Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:26:43.878Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Climate and vegetation history from a 14,000-year peatland record, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Miriam C. Jones*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, USA Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lehigh University, 31 Williams Dr., Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA
Dorothy M. Peteet
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, USA NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10025, USA
Dorothy Kurdyla
Affiliation:
Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, Livermore, CA 94551, USA
Thomas Guilderson
Affiliation:
Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, Livermore, CA 94551, USA
*
Corresponding author.

E-mail address:[email protected] (M.C. Jones).

Abstract

Analysis of pollen, spores, macrofossils, and lithology of an AMS 14C-dated core from a subarctic fen on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska reveals changes in vegetation and climate beginning 14,200 cal yr BP. Betula expansion and contraction of herb tundra vegetation characterize the Younger Dryas on the Kenai, suggesting increased winter snowfall concurrent with cool, sunny summers. Remarkable Polypodiaceae (fern) abundance between 11,500 and 8500 cal yr BP implies a significant change in climate. Enhanced peat preservation and the occurrence of wet meadow species suggest high moisture from 11,500 to 10,700 cal yr BP, in contrast to drier conditions in southeastern Alaska; this pattern may indicate an intensification and repositioning of the Aleutian Low (AL). Drier conditions on the Kenai Peninsula from 10,700 to 8500 cal yr BP may signify a weaker AL, but elevated fern abundance may have been sustained by high seasonality with substantial snowfall and enhanced glacial melt. Decreased insolation-induced seasonality resulted in climatic cooling after 8500 cal yr BP, with increased humidity from 8000 to 5000 cal yr BP. A dry interval punctuated by volcanic activity occurred between 5000 and 3500 cal yr BP, followed by cool, moist climate, coincident with Neoglaciation. Tsuga mertensiana expanded after ~ 1500 cal yr BP in response to the shift to cooler conditions.

