Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b6zl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-26T06:35:28.552Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Postglacial Vegetation History of the Mackenzie River Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Glen M. MacDonald
Glen M. MacDonald*
Affiliation:
Life Sciences Division, Scarborough College, University of Toronto, West Hill, Ontario M1C 1A5, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Three radiocarbon-dated cores from small lakes provide pollen records of postglacial vegetation change in the central Mackenzie River basin. These data are combined with previously published records to reconstruct vegetation development from central Alberta to the Mackenzie delta. The paleoecological data demonstrate that a continuous corridor of herb-and-shrub-dominated vegetation extended between Beringia and the Great Plains of North America from deglaciaiton until about 10,000 yr B.P. The initial vegetation was replaced by spruce forests between 10,000 and 8500 yr B.P. Significant vegetation change continued until approximately 500 yr B.P. when the muskeg-dominated landscape typical of the present subarctic was established. The initial herb-and-shrub vegetation was likely a reprise of conditions which existed during earlier Pleistocene deglaciations. These conditions may have provided a favorable environment for animals adapted to nonforested vegetation and promoted migration southward from Beringia and northward from the Great Plains during the last deglaciation and earlier Pleistocene deglaciations. The sequence of postglacial vegetation change in the Mackenzie basin likely reflects a combination of climatic change, edaphic change, and plant migration patterns and interactions.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , September 1987 , pp. 245 - 262
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

Ager, T.A. Brubaker, L. Quaternary palynology and vegetational history of Alaska. Bryant, V. Jr. Holloway, R. Pollen Records of Late-Quaternary North American Sediments. 1985 American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Dallas 353 384 Google Scholar
Anderson, P.M. Late Quaternary vegetational change in the Kotzebue Sound area, northwestern Alaska. Quaternary Research 24 1985 307 321 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brubaker, L.B. Garfinkle, H.L. Edwards, M.E. Late-Wisconsin and Holocene vegetation change in the Walker Lake/Alatna valley region of the Brooks Range, Alaska, U.S.A.. Quaternary Research 20 1983 194 214 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, D.W. Northern Fluted Points: Paleo-Eskimo, Paleo-Arctic or Paleo-Indian. Canadian Journal of Anthropology 4 1984 65 81 Google Scholar
Cwynar, L.C. Burden, E. McAndrews, J.H. An inexpensive sieving method for concentrating pollen and spores from fine-grained sediments. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 16 1979 1115 1120 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cwynar, L.C. Ritchie, J.C. Arctic steppe-tundra: a Yukon perspective. Science 208 1980 1375 1377 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dean, W.E. Jr. Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: Comparison with other methods. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 44 1974 249 252 Google Scholar
Delorme, L.D. Zoltai, S.C. Kalas, L.L. Freshwater shelled invertebrate indicators of paleoclimate in northwestern Canada during the late glacial. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 14 1977 2029 2046 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delorme, L.D. Zoltai, S.C. Distribution of arctic ostracode fauna in space and time. Quaternary Research 21 1984 65 73 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, G.H. Hughes, T.J. The Last Great Ice Sheets 1981 Wiley New York Google Scholar
Edwards, M.E. Anderson, P.M. Garfinkel, H.L. Brubaker, L.B. Late Wisconsin and Holocene vegetational history of the upper Koyukuk region, Brooks Range, AK. Canadian Journal of Botany 63 1985 616 626 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faegri, K. Iversen, J. 3rd ed. Textbook of Pollen Analysis 1975 Munksgaard Copenhagen Google Scholar
Fladmark, K.R. Times and places: Environmental correlates to mid- to late-Wisconsinan human population expansion in North America. Shutler, R. Jr. Early Man in the New World. 1983 Sage Publications Beverly Hills 13 41 Google Scholar
Gordon, A.D. Some observations on estimating the proportion of morphologically similar pollen types in fossil samples. Canadian Journal of Botany 60 1982 1888 1894 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guthrie, R.D. Bison and man in North America. Canadian Journal of Anthropology 1 1980 55 73 Google Scholar
Guthrie, R.D. Mammals of the mammothsteppe as paleoenvironmental indicators. Hopkins, D.M. Matthews, J.V. Schweger, C.E. Young, S.B. Paleoecology of Beringia. 1982 Academic Press New York 307 326 Google Scholar
Hare, R.K. Thomas, M.K. Climate Canada 1974 Wiley Toronto Google Scholar
Haynes, C.V. The Clovis culture. Canadian Journal of Anthropology 1 1980 115 121 Google Scholar
Haynes, C.V. Were Clovis progenitors in Beringia?. Hopkins, D.M. The Paleoecology of Beringia. 1982 Academic Press New York 383 398 Google Scholar
