Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T15:07:59.619Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holocene Climate Inferred from Oxygen Isotope Ratios in Lake Sediments, Central Brooks Range, Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lesleigh Anderson ,
Mark B. Abbott  and
Bruce P. Finney
Lesleigh Anderson
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst Massachusetts, 01003
Mark B. Abbott
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst Massachusetts, 01003
Bruce P. Finney
Affiliation:
Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks Alaska, 99775
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Analyses of sediment cores from two lakes in the central Brooks Range provide temperature and moisture balance information for the past ∼8500 cal yr at century-scale resolution. Two methods of oxygen isotope analysis are used to reconstruct past changes in the effective moisture (precipitation minus evaporation) and temperature. Effective moisture is inferred from oxygen isotope ratios in sediment cellulose from Meli Lake (area ∼0.13 km2, depth 19.4 m). The lake has a low watershed-to-lake-area ratio (7) and significant evaporation relative to input. Summer temperature shifts are based on oxygen isotope analyses of endogenic calcite from Tangled Up Lake (area ∼0.25 km2, depth 3.5 m). This basin has a larger watershed-to-lake-area ratio (91) and less evaporation relative to input. Sediment oxygen isotope analyses from the two sites indicate generally more arid conditions than present prior to ∼6000 cal yr B.P. Subsequently, the region became increasingly wet. Temperature variability is recorded minimally at centennial scale resolution with values that are generally cool for the past ∼6700 cal yr. The timing and direction of climate variability indicated by the oxygen isotope time series from Meli and Tangled Up lakes are consistent with previously established late Holocene glacier advances at ∼5000 cal yr B.P. in the central Brooks Range, and high lake-levels at Birch Lake since ∼5500 cal yr B.P. This unique use of oxygen isotopes reveals both moisture balance and temperature histories at previously undetected high-resolution temporal scales for northern Alaska during the middle to late Holocene.

Keywords

AlaskaHolocenepaleoclimateBrooks Rangelake sedimentsδ18OcelluloseChara
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , May 2001 , pp. 313 - 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