Type
Research Article
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

Abbott, M.B., Finney, B.P., Edwards, M.E., and Kelts, K.R. Lake-level reconstructions and paleohydrology of Birch Lake, Central Alaska, based on seismic reflection profiles and core transects. Quaternary Research 53, (2000). 154166.Google Scholar
Ager, T.A. Holocene vegetational history of Alaska. Wright, H.E. Late-Quaternary Environments of the United States. The Holocene vol. 2, (1983). University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. 128141.Google Scholar
Ager, T.A. Holocene vegetation history of the Kachemak Bay area, Cook Inlet, South-central Alaska. Gough, L.P., Wilson, F.H. Geologic Studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1998, U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 1615, (2000). 147165.Google Scholar
Ager, T.A. Holocene vegetation history of the northern Kenai Mountains, south-central Alaska. Gough, L.P., Wilson, F.H. Geologic Studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1999, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1633, (2001). 91107.Google Scholar
Anderson, L.L., Hu, F.S., Nelson, D.M., Petit, R.J., and Paige, K.N. Ice-age endurance: DNA evidence of a white spruce refugium in Alaska. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103, (2006). 1244712450.Google Scholar
Anderson, R.S., Jass, R.B., Berg, E., Toney, J.L., Hallett, D.J., de Fontaine, C.S., and DeVolder, A. Climate change and the development of boreal forest and fire regimes on the Kenai Lowlands, Alaska. The Holocene 16, (2006). 791803.Google Scholar
Axford, Y., and Kaufman, D. Late glacial and Holocene glacier and vegetation fluctuations at Little Swift Lake, southwestern Alaska, U.S.A. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 36, (2004). 139146.Google Scholar
Berger, A.L. Long-term variations of daily isolation and Quaternary climatic changes. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences 35, (1978). 23622367.Google Scholar
Bigelow, N.H., and Edwards, M.E. A 14,000 yr paleoenvironmental record from Windmill Lake, Central Alaska: Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation in the Alaska Range. Quaternary Science Reviews 20, (2001). 203215.Google Scholar
Bigelow, N.H., and Powers, R. Climate, vegetation, and archaeology 14,000–9000 cal yr BP in Central Alaska. Arctic Anthropology 38, (2001). 171195.Google Scholar
Birks, H.H. Aquatic macrophyte vegetation development in Krakenes Lake, western Norway, during the late-glacial and early-Holocene. Journal of Paleolimnology 23, (2000). 719.Google Scholar
Birks, H.H. Plant macrofossils. Smol, J.P., Birks, H.J.B., Lose, W.M. Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments Vol. 3, (2001). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands. 4974.Google Scholar
Brubaker, L.B., Anderson, P.M., and Hu, F.S. Vegetation ecotone dynamics in Southwest Alaska during the Late Quaternary. Quaternary Science Reviews 20, (2001). 175188.Google Scholar
Brubaker, L.B., Anderson, P.M., Edwards, M.E., and Lohzkin, A.V. Beringia as a glacial refugium for boreal trees and shrubs: new perspectives from mapped pollen data. Journal of Biogeography 32, (2005). 833848.Google Scholar
Chapin, F.S. III, Shaver, G.R., Giblin, A.E., Nadelhoffer, K.J., and Laundre, J.A. Responses of Arctic tundra to experimental and observed changes in climate. Ecology 76, (1995). 694711.Google Scholar
Clymo, R.S. Ion exchange in Sphagnum and its relation to bog ecology. Annals of Botany 27, (1966). 309324.Google Scholar
Engstrom, D.R., Hansen, B.C.S, Wright, H.E. Jr A possible Younger Dryas record in southeastern Alaska. Science 250, (1990). 13831385.Google Scholar
Faegri, K., and Iverson, J. Textbook of Pollen Analysis. (1989). Chichester, John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Grimm, E.C. TILIA and Tilia-Graph Software, Version 2.0. (1992). Illinois State Univesity, Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., Heusser, L.E., and Peteet, D.M. Late-Quaternary climatic change on the American North Pacific coast. Nature 315, (1985). 485487.Google Scholar
Hu, F.S., Brubaker, L.B., and Anderson, P.M. Postglacial vegetation and climate change in the Northern Bristol Bay Region, Southwestern Alaska. Quaternary Research 43, (1995). 382392.Google Scholar
Hu, F.S., Brubaker, L.B., and Anderson, P.M. Boreal ecosystem development in the Northwestern Alaska Range since 11,000 yr. B.P. Quaternary Research 45, (1996). 188201.Google Scholar
Hu, F.S., Lee, B.Y., Kaufman, D.S., Yoneji, S., Nelson, D.M., and Henne, P.D. Response of tundra ecosystem in southwestern Alaska to Younger-Dryas climatic oscillation. Global Change Biology 8, (2002). 11561163.Google Scholar
Janssens, J.A. Ecology of Peatland Bryophytes and Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of Peatlands Using Fossil Bryophytes. Methods Manual. (1990). Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Univesity of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA.Google Scholar
Jorgenson, M.T., Racine, C.H., Walters, J.C., and Osterkamp, T.E. Permafrost degradation and ecological changes associated with a warming climate in Central Alaska. Climatic Change 48, (2001). 551579.Google Scholar
