A late Quaternary paleotemperature record from Hanging Lake, northern Yukon Territory, eastern Beringia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID24086733
AutoresJoshua Kurek (0000-0003-4590-4823, University of New Brunswick, autor correspondente), Les C Cwynar (University of New Brunswick), Jesse C Vermaire (0000-0002-9921-6148, McGill University)
Ano2009
Volume72
Fascículo2
Páginas246-257
Data de publicação2009-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoQuaternary Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0033-5894 • E-ISSN: 1096-0287
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.yqres.2009.04.007
OpenAlexW2064732396
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas72

The late Quaternary paleoclimate of eastern Beringia has primarily been studied by drawing qualitative inferences from vegetation shifts. To quantitatively reconstruct summer temperatures, we analyzed lake sediments for fossil chironomids, and additionally we analyzed the sediments for fossil pollen and organic carbon content. A comparison with the δ 18 O record from Greenland indicates that the general climatic development of the region throughout the last glaciation–Holocene transition differed from that of the North Atlantic region. Between ∼ 17 and 15 ka, mean July air temperature was on average 5°C colder than modern, albeit a period of near-modern temperature at ∼ 16.5 ka. Total pollen accumulation rates ranged between ∼ 180 and 1200 grains cm − 2 yr − 1 . At ∼ 15 ka, approximately coeval with the Bølling interstadial, temperatures again reached modern values. At ∼ 14 ka, nearly 1000 yr after warming began, Betula pollen percentages increased substantially and mark the transition to shrub-dominated pollen contributors. Chironomid-based inferences suggest no evidence of the Younger Dryas stade and only subtle evidence of an early Holocene thermal maximum, as temperatures from ∼ 15 ka to the late Holocene were relatively stable. The most recognizable climatic oscillation of the Holocene occurred from ∼ 4.5 to 2 ka.

Allerød oscillation · Beringia · Climate change · Geography · Glacial period · Holocene · Holocene climatic optimum · Paleoclimatology · Physical geography · Pollen · Quaternary · Stadial · Younger Dryas · Climate change and permafrost · Ecology · Geological formations and processes · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Oceanography · Paleontology