Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-22T05:39:10.210Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modern Pollen Rain and Vegetational History of the Malaspina Glacier District, Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dorothy M. Peteet
Dorothy M. Peteet*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Seventy surface pollen samples from coastal forest, coastal meadow, muskeg, tree line, and alpine tundra communities form a basis for interpreting fossil pollen assemblages in the Malaspina Glacier district, Alaska. Poflen and macrofossil analyses of three radiocarbon-dated fossil sections from Icy Cape indicate that vegetational changes resulting from plant succession can be distinguished from those of migrational and climatic origin. Vegetation of the early Holocene xerothermic interval (10,000–7600 yr B.P.) was dominated by Alnus communities. Wetter conditions ensued, enabling generative muskeg surfaces to develop and first Picea sitchensis, then Tsuga heterophylla to expand from areas southeastward. Climatic cooling in more recent millennia (3500 yr B.P. to the present) is indicated by the appearance and persistent growth of Tsuga mertensiana and Selaginella selaginoides along this portion of the Gulf of Alaska coastline.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 100 - 120
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

Barber, K. E. 1981 Peat Stratigraphy and Climatic Change, Balkema Rotterdam Google Scholar
Benninghoff, T. A. 1962 Calculation of pollen and spore density in sediments by addition of exotic pollen in known quantities. Pollen et Spores, 4 332 333 Google Scholar
Birks, H. J. B. 1977 Modern pollen rain and vegetation of the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Botany, 55 2367 2382 Google Scholar
Braun-Blanquet, J. 1965 Plant Sociology: The Study of Plant Communities, Hafner New York Google Scholar
Bryson, R. A., Hare, F. K. 1974 The climates of North America. Bryson, R. A., Hare, F. K. Climates of North America, Elsevier Amsterdam 1 47 Google Scholar
Cooper, W. S. 1937 The problem of Glacier Bay, Alaska: A study of glacier variations. Geographical Review, 27 37 62 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cottam, G., Curtis, J. T. 1956 The use of distance measures in phytosociological sampling. Ecology, 37 451 460 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daubenmire, R. 1968 Some geographic variations in Picea sitchensis and their ecologic interpretation. Canadian Journal of Botany, 46 787 798 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, G., Karlén, W. K. 1973 Holocene climatic variations—their pattern and possible cause. Quaternary Research, 3 155 205 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, G., Stuiver, M. 1966 Neoglacial chronology, northeastern St. Elias Mountains, Canada. American Journal of Science, 264 577 599 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faegri, K., Iversen, J. 1975 Textbook of Pollen Analysis, Hafner New York Google Scholar
Farr, W. A., Harris, A. S. 1979 Site index of Sitka spruce along the Pacific coast relative to latitude and temperature. Forest Science, 25 145 154 Google Scholar
Goldthwait, R. P. 1966 Evidence from Alaskan glaciers of major climatic changes. World Climate from 8000 to 0 BC, . International Symposium on World Climate, London. Proceedings, London Royal Meteorological Society.40 53 Google Scholar
Hamilton, T. D., Thorson, R. M. 1982 The Cordilleran Ice Sheet in Alaska. Porter, S. C. Late-Quaternary Environments of the United States, Vol. 1 Univ. of Minnesota Press Minneapolis “The Late Pleistocene”Google Scholar
Hebda, R. J. 1983 Late-glacial and postglacial vegetation history at Bear Cove Bog, northeast Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Botany, 61 3172 3192 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C. J. 1952 Pollen profiles from southeastern Alaska. Ecological Monographs, 22 331 352 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C. J. 1960 Late-Pleistocene Environments of North Pacific North America, American Geographical Society Special Publication 35Google Scholar
Heusser, C. J. 1966 Polar hemispheric correlation: Palynological evidence from Chile and the Pacific north-west of America. Royal Meteorological Society Proceedings of the International Symposium on World Climate, 124 141 Google Scholar
Heusser, C. J. 1969 Modern pollen spectra from the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 96 407 417 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C. J. 1973 Modern pollen spectra from Mt. Ranier, Washington. Northwest Science, 47 1 8 Google Scholar
Heusser, C. J. 1977 Quaternary palynology of the Pacific Slope of Washington. Quaternary Research, 8 282 306 Google Scholar