Kallel, N., Labeyrie, L.D., Arnold, M., Okada, H., Dudley, W.C., and Duplessy, J.C. Evidence of cooling during the Younger Dryas in the western North Pacific. Oceanologica Acta 11, (1988). 369375.Google Scholar
Kaufman, D.S., Ager, T.A., Anderson, N.J., Anderson, P.M., Andrews, J.T., Bartlein, P.J., Brubaker, L.B., Coats, L.L., Cwynar, L.C., Duvall, M.L., Dyke, A.S., Edwards, E., Eisner, W.R., Gajewski, K., Geirsdöttir, A., Hu, F.S., Jennings, A.E., Kaplan, M.R., Kerwin, M.W., Lozhkin, A.V., MacDonald, G.M., Miller, G.H., Mock, C.J., Oswald, W.W., Otto-Bliesner, B.L., Porinchu, D.F., Ruhland, K., Smol, J.P., Steig, E.J., and Wolfe, B.B. Holocene thermal maximum in the western Arctic (0–180°W). Quaternary Science Reviews 23, (2004). 529560.Google Scholar
Klein, E., Berg, E.E., and Dial, R. Wetland drying and succession across the Kenai Peninsula Lowlands, south-central Alaska. Canadian Journal of Forestry Research 35, (2005). 19311941.Google Scholar
Kokorowski, H.D., Anderson, P.M., Mock, C.J., and Lozhkin, A.V. A re-evaluation and spatial analysis of evidence for a Younger Dryas climate reversal in Beringia. Quaternary Science Reviews 27, (2008). 17101722.Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M., Beilman, D.W., Kremenetski, K.V., Sheng, Y., Smith, L.C., and Velichko, A.A. Rapid early development of circumarctic peatlands and atmospheric CH4 and CO2 variations. Science 314, (2006). 285288.Google Scholar
Mikolajewicz, U., Crowley, T.J., Schiller, A., and Reinhard, V. Modeling teleconnections between the North Atlantic and North Pacific during the Younger Dryas. Nature 387, (1997). 384387.Google Scholar
Mock, C.J., Bartlein, P.J., and Anderson, P.M. Atmospheric circulation patterns and spatial climatic variation in Beringia. International Journal of Climatology 10, (1998). 10851104.Google Scholar
Moritz, R.E., Bitz, C.M., and Steig, E.J. Dynamics of recent climate change in the Arctic. Science 297, (2002). 14971501.Google Scholar
Oswald, W.W., Anderson, P.M., Brown, T.A., Brubaker, L.B., Hu, F.S., Lozhkin, A.V., Tinner, W., and Kaltenreider, P. Effects of sample mass and macrofossil type on radiocarbon dating of arctic and boreal lake sediments. The Holocene 15, (2005). 758767.Google Scholar
Overland, J.E., Miletta, J.M., and Bond, N.A. Decadal variability of the Aleutian Low and its relation to high-latitude circulation. Journal of Climate 12, (1999). 15421549.Google Scholar
Peteet, D.M. Modern pollen rain and vegetational history of the Malaspina Glacier district, Alaska. Quaternary Research 25, (1986). 100120.Google Scholar
Peteet, D.M., and Mann, D.H. Late-glacial vegetational, tephra, and climatic history of southwestern Kodiak Island, Alaska. Ecoscience 1, (1994). 255267.Google Scholar
Peteet, D., Del Genio, A., and Lo, K.K. Sensitivity of northern hemisphere air temperatures and snow expansion to North Pacific sea surface temperatures in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circulation model. Journal of Geophysical Research 102, (1997). 781791.Google Scholar
Reger, R.D., Sturmann, A.G., Berg, E.E., and Burns, P.A.C. Guidebook 8. A Guide to the Late Quaternary History of the Northern and Western Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. (2007). State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P.J. Extended 14C database and revised CALIB radiocarbon calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, (1993). 215230.Google Scholar
Ritchie, J.C., Cwynar, L.C., and Spear, R.W. Evidence from northwest Canada for an early Holocene Milankovitch thermal maximum. Nature 305, (1983). 126128.Google Scholar
Sturm, M., Racine, C., and Tape, K. Increasing shrub abundance in the Arctic. Nature 411, (2001). 546547.Google Scholar
Sturm, M., Schimel, J., Michaelson, G., Welker, J.M., Oberbauer, S.F., Liston, G.E., Fahnestock, J., and Romanovsky, V.E. Winter biological processes could help convert arctic tundra to shrubland. Bioscience 55, (2005). 1726.Google Scholar
Trenberth, K.E., and Hurrell, J.W. Decadal atmospheric-ocean variations in the Pacific. Climate Dynamics 9, (1994). 303319.Google Scholar
Troels-Smith, J. Karakterisering af lose jordater. Characterisation of unconsolidated sediments. Danmarks Geologiske Undersogelse 4/3, (1955). 173.Google Scholar
Viereck, L.A., Little, E.L. Jr., Little, E.L., and Argus, G.W. Alaska Trees and Shrubs. (2007). University of Alaska Press, 359 p Google Scholar
Walker, D.A., Binnian, E., Evans, B.M., Lederer, N.D., Nordstrand, E., and Webber, P.J. Terrain, vegetation and landscape evolution of the R4D research site, Brooks Range Foothills, Alaska. Holarctic Ecology 12, (1989). 238261.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., and Winter, T.C. Plant macrofossils from Kirchner Marsh, Minnesota; a paleoecological study. Geological Society of America Bulletin 77, (1966). 13391359.Google Scholar
Wiles, G.C., and Calkin, P.E. Late Holocene, high-resolution glacial chronologies and climate, Kenai Mountains, Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin 106, (1994). 281303.Google Scholar
Zazula, G.D., Telka, A.M., Harington, C.R., Schweger, C.E., and Mathewes, R.W. New spruce (Picea spp.) macrofossils from the Yukon Territory: implications for late Pleistocene refugia in eastern Beringia. Arctic 59, (2006). 391400.Google Scholar