Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:52:16.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stratigraphy and Paleoecology of Pleistocene Interstadial Sediments, Central British Columbia1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John J. Clague ,
Richard J. Hebda  and
Rolf W. Mathewes
John J. Clague
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 100 West Pender St., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6B 1R8
Richard J. Hebda
Affiliation:
Royal British Columbia Museum, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8V 1X4
Rolf W. Mathewes
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, and Institute for Quaternary Research, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two exposures of organic-rich interstadial sediments in central British Columbia provide information on middle Wisconsinan environments and climates near the center of the region subsequently covered by the late Wisconsinan Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Interstadial sediments at Bullion Pit overlie drift of early Wisconsinan or older age and underlie thick drift of late Wisconsinan age. Alluvium (or colluvium) and peat were deposited on the floor of the ancestral Quesnel River valley 46,000–40,000 14C yr ago when the vegetation consisted of spruce forest with dry openings and local fens and the climate was colder and perhaps drier than today. This is broadly consistent with paleoclimatic reconstructions for the same time interval for Babine Lake, 400 km to the northwest, and for Meadow Creek, 400 km to the southeast. Plant-rich pond sediments containing tephra layers and vertebrate remains are exposed between two drifts in a ravine at Mexican Hill, 30 km east of Quesnel. Although they may be contemporaneous with the Bullion Pit beds, the nonglacial sediments at Mexican Hill more likely were deposited sometime after the warmest part of the last interglaciation, but prior to 50,000 yr B.P. At that time, the vegetation at Mexican Hill probably was parkland. The present vegetation at Mexican Hill is boreal forest; thus, a drier and possibly cooler climate is indicated.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , September 1990 , pp. 208 - 226
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.)

Footnotes

1

This is Geological Survey of Canada Contribution 21889.

References

Alley, N.F. Valentine, K.W.G. Fulton, R.J., (1986). Paleoclimatic implications of middle Wisconsinan pollen and a paleosol from the Purcell Trench, south central British Columbia Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 23 1156–1168 Google Scholar
Atmospheric Environment Service (n.d.). “Canadian Climatic Normals, 1951–1980, Temperature and Precipitation, British Columbia.” Canada Department of Environment, Atmospheric Environment Service, Downsview, Ontario.Google Scholar
Birks, H.H., (1973). Modern macrofossil assemblages in lake sediments in Minnesota Birks, H.J.B. West, R.G. Quaternary Plant Ecology Blackwell Scientific Oxford 173–189 Google Scholar
British Columbia Ministry of Forests Biogeoclimatic Units of the Cariboo Forest District (map, 1:500,000) (1986). British Columbia Ministry of Forests Victoria Google Scholar
British Columbia Ministry of Forests A Field Guide for the Identification and Interpretation of Ecosystems of the Cariboo Forest Region (1987). British Columbia Ministry of Forests Williams Lake Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., (1981). Late Quaternary Geology and Geochronology of British Columbia. Part 2. Summary and Discussion of Radiocarbon-Dated Quaternary History Geological Survey of Canada Paper 80-35 Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., (1987). Quaternary stratigraphy and history, Williams Lake, British Columbia Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 24 147–158 Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., (1988). Quaternary stratigraphy and history, Quesnel, British Columbia Géographie physique et Quaternaire 42 279–288 Google Scholar
Eyles, N. Clark, B.M. Clague, J.J., (1987). Coarse-grained sediment gravity flow facies in a large supraglacial lake Sedimentology 34 193–216 Google Scholar
Faegri, K. Iversen, J., (1975). 3rd revision Textbook of Pollen Analysis Blackwell Scientific Oxford Google Scholar
Fulton, R.J., (1971). Radiocarbon Geochronology of Southern British Columbia Geological Survey of Canada Paper 71-37 Google Scholar
Hansen, B.S. Easterbrook, D.J., (1974). Stratigraphy and palynology of late Quaternary sediments in the Puget Lowland, Washington Geological Society of America Bulletin 85 587–602 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harington, C.R. Tipper, H.W. Mott, R.J., (1974). Mammoth from Babine Lake, British Columbia Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 11 285–303 Google Scholar
Hebda, R.J., (1982). Postglacial history of grasslands of southern British Columbia and adjacent regions Nicholson, A.C. McLean, A. Baker, T.E. Grassland Ecology and Classification Symposium Proceedings British Columbia Ministry of Forests Victoria 157–191 Google Scholar
Hebda, R.J. Hicock, S.R. Miller, R.F. Armstrong, J.E., (1983). Paleoecology of Mid-Wisconsin sediments from Lynn Canyon, Fraser Lowland, British Columbia Geological Association of Canada, Program with Abstracts 8 A31 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1977). Quaternary palynology of the Pacific slope of Washington Quaternary Research 8 282–306 Google Scholar
Mathews, W.H., (1986). Map 1701A: Physiographic Map of the Canadian Cordillera (1:5,000,000) Geological Survey of Canada Google Scholar
Mehringer, P.J. Jr. Late-Quaternary pollen records from the interior Pacific Northwest and northern Great Basin of the Untied States Bryant, V.M. Jr. Holloway, R.G., (1985). Pollen Records of Late-Quaternary North American Sediments American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation Dallas 167–189 Google Scholar
Moss, E.H., (1983). Flora of Alberta University of Toronto Press Toronto 2nd ed. revised by J. G. Packer Google Scholar
Prest, V.K., (1984). Map 1548A: Late Wisconsinan Glacier Complex (map, 1:7,500,000) Geological Survey of Canada Google Scholar
Taylor, T.M.C., (1971). The Ferns and Fern-Allies of British Columbia British Columbia Provincial Museum Handbook No. 12 Google Scholar
Tipper, H.W., (1971). Glacial Geomorphology and Pleistocene History of Central British Columbia Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 196 Google Scholar
Tipper, H.W., (1971). Multiple glaciation in central British Columbia Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 8 743–752 Google Scholar
Tipper, H.W. Campbell, R.B. Taylor, G.C. Stott, D.F., (1979). Map 1424A: Parsnip River, British Columbia (1:1,000,000) Geological Survey of Canada Google Scholar
Warner, B.G. Clague, J.J. Mathewes, R.W., (1984). Geology and paleoecology of a mid-Wisconsin peat from the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada Quaternary Research 21 337–350 Google Scholar
Westgate, J.A. Fulton, R.J., (1975). Tephrostratigraphy of Olympia interglacial sediments in south-central British Columbia, Canada Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 12 489–502 Google Scholar