Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T01:31:10.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Quaternary Vegetational Change in the Kotzebue Sound Area, Northwestern Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Patricia M. Anderson
Patricia M. Anderson*
Affiliation:
College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two sediment cores from Kaiyak and Squirrel lakes in northwestern Alaska yielded pollen records that date to ca. 39,000 and 27,000 yr B.P., respectively. Between 39,000 and 14,000 yr B.P., the vegetation around these lakes was dominated by Gramineae and Cyperaceae with some Salix and possibly Betula nana/glandulosa forming a local, shrub component of the vegetation. Betula pollen percentages increased about 14,000 yr B.P., indicating the presence of a birchdominated shrub tundra. Alnus pollen appeared at both sites between 9000 and 8000 yr B.P., and Picea pollen (mostly P. mariana) arrived at Squirrel Lake about 5000 yr B.P. The current foresttundra mosaic around Squirrel Lake was established at this time, whereas shrub tundra existed near Kaiyak Lake throughout the Holocene. When compared to other pollen records from north-western North America, these cores (1) represent a meadow component of lowland. Beringian tundra between 39,000 and 14,000 yr B.P., (2) demonstrate an early Holocene arrival of Alnus in northwestern Alaska that predates most other Alnus horizons in northern Alaska or northwestern Canada, and (3) show an east-to-west migration of Picea across northern Alaska from 9000 to 5000 yr B.P.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , November 1985 , pp. 307 - 321
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

Ager, T.A. (1983). Holocene vegetational history of Alaska Wright, H.E. Jr. Late Quaternary Environments of the United States Vol. 2 Univ. of Minnesota Press Minneapolis 128–141 “The Holocene”Google Scholar
Anderson, P.M. (1982). Reconstructing the Past: The Synthesis of Archaeological and Palynological Data, Northern Alaska and Northwestern Canada Ph.D. dissertation Brown University Providence Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B. Birks, H.H. (1980). Quaternary Palaeoecology Arnold London Google Scholar
Brubaker, L.B. Garfinkel, H.L. Edwards, M.E. (1983). A late Wisconsin and Holocene vegetation history from the central Brooks Range: Implications for Alaskan paleoecology Quarternary Research 20, 194–214 Google Scholar
Colinvaux, P.A. (1964a). Sampling stiff sediments of an ice covered lake Limnology and Oceanography 9, 262–264 Google Scholar
Colinvaux, P.A. (1964b). The environment of the Bering Land Bridge Ecological Monographs 34, 297–329 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cwynar, L.C. (1982). A late-Quaternary vegetation history from Hanging Lake, northern Yukon Ecological Monographs 52, 1–24 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, M. E. Anderson, P. M. Garfinkel, H. L. and Brubaker, L. B. (in press). Late Wisconsin and Holocene vegetation history of the upper Koyukuk region, Brooks Range, Alaska. Canadian Journal of Botany .Google Scholar
Guthrie, R.D. (1968). Paleoecology of the largemammal community in interior Alaska during the late Pleistocene American Midland Naturalist 79, 346–363 Google Scholar
Guthrie, R.D. (1982). Mammals of the mammoth steppe as paleoenvironmental indicators Hopkins, D.M. Matthews, J.V. Jr. Schweger, C.E. Young, S.B. Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press New York 307–326 Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. (1972). The paleogeography and climate history of Beringia during Cenozoic time Internord 12, 121–150 Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. (1979). Landscape and climate of Beringia during late Pleistocene and Holocene times Laughlin, W.S. Harper, A.B. The First Americans: Origins, Affinities and Adaptations Gustav Fisher New York 15–41 Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. (1982). Aspects of the paleogeography of Beringia during the late Pleistocene Hopkins, D.M. Matthews, J.V. Jr. Schweger, C.E. Young, S.B. Palcoecology of Beringia Academic Press New York 3–28 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. MacNeil, F.S. Leopold, E.B. (1960). The coastal plain at Nome, Alaska: A late Cenozoic type section for the Bering Strait region Report 21 st International Geologic Congress 46–57 part 4Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. Matthews, J.V. Jr. Schweger, C.E. Young, S.B. (1982). Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press New York Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M. Smith, P.A. Matthews, J.V. Jr. (1981). Dated wood from Alaska and the Yukon: Implications for forest refugia in Beringia Quaternary Research 15, 217–249 Google Scholar
Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission for Alaska, (1973). Major Ecosystems of Alaska Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission for Alaska Washington, D.C Google Scholar
Livingstone, D.A. (1955). Some pollen profiles from arctic Alaska Ecology 36, 587–600 Google Scholar
Livingstone, D.A. (1957). Pollen analysis of a valley fill near Umiat, Alaska American Journal of Science 255, 254–260 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, J.V. Jr. (1974). Quaternary environments at Cape Deceit (Seward Peninsula) evolution of a tundra ecosystem Geological Society of America Bulletin 85, 1353–1384 Google Scholar
McCulloch, D. Hopkins, D.M. (1966). Evidence for an early recent warm interval in northwestern Alaska Geological Society of America Bulletin 77, 1089–1108 Google Scholar
Porter, S.C. Pierce, K.L. Hamilton, T.D. (1983). Late Wisconsin mountain glaciation in the western United States Porter, S.C. Late Quaternary Environments of the United States Vol. 1 Univ. of Minnesota Press Minneapolis 71–111 “The Late Pleistocene”Google Scholar
Rampton, V. (1971). Late Quaternary vegetational and climatic history of the Snag-Klutlan area south-western Yukon Territory Canada Geological Society of America Bulletin 82, 959–978 Google Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. (1984). Past and Present Vegetation of the Far Northwest of Canada Univ. of Toronto Press Toronto CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. Cwynar, L.C. (1982). The late Quaternary vegetation of the north Yukon Hopkins, D.M. Matthews, J.V. Jr. Schweger, C.E. Young, S.B. Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press New York 113–126 Google Scholar
Ritchie, J.C. Cwynar, L.C. Spear, R.W. (1983). Evidence from north-west Canada for an early Holocene Milankovitch thermal maximum Nature (London) 305, 126–128 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schweger, C.E. (1976). Late Quaternary Paleoecology of the Onion Portage Region, Northwestern Alaska Ph.D. dissertation University of Alberta Edmonton Google Scholar
Schweger, C.E. (1982). Late Pleistocene vegetation of eastern Beringia: Pollen analysis of dated alluvium Hopkins, D.M. Matthews, J.V. Jr. Schweger, C.E. Young, S.B. Pateoecology of Beringia Academic Press New York 95–112 Google Scholar
Schweger, C.E. Habgood, T. (1976). The late Pleistocene steppe-tundra in Beringia—A critique Fourth Conference AMQUA Abstracts 4, 80–81 Google Scholar
Stockmarr, J. (1971). Tablets with spores used in absolute pollen analysis Pollen et Spores 13, 615–621 Google Scholar
Young, S.B. (1974). Vegetation of the Noatak River valley, Alaska Young, S.B. The Environment of the Noatak River Basin Alaska Center for Northern Studies Vermont 58–85 Google Scholar