Late Quaternary vegetation, climate, and fire history of the Southeast Atlantic Coastal Plain based on a 30,000-yr multi-proxy record from White Pond, South Carolina, USA

2019 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 861-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa R. Krause ◽  
James M. Russell ◽  
Rui Zhang ◽  
John W. Williams ◽  
Stephen T. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Atlantic Coastal Plain ◽  
Proxy Records ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mississippian Culture

AbstractThe patterns and drivers of late Quaternary vegetation dynamics in the southeastern United States are poorly understood due to low site density, problematic chronologies, and a paucity of independent paleoclimate proxy records. We present a well-dated (15 accelerator mass spectrometry14C dates) 30,000-yr record from White Pond, South Carolina that consists of high-resolution analyses of fossil pollen, macroscopic charcoal, andSporormiellaspores, and an independent paleotemperature reconstruction based on branched glycerol dialkyl tetraethers. Between 30,000 and 20,000 cal yr BP, openPinus-Piceaforest grew under cold and dry conditions; elevatedQuercusbefore 26,000 cal yr BP, however, suggest warmer conditions in the Southeast before the last glacial maximum, possibly corresponding to regionally warmer conditions associated with Heinrich event H2. Warming between 19,700 and 10,400 cal yr BP was accompanied by a transition from conifer-dominated to mesic hardwood forest.Sporormiellaspores were not detected and charcoal was low during the late glacial period, suggesting megaherbivore grazers and fire were not locally important agents of vegetation change.Pinusreturned to dominance during the Holocene, with step-like increases inPinusat 10,400 and 6400 cal yr BP, while charcoal abundance increased tenfold, likely due to increased biomass burning associated with warmer conditions. Low-intensity surface fires increased after 1200 cal yr BP, possibly related to the establishment of the Mississippian culture in the Southeast.

A revised late-Quaternary vegetation history of the unglaciated southwestern Yukon Territory, Canada, from Antifreeze and Eikland ponds

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse C. Vermaire ◽  
Les C. Cwynar
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Vegetation Shifts ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Interpretation

Antifreeze Pond was thought to contain the oldest record of continuous environmental change in the southwestern Yukon. We have revised the original interpretation of the vegetation history of Antifreeze Pond and this region based on new pollen, stomate, and macrofossil analysis, along with 38 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates from Antifreeze Pond and nearby Eikland Pond. Although the overall pattern of vegetation change is similar to the previously published Antifreeze Pond record, our new analysis indicates that the timing of the major vegetation shifts is substantially different, particularly during the late-glacial and early Holocene periods (from ∼17 000 – 9000 cal years BP). The original Antifreeze Pond record was thought to span a mid-Wisconsinan interstadial (>30 000 cal years BP) and the full-glacial period. Our results, however, indicate that the material of mid-Wisconsinan age was likely deposited by slumping around the pond making interpretation of the paleoenvironment difficult. Furthermore, our AMS 14C dates show that what was thought to be a full-glacial vegetation record is actually the vegetation history of the late-glacial period (ca. 17 000 – 11 000 cal years BP), which was a time of rapid sediment deposition into the ponds. The Eikland Pond record has an early Holocene Populus rise between ca. 11 000 – 8000 cal years BP that is not present in either the new or original Antifreeze Pond records. This new interpretation of the vegetation history should aid comparisons to other regional paleoenvironmental records.

Late Quaternary glacial and interglacial environments of the Nechako River - Cheslatta Lake area, central British Columbia

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 719-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Plouffe ◽  
V M Levson
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
Quaternary Stratigraphy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Quaternary History

The Quaternary stratigraphy of the Nechako River – Cheslatta Lake area of central British Columbia is described and interpreted to reconstruct the late Quaternary history of the region. Exposures of glacial and nonglacial sediments deposited prior to the last glaciation (Fraser) are limited to three sites. Pollen assemblages from pre-Fraser nonglacial sediments at two of these sites reveal forested conditions around 39 000 BP. During the advance phase of the Fraser Glaciation, glacial lakes were ponded when trunk glaciers blocked some tributary valleys. Early in the glaciation, the drainage was free in easterly draining valleys. Subsequently, the easterly drainage was blocked either locally by sediments and ice or as a result of impoundment of the Fraser River and its tributaries east of the study area. Ice generally moved east and northeast from accumulation zones in the Coast Mountains. Ice flow was influenced by topography. Major late-glacial lakes developed in the Nechako River valley and the Knewstubb Lake region because potential drainage routes were blocked by ice.

Postglacial vegetation dynamics at high elevation from Fairy Lake in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Montana, USA

2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
James V. Benes ◽  
Virginia Iglesias ◽  
Cathy Whitlock
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Subalpine Forest ◽  
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem ◽  
Southwestern Montana ◽  
History Of ◽  
Greater Yellowstone ◽  
High Elevations ◽  
Early Late

AbstractThe postglacial vegetation and fire history of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is known from low and middle elevations, but little is known about high elevations. Paleoecologic data from Fairy Lake in the Bridger Range, southwestern Montana, provide a new high-elevation record that spans the last 15,000 yr. The records suggest a period of tundra-steppe vegetation prior to ca. 13,700 cal yr BP was followed by open Picea forest at ca. 11,200 cal yr BP. Pinus-Pseudotsuga parkland was present after ca. 9200 cal yr BP, when conditions were warmer/drier than present. It was replaced by mixed-conifer parkland at ca. 5000 cal yr BP. Present-day subalpine forest established at ca. 2800 cal yr BP. Increased avalanche or mass-wasting activity during the early late-glacial period, the Younger Dryas chronozone, and Neoglaciation suggest cool, wet periods. Sites at different elevations in the region show (1) synchronous vegetation responses to late-glacial warming; (2) widespread xerothermic forests and frequent fires in the early-to-middle Holocene; and (3) a trend to forest closure during late-Holocene cooling. Conditions in the Bridger Range were, however, wetter than other areas during the early Holocene. Across the Northern Rockies, postglacial warming progressed from west to east, reflecting range-specific responses to insolation-driven changes in climate.

Variability of Monsoon Climate in East Asia at the End of the Last Glaciation

1996 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhou Weijian ◽  
Douglas J. Donahue ◽  
Stephen C. Porter ◽  
Timothy A. Jull ◽  
Li Xiaoqiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
East Asian Monsoon ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Proxy Records ◽  
The North ◽  
Last Glaciation ◽  
Eolian Sand ◽  
Dry Conditions

High-resolution paleomonsoon proxy records from peat and eolian sand–paleosol sequences at the desert–loess transition zone in China denote a rapid oscillation from cold–dry conditions (11,200–10,600 14C yr B.P.) to cool–humid conditions (10,600–10,200 14C yr B.P.), followed by a return to cold–dry climate (10,200–10,000 14C yr B.P.). Variations in precipitation proxies suggest that significant climatic variability occurred in monsoonal eastern Asia during the Younger Dryas interval. Late-glacial climate in the Chinese desert–loess belt that lies downwind from Europe was strongly influenced by cold air from high latitudes and from the North Atlantic via the westerlies. The inferred precipitation variations were likely caused by variations in the strength of the Siberian high, which influenced the pressure gradient between land and ocean and therefore influenced the position of the East Asian monsoon front.

Late Weichselian Environmental History in Southeastern Sweden during the Deglaciation of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet

1987 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svante Björck ◽  
Per Möller
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Climatic Data ◽  
Basal Ice ◽  
Tundra Vegetation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Weichselian

AbstractLate Weichselian litho-, bio-, and chronostratigraphy (14C and varves) in southeastern Sweden provide a detailed picture of the deglaciation pattern and dynamics, shore displacement, late-glacial sedimentation, and history of the landscape, vegetation, and climate. Two plausible glacial models were tested against lithologic, chronologic, and climatic data. Permafrost at and outside the ice margin and topographic conditions beneath the ice apparently caused inward spread of frozen glacier-bed conditions. This led to a buildup of a large zone of debris-rich basal ice. A climatic amelioration about 12,700 yr B.P. changed the temperature profile in the ice sheet. Deposition of basal melt-out till began at the previously frozen glacier bed, and a rapid recession of the clean ice set in; thin exposed debris-rich basal ice which was separated from the active ice margin about 150 yr later. In this zone of stagnant ice there followed a 200– 300-yr period marked by subglacial and supraglacial melt-out and resedimentation, forming a large hummocky/transverse moraine. The mild climate favored rapid plant immigration, and a park-tundra was established. The gradual closing of the landscape was interrupted by a 100- to 150-yr period of tundra vegetation and a cool, dry climate, with local vegetational differences caused by differences in soil moisture. About 12,000 yr B.P. a second climatic amelioration set in, and during the next 1000 yr a birch (and pine) woodland gradually developed. Soils stabilized and Empetrum heaths became abundant as the climate gradually deteriorated at the end of this period. By 11,000 yr B.P. the area had become a tundra again with scattered birch stands, dominated by herbs such as Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, grasses, and sedges. Some 500 yr later a birch/pine woodland again succeeded, and within about 500 yr the vegetation changed to a rather closed woodland as the climate ameliorated further. However, the time lag between climatic and vegetation change was considerable.

Late Pleistocene and early Holocene environmental history of southwestern Washington State, U.S.A.