Heusser, C. J. 1983 Holocene vegetation history of the Prince William Sound Region, south-central Alaska. Quaternary Research, 19 337 355 Google Scholar
Heusser, C. J., Marcus, M. G. 1964 Historical variations of Lemon Creek Glacier, Alaska, and their relationships to the climatic record. Journal of Glaciology, 5 77 86 Google Scholar
Hultén, E. 1968 Flora of Alaska and Yukon, Gleerup Lund Google Scholar
Jacobson, G. L., Bradshaw, R. H. W. 1981 The selection of sites for paleovegetational studies. Quaternary Research, 16 80 96 Google Scholar
Kincer, J. B. 1941 Climates of Alaska. Climate and Man, . United States Department of Agriculture Yearbook.1211 1215 Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Knight, C. A. 1976 Soil Resource Inventory for the Yakutat Planning Unit and Land Use Plan, Chatham Area, Tongass National ForestGoogle Scholar
Mann, D. H. 1983 The Quaternary History of the Lituya Bay Glacial Refugium, Alaska. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Washington Google Scholar
Mathewes, R. W., Clagué, J. J. 1982 Stratigraphic relationships and paleoecology of a late-glacial peat bed from the Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C.. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 19 1185 1195 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathewes, R. W., Heusser, L. E. 1981 A 12,000 year palynological record of temperatures and precipitation trends in southwestern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Botany, 59 707 710 Google Scholar
Miller, D. J. 1958 Anomalous glacial history of the Northeastern Gulf of Alaska region. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 69 1613 1614 Google Scholar
Molnia, B. F. 1983 Late Wisconsinan and Holocene Glaciation of the Alaskan Continental Margin. Alaska Glaciation Workshop, 1983 [Abstract]Google Scholar
Neiland, B. 1971 The forest-bog complex of southeast Alaska. Vegetatio, 22 1 64 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peteet, D. 1983 Holocene Vegetational History of the Malaspina Glacier District, Alaska. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, New York University Google Scholar
Plafker, G. 1967 Geologic map of the Gulf of Alaska Tertiary Province, Alaska, United States Geological Survey Washington, D.C., Map 1-484Google Scholar
Plafker, G., Hudson, T., Rubin, T., Dixon, K. 1980 Holocene marine terraces and uplift history in the Yakataga seismic gap near ley Cape, Alaska. United States Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1980, . Circular 844.111 115 Google Scholar
Plafker, G., Miller, D. 1958 Glacial Features and Surficial Deposits of the Malaspina Glacier District, Alaska, Map 1-271Google Scholar
Porter, S. C., Denton, G. H. 1967 Chronology and neoglaciation in the North American cordillera. American Journal of Science, 265 177 210 Google Scholar
Sharp, R. P. 1956 The last major advance of Malaspina Glacier. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 67 1782 Google Scholar
Sirkin, L. A. 1983 Late Pleistocene Glaciation and Environments in the Copper River-Chugach Mountain Region, South-Central Alaska, [Unpublished manuscript]Google Scholar
Sirkin, L. A., Tuthill, S. 1969 “Late Pleistocene Palynology and Stratigraphy of Controller Bay Region, Gulf of Alaska.” Etudes sur le Quaternaire dans le Monde. VIII Congress INQUA, Paris, 1969 197 208 Google Scholar
Tarr, B. S., Martin, L. 1914 Alaskan Glacier Studies of the National Geographic Society in the Yakutat Bay, Prince William Sound, and Lower Copper River regions, National Geographic Society Google Scholar
Thorson, R. M. 1980 Ice-sheet glaciation of the Puget Lowland, Washington, during the Vashon Stade (Late Pleistocene). Quaternary Research, 13 303 321 Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, 1948 Woody-Plant Seed Manual, USDA Misc. Publ. 654Google Scholar
Viereck, L., Little, E. L. Jr. 1974 Guide to Alaskan Trees, USDA Handbook, No. 472Google Scholar
Watson, C. E. 1968 The Climate of Alaska. van der Leeden, F., Troise, F. L. Climate of the States, Vol. II Water Information Center Port Washington, New York 481 502 “Western States”Google Scholar
Watts, W. A. 1973 Rates of change and stability in vegetation in the perspective of long periods of time. Birks, H. J. B., West, R. G. Quaternary Plant Ecology, Blackwell Oxford Google Scholar
Welsh, S. L. 1974 Anderson's Flora of Alaska and Adjacent Parts of Canada, Brigham Young Univ. Press Provo, Utah Google Scholar
Yehle, L. A. 1979 Reconnaissance Engineering Geology of the Yakutat Area, with Emphasis on Evaluation of Earthquake and Other Geologic Hazards, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, No. 1074Google Scholar