A late Holocene varved sediment record of environmental change from northern Ellesmere Island, Canada

1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
ScottF. Lamoureux ◽  
RaymondS. Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Sediment Record ◽  
Varved Sediment

Holocene dune activity and environmental change in the prairie parki and and boreal forest, central Saskatchewan, Canada

The Holocene ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Wolfe ◽  
Jeff Ollerhead ◽  
David J. Huntley ◽  
Olav B. Lian
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Aeolian Activity ◽  
Landscape Response ◽  
Response To Environmental Change ◽  
Holocene Activity ◽  
Dune Activity

Past aeolian activity was reconstructed at four dunefields in the prairie parkland and boreal forest of central Saskatchewan to elucidate landscape response to environmental change. Optical ages from stabilized dunes in the boreal transition ecoregion indicate two episodes of activity. The first, at about 11 ka, corresponds to a period of early-Holocene parkland and grassland cover following deglaciation and drainage after about 13.0 ka, and brief establishment of boreal forest. The second, between about 7.5 and 5 ka, corresponds to a period of mid-Holocene parkland-grassland cover. Optical ages from dunefields in the prairie parkland primarily record mid-Holocene activity, between about 7.5 and 4.7 ka, corresponding to a period of grassland cover, with some reworking continuing into the late Holocene. Although this area was deglaciated by about 13.5 ka, there is no evidence of early-Holocene dune activity, suggesting that mid-Holocene activity may have reworked earlier deposits here. Consequently, much of the morphology and stratigraphy observed in these dunefields are associated with mid-Holocene activity, likely associated with increased aridity and reduced vegetation cover at that time. This study provides the most northerly evidence of mid-Holocene dune reactivation on the Great Plains, lending support to the assertion that aeolian activity was widespread at that time.

Rapid neoglaciation on Ellesmere Island promoted by enhanced summer snowfall in a transient climate model simulation of the middle-late-Holocene

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 1474-1480
Author(s):  
Stephen J Vavrus ◽  
Feng He ◽  
John E Kutzbach ◽  
William F Ruddiman
Keyword(s):  
Snow Depth ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Holocene Thermal Maximum ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
The Arctic Oscillation

Arctic neoglaciation following the Holocene Thermal Maximum is an important feature of late-Holocene climate. We investigated this phenomenon using a transient 6000-year simulation with the CESM-CAM5 climate model driven by orbital forcing, greenhouse gas concentrations, and a land use reconstruction. During the first three millennia analyzed here (6–3 ka), mean Arctic snow depth increases, despite enhanced greenhouse forcing. Superimposed on this secular trend is a very abrupt increase in snow depth between 5 and 4.9 ka on Ellesmere Island and the Greenland coasts, in rough agreement with the timing of observed neoglaciation in the region. This transition is especially extreme on Ellesmere Island, where end-of-summer snow coverage jumps from nearly 0 to virtually 100% in 1 year, and snow depth increases to the model’s imposed maximum within 15 years. This climatic shift involves more than the Milankovitch-based expectation of cooler summers causing less snow melt. Coincident with the onset of the cold regime are two consecutive summers with heavy snowfall on Ellesmere Island that help to short-circuit the normal seasonal melt cycle. These heavy snow seasons are caused by synoptic-scale, cyclonic circulation anomalies over the Arctic Ocean and Canadian Archipelago, including an extremely positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation. Our study reveals that a climate model can produce sudden climatic transitions in this region prone to glacial inception and exceptional variability, due to a dynamic mechanism (more summer snowfall induced by an extreme circulation anomaly) that augments the traditional Milankovitch thermodynamic explanation of orbitally induced glacier development.

Geochemical time series from lake sediments of the Central Asia as chronologic evidence of environmental change over the Late Holocene

2006 ◽  
Vol 25 (S1) ◽  
pp. 6-6
Author(s):  
Andrey V. Daryin ◽  
Ivan A. Kalugin ◽  
Lubov G. Smolyaninova ◽  
Konstantin V. Zolotarev ◽  
Elena G. Vologina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Lake Sediments ◽  
Late Holocene

Late Holocene glacier and climate reconstruction from proglacial records in Vatnsdalur, northern Iceland.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin Nebel ◽  
Timothy Lane ◽  
Kathryn Adamson ◽  
Iestyn Barr ◽  
Willem van der Bilt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Arctic Climate ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Proglacial Lake

<p>The Arctic region is experiencing surface air temperature increase of twice the global average. To better understand Holocene Arctic climate variability, there is the need for continuous, high-resolution palaeoclimate archives. Sediment cores from proglacial lakes can provide such climate archives, and have the potential to record past environmental change in detail.       </p><p>Vatnsdalur, a valley in northern Iceland, hosts small, climatically sensitive cirque glaciers that became independent from the Iceland Ice Sheet after its retreat following the Last Glacial Maximum (c. 15 ka BP). Importantly, this region is located at the confluence of warm water and air masses from the south and cold polar water and air masses from the north, making it highly sensitive to North Atlantic and Arctic climate change. However, at present the region is highly understudied, lacking any high-resolution climate reconstructions.           </p><p>To address this, we combine geomorphological mapping with the first high-resolution analysis of proglacial lake sediments, to thoroughly examine northern Iceland Late Holocene environmental change.</p><p>Field mapping supplemented by high-resolution drone data was used to characterise catchment geomorphology, including seven Holocene moraines. A sediment core (SKD-P1-18) from proglacial lake Skeiðsvatn, Vatnsdalur, was analysed for sedimentological (dry bulk density, loss-on-ignition, grain size), geophysical (magnetic susceptibility) and geochemical (X-ray fluorescence core scan, 2 mm resolution) parameters.             <br>We identify three main sedimentary facies from these analyses, indicating variations in glacial input and catchment environmental conditions. Radiocarbon dating of lake macrofossils, supplemented by tephrochronology, provides a chronological framework. Catchment point samples, also analysed using the above analytical techniques, were used for sediment fingerprinting to disentangle non-glacial from glacial end-members.</p><p>Our results indicate the disappearance and reformation of small, climatically sensitive cirque glaciers in Vatnsdalur during the Holocene. We interpret the data to show an abrupt return to a glaciated catchment. Our results fill a geographical gap of high-resolution proglacial sediment studies in the Arctic-North Atlantic region.</p>

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