Abbott, M.B., Finney, B.P., Edwards, M.E., Kelts, K.R., (2000). Paleohydrology of Birch Lake, central Alaska: Lake-level reconstructions using seismic reflection profiles and core transect approaches.. Quaternary Research, 53, 154–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, L., (1999). Holocene Paleoclimatology of Northern Alaska from Oxygen Isotope Geochemistry of Sediment Cellulose and Authigenic Carbonate in Lake Sediments.. University of MassachusettsUnpublished M.S. thesis, Amherst.Google Scholar
Anderson, P.M., Brubaker, L.B., (1993). Holocene vegetation and climate histories of Alaska.. Wright, H.E. Jr., Kutzbach, J.E., Webb, T. III, Ruddiman, W.F., Street-Perrott, F.A., Bartlein, P.J., Global Climates since the Last Glacial Maximum, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.386–400.Google Scholar
Anderson, P.M., Brubaker, L.B., (1994). Vegetation history of northcentral Alaska: A mapped summary of late-Quaternary pollen data.. Quaternary Science Reviews, 13, 71–92.Google Scholar
Appleby, P.G., Oldfield, G., (1978). The calculation of 210Pb dates assuming a constant rate of supply of unsupported 210Pb to the sediment.. Catena, 5, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtsson, L., Enell, M., (1986). Chemical analysis.. Berglund, B.E., Handbook of Holocene Paleoecology and Paleohydrology, Wiley, Chichester.423–451.Google Scholar
Calkin, P.E., (1988). Holocene glaciation of Alaska (and adjoining Yukon Territory, Canada).. Quaternary Science Reviews, 7, 159–184.Google Scholar
Calkin, P.E., Ellis, J.M., Haworth, L.A., Burns, P.E., (1985). Cirque glacier regime and neoglaciation, Brooks Range, Alaska.. Zeitschrift fur Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie, 21, 371–378.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W., (1964). Stable isotopes in precipitation.. Tellus, 16, 1–120.Google Scholar
DeNiro, M.J., Epstein, S., (1981). Isotopic composition of cellulose from aquatic organisms.. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 42, 495–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drummond, C.N., Patterson, W.P., Walker, J.C.G., (1995). Climatic forcing of carbon-oxygen isotopic covariance in temperate-region marl lakes.. Geology, 23, 1031–1034.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edwards, M.E., Barker, E.D. Jr., (1994). Climate and vegetation in northeastern Alaska 18,000 yr B.P.–Present.. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 109, 127–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, M.E., Mock, C.J., Finney, B.P., Barber, V.A., Bartlein, P.J., (2001). Potential analogues for paleoclimatic variations in eastern interior Alaska during the past 14,000 years: Atmospheric-circulation controls of regional temperature and moisture responses.. Quaternary Science Reviews, 20, 189–202.Google Scholar
Edwards, T.W.D., McAndrews, J.H., (1989). Paleohydrology of a Canadian Shield lake inferred from 18O in sediment cellulose.. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 26, 1850–1859.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, T.W.D., Buhay, W.M., Elgood, R.J., Jiang, H.B., (1994). An improved nickel-tube pyrolysis method for oxygen isotope analysis of organic matter and water.. Chemical Geology (Isotope Geoscience Section), 114, 179–183.Google Scholar
Eisner, W.R., Colinvaux, P.A., (1992). Late Quaternary pollen records from Oil Lake and Feniak Lake, Alaska, U.S.A.. Arctic and Alpine Research, 24, 56–63.Google Scholar
Ellis, J.M., Calkin, P.E., (1979). Nature and distribution of glaciers, neoglacial moraines, and rock glaciers, east-central Brooks Range, Alaska.. Arctic and Alpine Research, 11, 403–420.Google Scholar
Ellis, J.M., Calkin, P.E., (1984). Chronology of Holocene glaciation, central Brooks Range, Alaska.. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 95, 897–912.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, S., Thompson, P., Yapp, C.J., (1977). Oxygen and hydrogen isotopic ratios in plant cellulose.. Science, 198, 1209–1215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fronval, T., Jensen, N.B., Buchardt, B., (1995). Oxygen isotope disequilibrium precipitation of calcite in Lake Arresø, Denmark.. Geology, 23, 463–466.Google Scholar
Gibson, J.J., Edwards, T.W.D., Prowse, T.D., (1996). Development and validation of an isotopic method for estimating lake evaporation.. Hydrological Processes, 10, 1369–1382.3.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glew, J.R., (1988). A portable extruding device for close interval sectioning of unconsolodated core samples.. Journal of Paleolimnology, 1, 235–239.Google Scholar
Glew, J.R., (1991). Miniature gravity corer for recovering short cores.. Journal of Paleolimnology, 5, 285–287.Google Scholar
Hamilton, T.D., (1986). Late Cenozoic glaciation of the central Brooks Range.. Hamilton, T.D., Reed, K.M., Thorson, R.M., Glaciation in Alaska: The Geologic Record, Alaska Geological Society, Anchorage.9–49.Google Scholar
Haugen, R. K., (1982). . Climate of Remote Areas in North-Central Alaska: 1975–1979 Summary.. U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) Report, 82–35., Hanover, NH.Google Scholar
Hu, F.S., Ito, E., Brubaker, L.B., Anderson, P.M., (1998). Ostracode geochemical record of Holocene climatic change and implications for vegetational response in the northwestern Alaska Range.. Quaternary Research, 49, 86–95.Google Scholar
Huon, S., Mojon, P.-O., (1994). Isotopic disequilibrium between water and calcified parts of Charophytes (Chara globularis): Preliminary results.. Comptes rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Serie II, Sciences de la Terre et des Planetes, 318, 205–210.Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M., Edwards, T.W.D., Moser, K., Pienitz, R., Smol, J.P., (1993). Rapid response of treeline vegetation and lakes to past climate warming.. Nature, 361, 243–246.Google Scholar
McConnaughey, T., (1991). Calcification in Chara corallina: CO2 hydroxylation generates protons for bicarbonate assimilation.. Limnology and Oceanography, 36, 619–628.Google Scholar
McConnaughy, T., Falk, R.H., (1991). Calcium–proton exchange during algal calcification.. Biological Bulletin, 180, 185–195.Google Scholar
Meyers, P.A., Lallier-Verges, E., (1999). Lacustrine sedimentary organic matter records of late Quaternary paleoclimates.. Journal of Paleolimnology, 21, 345–372.Google Scholar
Mock, C.J., Bartlein, P.J., Anderson, P.M., (1998). Atmospheric circulation patterns and spatial climatic variations in Beringia.. International Journal of Climate, 18, 1085–1104.3.0.CO;2-K>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rozanski, K., Araguas-Araguas, L., Gonfiantini, R., (1992). Relation between long-term trends of oxygen-18 isotope composition of precipitation and climate.. Science, 258, 981–985.Google Scholar
Rozanski, K., Araguas-Araguas, L., and Gonfiantini, R., (1993). . Isotopic patterns in modern global precipitation.. In Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records Swart, P. K., Lohmann, K. C., McKenzie, J., and Savin, S., Eds., pp. 1–36, American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph, 78, , Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sternberg, L.S.L., (1989). Oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios in plant cellulose: Mechanisms and applications.. Rundel, P.W., Ehleringer, J.R., Nagy, K.S., Stable Isotopes in Ecological Research, Springer-Verlag, New York.124–141.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, R., McCormac, F.G., van der Plicht, J., Spurk, M., (1998). INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration 24,000-0 cal B.P.. Radiocarbon, 40, 1041–1083.Google Scholar
Thompson, P., Gray, J., (1977). Determination of 18O/16O ratios in compounds containing C, H and O.. International Journal of Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 28, 411–415.Google Scholar
Von Grafenstein, U., Erlenkeuser, H., Brauer, A., Jouzel, J., Johnson, S.J., (1999). A mid-European decadal isotope-climate record from 15,500 to 5000 years B.P.. Science, 284, 1654–1657.Google Scholar
Wolfe, B.B., Edwards, T.W.D., (1997). Hydrologic control on oxygen-isotope relation between sediment cellulose and lake water, western Taimyr Peninsula, Russia: Implications for the use of surface-sediment calibrations in paleolimnology.. Journal of Paleolimnology, 18, 283–291.Google Scholar
Wolfe, B.B., Edwards, T.W.D., Aravena, R., MacDonald, G.M., (1996). Rapid Holocene hydrologic change along boreal tree-line revealed by δ13C and δ18O in organic lake sediments, Northwest Territories, Canada.. Journal of Paleolimnology, 15, 171–181.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E., Mann, D.H., Glaser, P.H., (1984). Piston corers for peat and lake sediments.. Ecology, 65, 657–659.Google Scholar
Yakir, D., (1992). Variations in the natural abundance of oxygen-18 and deuterium in plant carbohydrates.. Plant Cell Environment, 15, 1005–1020.Google Scholar
Yu, Z., Eicher, U., (1998). Abrupt climate oscillations during the last deglaciation in central North America.. Science, 282, 2235–2238.Google Scholar
Yu, Z., McAndrews, J.H., Eicher, U., (1997). Middle Holocene dry climate caused by change in atmospheric circulation patterns: Evidence from lake levels and stable isotopes.. Geology, 25, 251–254.Google Scholar