Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:42:37.699Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quantitative Estimates of Temperature Changes Over the Last 2700 Years in Michigan Based on Pollen Data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J. Christopher Bernabo
J. Christopher Bernabo*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Temperatures for the past 2700 yr are estimated using well-dated pollen data from northwestern lower Michigan. The pollen data were sampled from sediment cores of four lakes along a 75-km transect, with fine-grained morainic soils around the two western lakes and sandy outwash soils around the lakes to the east. Climatic reconstructions based on the pollen data from the sandy sites show less temperature change than the reconstructions from the other sites, because variations in the composition of the vegetation at the sandy sites are edaphically restricted. One of the cores studied was dated by counting visible annual laminations (varves). The cores from the other lakes were dated based on three radiocarbon dates per core as well as the historically determined age of the settlement horizons. All the time scales were cross-checked using pollen-stratigraphic correlation between the four sites. A calibration function was developed using a network of modern pollen and climate data covering all of lower Michigan. Based on this calibration function, the 2700-yr reconstruction for Marion Lake indicates an estimated growing-season temperature range of 1.3°C between extreme 30-yr means. Mild conditions persisted prior to ca. A.D. 400, but a cold interval occurred between ca. A.D. 500 and 800. The well-marked warm period evident from ca. A.D. 1000 to 1200 was the last time when temperatures were about equal to the 1931–1960 mean. A prolonged longed cooling occurred after A.D. 1200 and reached 1°C below the 1931–1960 mean by the 1700s. A warming of 0.5°C is indicated from ca. A.D. 1750 to 1850. The estimated temperatures for the 1830s at Marion Lake agree with the instrumental data for that period and this provides some validation of the calibration-function results.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , March 1981 , pp. 143 - 159
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

Bernabo, J.C., (1977). Sensing Climatically and Culturally Induced Environmental Change using Palynological Data Ph.D. thesis Brown University Providence, R.I Google Scholar
Brubaker, L.B., (1975). Postglacial forest patterns associated with till and outwash in north central Upper Michigan Quaternary Research 5, 499–528 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryson, R.A. Kutzbach, J.E., (1974). On the analysis of pollen-climate canonical transfer functions Quaternary Research 4, 162–174 Google Scholar
Buckman, H.O. Brady, N.C., (1969). The Nature of Properties of Soils Macmillan & Co London Google Scholar
Chase, C.D. Pfeifer, R.E. Spencer, J.S., (1970). The Growing Timber Resource of Michigan, 1966 U.S. Forest Service Resource Bull. NC-9 Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W. Johnson, S.J. Clausen, H.B. Langway, C.C., (1971). Climatic record revealed by the Camp Century ice core Turekian, K. The Late Cenozoic Ice Ages Yale Univ. Press New Haven, Conn 37–56 Google Scholar
Faegri, K. Iversen, J., (1975). Textbook of Pollen Analysis Hafner New York Google Scholar
Gordon, A.D. Birks, H.J.B., (1972). Numerical methods in Quaternary paleocology. I. Zonation of pollen diagrams New Phytologist 71, 961–979 Google Scholar
Hudgins, B., (1961). Michigan: Geographic Backgrounds in the Development of the Commonwealth Wayne State Univesity Detroit, Mich Google Scholar
Koerner, R.M., (1977). Devon Island ice cap: Core stratigraphy and paleoclimate Science 196, 15–18 Google Scholar
LaMarche, V.C. Jr. Paleoclimatic inferences from long tree-ring records Science 183, (1974). 1043–1048 Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H., (1966). The Changing Climate Methuen London Google Scholar
Martin, H., (1955). Map of the Surface Formations of the Southern Peninsula of Michigan Geological Survey Division, Dept. of Conservation Mich Publication 49 Google Scholar
McAndrews, J.H., (1976). Fossil history of Man's impact on the Canadian flora: An example from southern Ontario Canadian Botanical Association Bulletin Supplement 9, 1–6 Google Scholar
Mitchell, J.M. Jr. Recent secular changes of global temperature Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 95, (1961). 235–250 Google Scholar
Ogden, J.G. III Radiocarbon and pollen evidence for a sudden change in climate in the Great Lakes region approximately 10,000 years ago Cushing, E.J. Wright, H.E. Jr. Quaternary Paleoecology (1967). Yale Univ. Press New Haven, Conn 117–141 Google Scholar
Senninger, E.J. Jr. Atlas of Michigan (1970). Flint Geographical Press Flint, Mich Google Scholar
Stromner, N.D., (1967). Climates of the States: Michigan U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C Climatology of the United States, No. 60-20 Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., (1978). Radiocarbon timescale tested against magnetic and other dating methods Nature (London) 273, 271–274 Google Scholar
Swain, A.M., (1973). A history of fire and vegetation in northeastern Minnesota as recorded in lake sediments Quaternary Research 3, 383–396 Google Scholar
Swain, A.M., (1978). Environmental changes during the last 2,000 years in north-central Wisconsin: Analysis of pollen, charcoal, and seeds from varved lake sediments Quaternary Research 10, 55–68 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wahl, E.W., (1968). A comparison of the climate of the eastern United States during the 1830's with the current normals Monthly Weather Review 96, 73–82 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, T. III A comparison of modern and presettlement pollen from southern Michigan U.S.A. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 16, (1973). 137–156 Google Scholar
Webb, T. III Corresponding patterns of pollen and vegetation in lower Michigan: A comparison of quantitative data Ecology 55, (1974). 17–28 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, T. III The reconstruction of climatic sequences from botanical data Journal of Interdisciplinary History 10, (1980). 749–772 Google Scholar
Webb, T. III Bryson, R.A., (1972). Late- and postglacial climatic change in the northern Midwest, U.S.A.: Quantitative estimates derived from fossil pollen spectra by multivariate statistical techniques Quaternary Research 2, 70–115 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, T. III Clark, D.R. Calibrating micropaleontological data in climatic terms: A critical review Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 288, 1977 93–118 Google Scholar