Hirvonen, R.P. Forest Resources in the Mackenzie Valley, NWT 1975 Canadian Forestry Service Report FMR-X-71 Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. Smith, P.A. Matthews, J.V. Jr. Dated wood from Alaska and the Yukon: Implications for forest refugia in Beringia. Quaternary Research 15 1981 217 249 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ives, J.W. Pollen separation of three North American birches. Arctic and Alpine Research 9 1977 73 80 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kutzbach, J.E. Guetter, P.J. The influence of changing orbital parameters and surface boundary conditions on climate simulations for the past 18,000 years. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 43 1986 1726 1759 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lichti-Federovich, S. The pollen stratigraphy of a dated section of late Pleistocene lake sediment from central Alberta. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 7 1970 938 945 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, G.M. Postglacial development of the subalpine-boreal transition forest of western Canada. Journal of Ecology 75 1987 303 320 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, G.M. Cwynar, L.C. A fossil pollen based reconstruction of the late Quaternary history of lodgepile pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia) in the western interior of Canada. Canadian Journal of Forestry Research 6 1985 1039 1044 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, G.M. Ritchie, J.C. Modern pollen spectra from the western interior of Canada and the interpretation of late Quaternary vegetation development. New Phytologist 102 1986 245 268 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, L.J. Jr. Absolute pollen diagram of Redrock Lake, Boulder County, Colorado. Quaternary Research 2 1972 531 553 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathews, W.H. Retreat of the last ice-sheets in northeastern British Columbia and adjacent Alberta. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 331 1980 Google Scholar
Matthews, J.V. Jr. Paleoecology of John Klondike Bog, Fisherman Lake Region, Southwest District of Mackenzie 1980 Geological Survey of Canada Paper 80-22 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mott, R.J. Christiansen, E.A. Palynological study of slough sediments from central Saskatchewan. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 81-1B 1981 133 136 Google Scholar
Mott, R.J. Jackson, L.E. Jr. An 18,000 year palynological record from the southern Alberta segment of the classical Wisconsinan “Ice-free Corridor”. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 19 1982 504 513 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porsild, A.E. Cody, W.J. Vascular Plants of the Continental Northwest Territories 1980 National Museum of Canada Ottawa CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeves, B.O.K. The nature and age of contact between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets in the western interior of North America. Arctic and Alpine Research 5 1973 1 16 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeves, B.O.K. Bergs, barriers and Beringia: Reflections on the peopling of the New World. Masters, P.M. Fleming, N.C. Quaternary Coastlines and Marine Archaeology. 1983 Academic Press New York 389 411 Google Scholar
Reeves, B.O.K. Early man in the Americas: Who, when and why. Blackburn, T.C. Woman, Poet, Scientist: Essays in New World Anthropology Honoring Dr. Emma Louise Davis. 1985 Ballena Press Los Altos 79 104 Google Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. Absolute pollen frequencies and Carbon-14 age of a section of Holecene lake sediment from the Riding Mountain area of Manitoba. Canadian Journal of Botany 47 1969 1345 1349 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. The late-Quaternary vegetational history of the Western Interior of Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 54 1976 1793 1818 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. Towards a late-Quaternary palaeoecology of the Ice-Free Corridor. Canadian Journal of Anthropology 1 1980 15 28 Google Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. The Past and Present Vegetation of the Far Northwest of Canada 1984 Univ. of Toronto Press Toronto CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. Cwynar, L.C. Spear, R.W. Evidence from north-west Canada for a early Holocene Milankovitch thermal maximum. Nature (London) 305 1983 126 127 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. Lichti-Federovich, S. Pollen dispersal phenomena in arctic-subarctic Canada. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 3 1967 255 266 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. MacDonald, G.M. The patterns of postglacial spread of white spruce. Journal of Biogeography 13 1986 527 540 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, N.W. Pleistocene History of the Western Canadian Ice-Free Corridor 1984 50 56 Geologic Survey of Canada Paper 84-10 Google Scholar
Schweger, C.E. Pollen Diagram from Ah Horizon of a Buried Orthic Humic Gleysol at Robinson, Cypress Hills Area. 24th International Geological Congress Field Excursion Guide. 1972 58 C-22 Google Scholar
Slater, D.S. Pollen analysis of postglacial sediments from Eildun Lake, District of Mackenzie, N.W.T., Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 22 1985 663 674 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vance, R.E. Pollen stratigraphy of Eaglenest Lake, northeastern Alberta. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 23 1986 11 20 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vance, R.E. Emerson, D. Habgood, T. A mid-Holocene record of vegetative change in central Alberta. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 20 1983 364 376 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, J.M. Mathewes, R.W. Holocene vegetation and climatic change in the Peace River district, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 19 1982 555 570 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, J.M. Mathewes, R.W. Postglacial vegetation and climatic change in the upper Peace River District, Alberta. Canadian Journal of Botany 64 1986 2305 2318 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, J.M. Mathewes, R.W. Mathews, W.H. Late Pleistocene chronology and environment of the “Ice-Free Corridor” of northwestern Alberta. Quaternary Research 24 1985 173 186 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr. A square-rod piston sampler for lake sediments. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 37 1967 975 976 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zoltai, S.C. Tarnocai, C. Perennially frozen peatlands in the western arctic and subarctic of Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 12 1975 28 43 CrossRefGoogle Scholar