetation in northeastern Alaska 18,000 yr B.P.-present. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 109 127–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, M.E., Brubaker, L.B., 1987. Late-Quaternary environmental history of the Fishhook Bend area, Porcupine River, Alaska. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 23 1765–1773.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engstrom, D.R., Nelson, S.R., 1991. Paleosalinity from trace metals in fossil ostracodes compared with observational records at Devils Lake, North Dakota, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 83 295–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernald, A. T, 1960, Geomorphology of the Upper Kuskokwim Region, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Google Scholar
Foley, J.A., Kutzbach, J.E., Coe, M.T., Levis, S., 1994. Feedbacks between climate and boreal forests during the Holocene epoch. Nature. 371 52–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garfinkel, H.L., Brubaker, L.B., 1980. Modern climate-tree-growth relationships and climatic reconstructions in sub-Arctic Alaska. Nature. 286 872–873.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haskell, B.J., Engstrom, D.R., Fritz, S.C., 1996. Late Quaternary paleohydrology in the North America Great Plains inferred from the geochemistry of endogenic carbonates and fossil ostracodes from Devils Lake, North Dakota, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 124 173–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, D.M., Smith, P.A., Matthews, Jr., 1981. Dated wood from Alaska and the Yukon: Implications for forest refugia in Beringia. Quaternary Research. 15 217–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, F.S., Brubaker, L.B., Anderson, P.M., 1993. A 12 000 year record of vegetation change and soil development from Wien Lake, central Alaska. Canadian Journal of Botany. 71 1133–1142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, F.S., Brubaker, L.B., Anderson, P.M., 1995. Postglacial vegetation and climate change in the northern Bristol Bay region, southwestern Alaska. Quaternary Research. 43 382–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, F.S., Brubaker, L.B., Anderson, P.M., 1996. Boreal ecosystem development in the northwestern Alaska Range since 11,000 yr B.P. Quaternary Research. 45 188–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, G.M., Edwards, T.W.D., Moser, K.A., Pienitz, R., Smol, J.P., 1993. Rapid response of treeline vegetation and lakes to past climate warming. Nature. 361 243–246.CrossRefGoogle 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.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mock, C. J., Anderson, P. M, 1997, Some perspectives on the late Quaternary paleoclimate of Beringia, In, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Pacific Climate (PACLIM) Workshop. April 15–18, 1996,Issacs, C. M., Tharp, V. L., 193, 200.Google Scholar
O'Brien, S.R., Mayewski, P.A., Meeker, L.D., Meese, D.A., Twicker, M.S., Whitlow, S.I., 1995. Complexity of Holocene climate as reconstructed from a Greenland ice core. Science. 270 1962–1964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J.C., 1985. Late-Quaternary climatic and vegetational change in the Lower Mackenzie Basin, northwest Canada. Ecology. 66 612–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J.C., 1987. Postglacial Vegetation of Canada. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. Google Scholar
Ritchie, J.C., Cwynar, L.C., Spear, R.W., 1983. Evidence from north-west Canada for an early Holocene Milankovitch thermal maximum. Nature. 305 126–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Cleve, K., Chapin, F.S., Flanagan, P.W., Viereck, L.A., Dyrness, C.T., 1986. Forest Ecosystems in the Alaskan Taiga. Springer-Verlag, New York. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Viereck, L. A., Dyrness, C. T., Batten, A. R., Wenzlick, K. J, 1992, The Alaska Vegetation Classification, United States Department of Agriculture. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station.Google Scholar
Viereck, L. A., Little Jr, E. L, 1975, Atlas of the United States Trees. V. 2, Alaskan Trees and Common Shrubs. 1293, Washington, DC. Google Scholar
Wiles, G.C., Calkin, P.E., 1994. Late Holocene, high-resolution glacial chronologies and climate, Kenai Mountains, Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 106 281–303.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfe, B.B., Edwards, T.W.D., Aravena, R., MacDonald, G.M., 1996. Rapid Holocene hydrologic change along boreal treeline revealed by δ13 18 . Journal of Paleolimnology. 15 171–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, H.E., Mann, D.H., Glaser, P.H., 1984. Piston corers for peat and lake sediments. Ecology. 65 657–659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xia, J., Engstrom, D.R., Ito, E., 1997. Geochemistry of ostracode calcite: 2. Effects of the water chemistry and seasonal temperature variation on Candona rawsoni . Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xia, J., Haskell, B.J., Engstrom, D.R., Ito, E., 1997. Holocene climate reconstructions from Tandem trace-element and stable-isotope composition of ostracodes from Coldwater Lake, North Dakota, USA. Journal of Paleolimnology. 17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar