scholarly journals Sangamonian Forest History and Climate in Atlantic Canada

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Mott

ABSTRACT Seven of the more than twenty five buried organic deposits in Atlantic Canada assigned to pre-Wisconsinan non-glacial intervals possibly relate to the climatic optimum of the Sangamon Interglaciation, that is substage 5e of the deep-sea oxygen isotope record. These sites are East Bay and Green Point on Cape Breton Island. Addington Forks and East Milford in mainland Nova Scotia. Le Bassin and Portage-du-Cap on the Iles de la Madeleine, Québec, and Woody Cove, Newfoundland. Except for Woody Cove, none of the sites records a complete climatic cycle, and the sequence of events must be pieced together from their disparate records. The spectra, characterized by significant amounts of thermophilous taxa that are not as abundant or present in the region today, are similar in general to Holocene spectra at sites immediately south of the lower Great Lakes. Comparison of the fossil spectra from five sites with modern surface spectra from eastern North America yields modern analogs which, if valid, indicate that the climate in Atlantic Canada during the climatic optimum of the last interglacial interval was more continental in character and considerably warmer than present.

2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Mott ◽  
Douglas R. Grant

ABSTRACT Numerous Quaternary organic deposits of various lithologies beneath one or more till units of Wisconsinan age have been discovered in boreholes and exposures in coastal bluffs, quarries and river banks at widespread localities throughout Atlantic Canada. Ongoing palynological and macro-fossil studies, still in a preliminary stage at many sites, reveal a variety of environments from forests dominated by thermophilous hardwood genera and white pine, to mixed temperate hardwood and conifer forests, to boreal coniferous forests of spruce and balsam fir, and forest tundra and tundra communities characterized by spruce, shrubs and herbs. Lithologie and pollen stratigraphie relationships and radiocarbon, amino acid and Thorium/Uranium dating allow a tentative assignment to the Sangamonian Stage and possibly to Early and Middle Wisconsinan time. Three intervals of organic accumulation are apparent: an early interval, when climate became warmer than the present; a second interval, when climate was similar to the present; and a third interval, with cooler climate. The latter interval is characterized by at least three climatic cycles, each one cooler than the previous cycle. Tentative correlations with the deep-sea oxygen isotope record and continental palynological records are presented.


2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Mott ◽  
Ronald N. W. DiLabio

ABSTRACT Nonglacial deposits in northern Ontario that may date to the last interglacial interval are well known from the Hudson Bay Lowlands where they have been described in sections along several river valleys. Soil horizons, peat beds and other organic sediment sequences comprise the Missinaibi Formation of the Moose River Basin studied for pollen and macrofossils. Results suggest that the climate was as warm or warmer than present, and spruce woodlands prevailed among broad expanses of bog and fen. The Beaver River peat records conditions similar to the present in the Fort Severn area with open spruce woodlands dispersed in peatlands. South of the Lowlands in the Timmins area, a widespread organic-silt horizon termed the Owl Creek beds is stratigraphically equivalent to the Missinaibi Formation. The waning phase of a warm interval is represented, with early climate possibly similar to the present and the later climate much cooler. Correlation of the Missinaibi Formation with substage 5e of the deep-sea oxygen isotope record is corroborated by amino acid results on marine shells from some associated units. Analysis of shells from beneath the Beaver River peat bed indicate that this interval may be considerably younger, possibly substage 5c or, more likely, 5a. The Owl Creek beds may relate to sub-stage 5e, or to one of the younger intervals, 5c or 5a.


1997 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz ◽  
Karen Luise Knudsen

Benthic foraminifera and stable isotope data from the last interglaciation (Eemian, substage 5e) from a borehole at Skagen, Denmark, provide evidence for major environmental and hydrographic changes during this period. During the first millennium of the Eemian, water masses covering northern Denmark became gradually warmer. Temperate conditions prevailed during most of the interglaciation, but these were interrupted by two periods with decreased water temperatures. The first cooling (Event S-1) was not very distinct at Skagen, but the second (Event S-2), seen in both the foraminiferal and oxygen isotope record, represents a large shift to subarctic conditions. Carbon isotopes indicate a change in ocean circulation during both events. No comparable climate variations are seen within the Holocene record at the site. The final cooling of the water masses associated with the substage 5e/5d boundary occurred within a few hundred years. These last interglacial climatic changes were probably caused by variations in strength and/or position of the North Atlantic Drift, possibly as a result of varying vigor of the Atlantic conveyor. In addition, minor variations in the fossil assemblages also indicate fluctuations in the inflow of Atlantic water to the Skagerrak–Kattegat area during the warm intervals of substage 5e.


2013 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anson W. Mackay ◽  
George E.A. Swann ◽  
Nathalie Fagel ◽  
Susanne Fietz ◽  
Melanie J. Leng ◽  
...  

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darrell S. Kaufman ◽  
Robert C. Walter ◽  
Julie Brigham-Grette ◽  
David M. Hopkins

AbstractDuring the middle Pleistocene Nome River glaciation of northwestern Alaska, glaciers covered an area an order of magnitude more extensive than during any subsequent glacial intervals. The age of the Nome River glaciation is constrained by laser-fusion 40Ar/39Ar analyses of basaltic lava that overlies Nome River drift at Minnie Creek, central Seward Peninsula, that average 470,000 ± 190,000 yr (±1σ). Milligram-size subsamples of the lava were dated to identify and eliminate extraneous 40Ar enrichments that rendered the mean of conventional K-Ar dates on larger bulk samples of the same flow too old (700,000 ± 570,000 yr). While the 40Ar/39Ar analyses provide a minimum limiting age for the Nome River glaciation, maximum ages are provided by a provisional K-Ar date on a basaltic lava flow that underlies the Nome River drift at nearby Lave Creek, by paleomagnetic determinations of the drift itself at and near the type locality, and by amino acid epimerization analysis of molluscan fossils from nearshore sediments of the Anvilian marine transgression that underlie Nome River drift on the coastal plain at Nome. Taken together, the new age data indicate that the glaciation took place between 580,000 and 280,000 yr ago. The altitude of the Anvilian deposits suggests that eustatic sea level during the Anvilian transgression rose at least as high as and probably higher than during the last interglacial transgression; by correlation with the marine oxygen-isotope record, the transgression probably dates to stage 11 at 410,000 yr, and the Nome River glaciation is younger still. Analyses of floor altitudes of presumed Nome River cirques indicate that the Nome River regional snowline depression was at least twice that of the maximum late Wisconsin. The cause of the enhanced snowline lowering appears to be related to greater availability of moisture in northwestern Alaska during the middle Pleistocene.


2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (12) ◽  
pp. 2305-2308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aldo Shemesh ◽  
Miri Rietti-Shati ◽  
Patrick Rioual ◽  
Rick Battarbee ◽  
Jacques-Louis de Beaulieu ◽  
...  

ZooKeys ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 897 ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Yves Alarie

The Haliplidae, Gyrinidae, and Dytiscidae (Coleoptera) of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada were surveyed during the years 2006–2007. A total of 2027 individuals from 85 species was collected from 94 different localities, which brings to 87 the number of species recorded for this locality. Among these, Heterosternuta allegheniana (Matta & Wolfe), H. wickhami (Zaitzev), Hydroporus appalachius Sherman, H. gossei Larson & Roughley, H. nigellus Mannerheim, H. puberulus LeConte, Ilybius picipes (Kirby), and I. wasastjernae (C.R. Sahlberg) are reported for the first time in Nova Scotia. The Nearctic component of the fauna is made up of 71 species (81.6%), the Holarctic component of 16 species (18.4%). Most species are characteristic of both the Boreal and Atlantic Maritime Ecozones and have a transcontinental distribution but 19 species (21.8%), which are generally recognized as species with eastern affinities. In an examination of the Hydradephaga of insular portions of Atlantic Canada, it was shown that the island faunas of Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island are very similar (87 and 84 species, respectively) despite differences in composition suggesting that more Hydradephaga species have yet to be found on Cape Breton Island.


1967 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Mott ◽  
V. K. Prest

Pollen analysis of four non-glacial, sub-till deposits on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, yielded pollen assemblages indicative of climates cooler than the present in that area. New radiocarbon dates from Hillsborough (>51 000 years), Bay St. Lawrence (>38 300), and Whycocomagh (>44 000 years) place the deposition of these deposits in pre-classical Wisconsin time. The Hillsborough and Whycocomagh deposits are considered to be time-equivalent based on pollen analysis. A lack of distinct assemblages at Bay St. Lawrence and Benacadie prohibits correlation with one another and with the Hillsborough and Whycocomagh beds. Inferences drawn from the pollen flora and the stratigraphy indicate an early Wisconsin interstadial age for these deposits rather than a Sangamon interglacial age. They are tentatively correlated with the St. Pierre interstade in Quebec.


2009 ◽  
Vol 141 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher G. Majka ◽  
David Langor ◽  
Wolfgang H. Rücker

AbstractThirty-five species of Latridiidae are reported in Atlantic Canada as a whole, 17 in New Brunswick, 14 in Newfoundland, 31 in Nova Scotia, and 14 on Prince Edward Island. Fifty-six new provincial records are reported (11 in New Brunswick, 9 in Newfoundland, 23 in Nova Scotia, 13 in Prince Edward Island). Twenty-two species are newly recorded for Atlantic Canada. Of these, Cartodere (Aridius) bifasciata (Reitter), Enicmus histrio Joy and Tomlin, Latridius consimilis (Mannerheim), Corticaria elongata (Gyllenhal), C. impressa (Olivier), C. saginata Mannerheim, Corticarina longipennis (LeConte), Melanophthalma helvola Motschulsky, and M. inermis Motschulsky are newly recorded in Canada, and C. bifasciata, E. histrio, and C. saginata are newly recorded in North America. Dienerella filiformis (Gyllenhal) is removed from the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island lists. Corticaria dentigera LeConte is removed from the Labrador and Atlantic Provinces lists. Melanophthalma inculta Motschulsky syn. nov. and M. signata Belon syn. nov. are designated as a junior synonyms of M. inermis Motschulsky and M. picta (LeConte), respectively. Melanophthalma helvola Motschulsky is reinstated as a valid species. Lectotypes and paralectotypes of M. helvola and M. americana (Mannerheim) are designated. Approximately half of the species are adventive (16 Palaearctic, 1 Australian) and half are native (13 Nearctic, 3 Holarctic). Two species are of uncertain zoogeographic status. Although some species are synanthropic, several have colonized native habitats. Nova Scotia has the largest number of adventive species, probably as a result of trans-Atlantic shipping. New Brunswick has the fewest, at least in part because of insufficient collecting there. Early detection dates and introduction processes are discussed. The native faunas on Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton Island, and Newfoundland appear diminished (33%–40%) compared with those of the neighbouring mainland. Although all latridiids are mycetophagous, many in the region show clear habitat preferences; however, the ecological role of those species requires further investigation.


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