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Late glacial and Holocene sedimentation, vegetation, and climate history from easternmost Beringia (northern Yukon Territory, Canada)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2012

Michael Fritz ,
Ulrike Herzschuh ,
Sebastian Wetterich ,
Hugues Lantuit ,
Gregory P. De Pascale ,
Wayne H. Pollard  and
Lutz Schirrmeister
Michael Fritz*
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Department of Periglacial Research, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Ulrike Herzschuh
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Department of Periglacial Research, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany Potsdam University, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24–25, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
Sebastian Wetterich
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Department of Periglacial Research, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Hugues Lantuit
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Department of Periglacial Research, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Gregory P. De Pascale
Affiliation:
University of Canterbury, Department of Geological Sciences, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
Wayne H. Pollard
Affiliation:
McGill University, Department of Geography, 805 Sherbrooke St. West, H3A2K6 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Lutz Schirrmeister
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Department of Periglacial Research, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: + 49 331 288 2188. Email Address:Michael.Fritz@awi.de
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Abstract

Beringian climate and environmental history are poorly characterized at its easternmost edge. Lake sediments from the northern Yukon Territory have recorded sedimentation, vegetation, summer temperature and precipitation changes since ~ 16 cal ka BP. Herb-dominated tundra persisted until ~ 14.7 cal ka BP with mean July air temperatures ≤ 5°C colder and annual precipitation 50 to 120 mm lower than today. Temperatures rapidly increased during the Bølling/Allerød interstadial towards modern conditions, favoring establishment of Betula-Salix shrub tundra. Pollen-inferred temperature reconstructions recorded a pronounced Younger Dryas stadial in east Beringia with a temperature drop of ~ 1.5°C (~ 2.5 to 3.0°C below modern conditions) and low net precipitation (90 to 170 mm) but show little evidence of an early Holocene thermal maximum in the pollen record. Sustained low net precipitation and increased evaporation during early Holocene warming suggest a moisture-limited spread of vegetation and an obscured summer temperature maximum. Northern Yukon Holocene moisture availability increased in response to a retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, postglacial sea level rise, and decreasing summer insolation that in turn led to establishment of Alnus-Betula shrub tundra from ~ 5 cal ka BP until present, and conversion of a continental climate into a coastal-maritime climate near the Beaufort Sea.

Keywords

Trout LakeLaurentide Ice SheetYounger DryasHolocene thermal maximumLake sedimentsPollenTemperature reconstructionPrecipitation reconstructionWAPLSModern analogue technique
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 78 , Issue 3 , November 2012 , pp. 549 - 560
Copyright
University of Washington

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