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A Holocene Ice-Core Pollen Record from Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jocelyne C. Bourgeois ,
Roy M. Koerner ,
Konrad Gajewski  and
David A. Fisher
Jocelyne C. Bourgeois
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Canada, K1A 0E8; and Department of Geography, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, K1N 6N5
Roy M. Koerner
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Canada, K1A 0E8
Konrad Gajewski
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, K1N 6N5
David A. Fisher
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Canada, K1A 0E8
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Abstract

A Holocene record of pollen deposition was obtained from an ice core drilled through the Agassiz Ice Cap. The pollen records long-range atmospheric transport to the ice cap. Pollen concentrations were highest in the early Holocene (∼15 grains/L), decreased in the mid-Holocene (∼6 grains/L), and increased in the late Holocene (∼9 grains/L). In the early Holocene, the higher concentration of tree pollen at a time when large parts of Canada were still ice-covered, and when forest was generally farther away, implies that atmospheric circulation was stronger than at present. Following deglaciation, as vegetation migrated north in central and eastern Canada, sources of pollen were closer to the Agassiz Ice Cap. However, the concentration of tree pollen decreased on the ice cap. This was followed by several relatively rapid changes after 3500 yr ago. Until ca. 3500 yr ago, the pollen concentration curves resembled the ice core δ18O and summer melt layer curves, both regarded as temperature proxies.

Keywords

ice corespollenpaleoenvironmentHoloceneEllesmere IslandArctic
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , September 2000 , pp. 275 - 283
Copyright
University of Washington

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