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 619-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy W. Barnosky
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Cascade Range ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Olympic Mountains ◽  
Tundra Vegetation ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
History Of ◽  
Glacial Time

A comparison of pollen records and associated plant remains from sites along a major precipitation gradient in southwestern Washington enables reconstruction of the late Quaternary environment during glacial and early Holocene time. During the Evans Creek Stade (25 000 – 17 000 years BP) little moisture reached lowlands east of the Olympic Mountains and as a result both the Puget Trough and the Columbia Basin featured a cold dry climate and parkland–tundra vegetation In glacial time, greatest aridity seems to have occurred between 19 000 and 17 000 years BP. After 17 000 years BP the development of mesophytic subalpine parkland suggests that maritime conditions extended farther east into the Puget Trough, and the Cascade Range became an important precipitation divide. Conditions warmer and (or) drier than today developed throughout western Washington between 10 000 and 8000–6000 years BP. Vegetation on opposite sides of the Cascade Range became dissimilar as early as 17 000 years BP, but this trend was accentuated in late glacial and early Holocene time.

scholarly journals Late-Glacial and Postglacial Vegetation and Climate of Jackson Hole and the Pinyon Peak Highlands, Wyoming

1985 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 44-49
Author(s):  
Cathy Barnosky
Keyword(s):  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
National Park ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Glacial Refugia ◽  
Northern Rocky Mountains ◽  
Jackson Hole ◽  
History Of ◽  
Vegetation And Climate

The late-Quaternary vegetation history of the northern Rocky Mountains has thus far been inferred largely from isolated records. These data suggest that conifer forests were established early in postglacial time and were little modified thereafter. The similarity of early postglacial vegetation to modern communities over broad areas gives rise to two hypotheses: (1) that glacial refugia were close to the ice margin, and (2) that vegetation soon colonized the deglaciated areas and has been only subtly affected by climatic perturbations since that time. It is the goal of this project to test these two hypotheses in the region of Grand Teton National Park.

Late Quaternary History of Lake Manitoba, Canada

1981 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
James T. Teller ◽  
William M. Last
Keyword(s):  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
The South ◽  
Lake Agassiz ◽  
Barrier Beach ◽  
South Basin ◽  
Lithostratigraphic Units ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
History Of

AbstractThe postglacial history of Lake Manitoba has been deduced from a study of the changes in physical, mineralogical, and chemical variables in sediment cores collected from the lake. Six lithostratigraphic units are recognized in the South Basin of the lake. Weakly developed pedogenic zones, reflecting dry or extremely low water conditions in the basin, separate five of these six units. The initial phase of lacustrine sedimentation in the Lake Manitoba basin began shortly after 12,000 yr B.P. as water was impounded in front of the receding glacier to form Lake Agassiz. By 11,000 yr ago, continued retreat of the ice sheet opened lower outlets to the east and much of Lake Agassiz drained, including the Lake Manitoba basin. Water levels again rose at 9900 yr B.P., but by about 9200 yr B.P. the South Basin was again dry. For the next 4700 yr there was an alternation of wet and dry conditions in the basin in response to the interaction of a warmer and drier climate and differential crustal rebound of the basin. About 4500 yr ago a new phase of Lake Manitoba sedimentation was initiated when the Assiniboine River began to discharge into the South Basin. The Assiniboine River was diverted out of the Lake Manitoba watershed about 2200 yr ago. Erosion and redistribution of the sandy deltaic sediments deposited by the Assiniboine River has created the barrier beach that now separates the extensive marsh to the south of the lake from the main lake.

Theoretical Correlations and Lateral Discontinuities in the Quaternary Aminostratigraphic Record of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain

1992 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Wehmiller ◽  
L. L. York ◽  
D. F. Belknap ◽  
S. W. Snyder
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Atlantic Coastal Plain ◽  
Passive Margin ◽  
Temperature History ◽  
Cape Fear ◽  
Atlantic Coastal ◽  
The U.S

AbstractAminostratigraphic correlations of emergent Quaternary deposits along the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain have employed independent radiometric data, regional temperature history models, and assumptions regarding the nature of the preserved late Quaternary sea-level record on this passive margin. A substantial “aminostratigraphic offset” is required if regional aminozones are rigorously constrained by all available Th/U data. New insights regarding the relation of this offset to subsurface stratigraphy in the Cape Fear region of southeastern North Carolina can explain these conflicts as consequences of the highly incomplete post-Cretaceous depositional record of the region. Southward projection of theoretical aminostratigraphic correlation trends suggests that stage 5 correlative marine units are rarely preserved on the emergent portion of the Coastal Plain between Cape Lookout and central South Carolina and that samples of this age would be most frequently found in this region only as fragmentary (and/or reworked) deposits on the inner shelf or in the subsurface of modern barrier islands. If this hypothesis is correct, then the accuracy of several Th/U coral dates from the South Carolina Coastal Plain must be questioned, along with sea-level, tectonic, and paleoclimatic conclusions derived from these dates.

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