Airborne Pollen: A Unique Air Mass Tracer, Its Influx to the Canadian High Arctic

Bourgeois, J.; Koerner, R. M.; Alt, B T

doi:10.1017/s0260305500006005

Cited by 61 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The scarce pollen found at this high level site is similar to the spectra in snow from the surface of the Prince of Wales Icefield (at 1180 m) some 50 km south of Rundfjeld, where Alnus, Betula, Salix and Graminae were recorded (Lichti-Federovich, 1975). Additional pollen data from the surface snow on the Prince of Wales Icetield were reported by Bourgeois et al (1985).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 76%

Inferences concerning climatic change from a deeply frozen lake on Rundfjeld, Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada

Blake

1989

J Paleolimnol

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A small lake on top of Rundljeld, central Ellesmere Island, at an elevation of approximately 830 m, is frozen to the bottom, and the thickness of lake ice present is at least 5.45 m. Under present climatic conditions the lake does not thaw to the bottom, even during the warmest summers; i.e., 3 to 4 m of ice still floored the deepest part of the lake in mid-August 1987. A radiocarbon age determination via accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) on a sample of the lilamentous green alga Mougeotia sp., recovered from the lake ice at a depth below 4 m, gave 5730 t 70 BP (TO-530). The date indicates that the lake was probably completely open for an unspecified period of time during the warmest part of the Hypsitherma1 Interval. This situation is in agreement with data derived from a variety of other sources in Ellesmere Island and adjacent Greenland.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 76%

Inferences concerning climatic change from a deeply frozen lake on Rundfjeld, Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada

Blake

1989

J Paleolimnol

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“…The assemblages include input from the regional vegetation (Salix, Ericaceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae and other vascular plants plus Sphagnum), in addition to long-distance contributions from forest or shrub tundra vegetation (Picea, Pinus, Betula and Alnus). Such inputs are comparable to the airborne pollen influxes recorded in snow from ice caps in the Canadian Arctic (Lichti-Federovich, 1975;Bourgeois et al, 1985). HOLOCENE SEA-SURFACE CONDITIONS, BAFFIN BAY This column lists the 14 C ages as reported from the laboratory after normalisation for a ␦ 13 C value of −25‰.…”

Section: Palynomorph Concentrationmentioning

confidence: 62%

Sea‐surface conditions in northernmost Baffin Bay during the Holocene: palynological evidence

Levac

Vernal

Blake

2001

J Quaternary Science

132

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The analysis of cores collected in northernmost Baffin Bay, from within the area of the North Water Polynya, permits definition of a composite sedimentary sequence ca. 12 m thick spanning the last 10 000 14 C yr, with only a few discontinuities. Palynological analyses were performed in order to reconstruct changes in surface water conditions and biogenic production. Transfer functions, using dinocyst assemblages, were applied to estimate sea-surface temperature (SST) and salinity, as well as the seasonal duration of sea ice cover. At the base of the record, prior to 9300 14 C yr BP, dinocysts and organic linings of benthic foraminifers are sparse, indicating harsh conditions and low productivity. After ca. 9300 14 C yr BP, the increased concentration of benthic foraminifers (up to 10 3 linings cm −3 ) and dinocyst fluxes (10 2 -10 3 cysts cm −2 yr −1 ) reveals high biological productivity related to open-water conditions. The early to middle Holocene, from ca. 9000 to ca. 3600 14 C yr BP, is marked by relatively high species diversity in dinocyst assemblages and the significant occurrence of autotrophic taxa such as Spiniferites elongatus, Pentapharsodinium dalei and Impagidinium pallidum. This assemblage suggests conditions at least as warm as at present. From ca. 6400 to ca. 3600 14 C yr BP, transfer functions indicate warmer conditions than at present, with SST in August fluctuating up to 5.5°C. After 3600 14 C yr BP, the dinocyst record suggests a trend of decreasing temperature toward modern values, marked by recurrent cooling events.

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“…Exotic tree pollen often comprise a small but significant portion of modern and Holocene arctic pollen spectra and are attributed to long-distance transport from forests located at considerable distances to the south (Bourgeois et a/., 1985;Hyvarinen, 1985;Jacobs et a/., 1985;Funder and Abrahamsen, 1988). Pinus, Picea, Betula and Ahus are usually represented, but other more thermophilous taxa occur occasionally.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, at some other polar desert sites, Betula pollen attributable to tree birch is significant (Funder and Abrahamsen, 1988). Sedges are ubiquitous in the Arctic and are usually well represented in modern pollen spectra from surface samples and from ice and snow samples (Bourgeois et a/., 1985;Jacobs et a/., 1985). The Cyperaceae abundance5 in the peat bed indicate that the peat probably accumulated in a wet sedge meadow with the consequent overrepresentation of Cyperaceae pollen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stratigraphy and palaeoecology of a possible interglacial site, northernmost Ellesmere Island, Canada

Evans¹,

Mott

1993

J Quaternary Science

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An extensive stratigraphic section at Cape Alfred Ernest on the Wootton Peninsula, northwest Ellesmere island contains six lithofacies which appear to record two glacial phases separated by an organic layer. (1) A lower massive gravel records a pre-ice advance outwash phase; ( 2 ) massive fine-grained sediments record a period of non-glacial marine deposition when sea-level was higher than present; (3) a massive diamicton records the advance of ice across the site; (4) intermediate stratified beds record supraglacial and proglacial outwash, and include an organic layer; (5) massive diamicton grading down-valley to stratified diamicton and then massive, jourml of Quaternary Science sheared diamicton, overlain by laminated fine-grained sediments with dropstones, recording the last (late Wisconsinan) glaciation; (6) upward-coarsening sands and gravels record proglacial outwash and grade to raised marine deltas.Radiocarbon dates of 39270 k 640 and > 51 000 yr BP were obtained on samples from the organic layer by accelerator mass spectrometry and conventional radiocarbon dating, respectively. Palaeoecological data suggest that the organics accumulated in a wet sedge meadow environment when the climate was warmer than present. Stratigraphic considerations suggest that the organic layer represents an interglacial interval which, if valid, indicates that the site constitutes the northernmost interglacial stratigraphy in the Canadian Arctic. Alternatively, the organic layer may date to Plio-Pleistocene times.

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Airborne Pollen: A Unique Air Mass Tracer, Its Influx to the Canadian High Arctic

Cited by 61 publications

References 14 publications

Inferences concerning climatic change from a deeply frozen lake on Rundfjeld, Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada

Inferences concerning climatic change from a deeply frozen lake on Rundfjeld, Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada

Sea‐surface conditions in northernmost Baffin Bay during the Holocene: palynological evidence

Stratigraphy and palaeoecology of a possible interglacial site, northernmost Ellesmere Island, Canada

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