Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-l82ql Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-02T20:03:28.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Record of Late Quaternary Vegetation from Davis Lake, Southern Puget Lowland, Washington1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Cathy W. Barnosky
Cathy W. Barnosky*
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pollen and macrofossil analyses of a core spanning 26,000 yr from Davis Lake reveal late Pleistocene and Holocene vegetational patterns in the Puget Lowland. The core ranges lithologically from a basal inorganic clay to a detritus gyttja to an upper fibrous peat and includes eight tephra units. The late Pleistocene pollen sequence records two intervals of tundra-parkland vegetation. The earlier of these has high percentages of Picea, Gramineae, and Artemisia pollen and represents the vegetation during the Evans Creek Stade (Fraser Glaciation) (ca. 25,000–17,000 yr B.P.). The later parkland interval is dominated by Picea, Tsuga mertensiana, and Gramineae. It corresponds to the maximum ice advance in the Puget Lowland during the Vashon Stade (Fraser Glaciation) (ca. 14,000 yr B.P.). An increase in Pinus ontorta pollen between the two tundra-parkland intervals suggests a temporary rise in treeline during an unnamed interstade. After 13,500 yr B.P., a mixed woodland of subalpine and lowland conifers grew at Davis Lake during a period of rapid climatic amelioration. In the early Holocene, the prolonged expansion of Pseudotsuga and Alnus woodland suggests dry, temperate conditions similar to those of present rainshadow sites in the Puget Lowland. More-mesic forests of Tsuga eterophylla, Thuja plicata, and Pseudotsuga, similar to present lowland vegetation, appeared in the late Holocene (ca. 5500 yr B.P.).

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , September 1981 , pp. 221 - 239
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.)

Footnotes

1

Contribution No. 1, Quaternary Research Center, Univ. of Washington, Seattle.

References

Armstrong, J.E. (1975). Quaternary geology, stratigraphic studies and reevaluation of terrain inventory maps, Fraser lowland, British Columbia. Canada Geological Survey Paper 75-1 377–380.Google Scholar
Armstrong, J.E., Crandell, D.R., Easterbrook, D.J., Noble, J.B. (1965). Late-Pleistocene stratigraphy and chronology in southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin 76. 321–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, R.G. (1976). Late Quaternary vegetation of the Yellowstone Lake Basin, Wyoming. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 729-E Google Scholar
Bates, C.D., Coxon, R., Gibbard, P.L. (1978). A new method for the preparation of clay-rich sediment samples for palynological investigation. New Phytologist 81. 1–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bent, A.M., Wright, H.E. Jr. (1963). Pollen analyses of surface materials and lake sediments from the Chuska Mountains, New Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 74. 491–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berggren, G. (1969). Atlas of Seeds. Part 2: Cyperaceae. Swedish Natural Science Research Council, Stockholm Google Scholar
Crandell, D.R., Miller, R.D. (1974). Quaternary stratigraphy and extent of glaciation in the Mount Rainier region, Washington. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 847 Google Scholar
Crandell, D.R. (1965). The glacial geology of western Washington and Oregon. In “The Quaternary of the United States.” (Wright, H.E. Jr., Frey, D.G., Eds.). pp. 341–353. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Cwynar, L.C., Burden, E., McAndrews, J.H. (1979). An inexpensive sieving method for concentrating pollen and spores from fine-grained sediments. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 16. 1115–1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, M.B. (1973). Pollen evidence of changing land use around the shores of Lake Washington. Northwest Science 47. 133–148.Google Scholar
Davis, M.B. (1976). Pleistocene biogeography of temperate deciduous forests. Geoscience and Man 13. 13–26.Google Scholar
Davis, M.B., Brubaker, L.B., Webb, T. III (1973). Calibration of absolute influx. In “Quaternary Plant Ecology.” (Birks, H.J.B., West, R.G., Eds.). pp. 109–116. John Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Davis, R.B., Webb, T. III (1975). The contemporaneous distribution of pollen in eastern North America: A comparison with the vegetation. Quaternary Research 5. 395–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faegri, K., Iversen, J. (1975). Textbook of Pollen Analysis. Munksgaard, Copenhagen Google Scholar
Fowells, H.A. (1965). Sylvics of forest trees of the United States. U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook 271 Google Scholar
Franklin, J.F., Dyrness, C.T. (1973). Natural vegetation of Oregon and Washington. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service General Technical Report PNW-8 Google Scholar
Hansen, B.S., Easterbrook, D.J. (1974). Stratigraphy and palynology of late Quaternary sediments in the Puget Sound region. Geological Society of America Bulletin 85. 578–602.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, H.P. (1938). Postglacial forest succession and climate in the Puget Sound region. Ecology 19. 528–542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, H.P. (1943). A pollen study of two bogs on Orcas Island, of the San Juan Islands, Washington. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 70. 236–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, H.P. (1947). Postglacial forest succession, climate and chronology in the Pacific Northwest. American Philosophical Society Transactions 37 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, H.P. (1974). Pollen analysis of a deep section from Lake Washington, Seattle. Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany Special Publication 5. 1–4.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J. (1973). Environmental sequence following the Fraser advance of the Juan de Fuca lobe, Washington. Quaternary Research 3. 284–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J. (1977). Quaternary palynology of the Pacific slope of Washington. Quaternary Research 8. 282–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J. (1978a). Modern pollen rain in the Puget Lowland of Washington. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 105. 292–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J. (1978b). Modern pollen rain of Washington. Canadian Journal of Botany 56. 1510–1517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J., Heusser, L.E. (1980). Sequence of pumiceous tephra layers and the late Quaternary environmental record near Mount St. Helens. Science 210. 1007–1009.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heusser, C.J., Heusser, L.E., Streeter, S.S. (1980). Quaternary temperatures and precipitation for the northwest coast of North America. Nature (London) 286. 702–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbert, D.M. (1979). Pollen analysis of late Quaternary sediments from two lakes in the southern Puget Lowland, Washington. Unpublished M.S. thesis. University of Washington, Seattle Google Scholar
Hitchcock, C.L., Cronquist, A. (1973). Flora of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press Google Scholar
Lowery, R.F. (1972). Ecology of subalpine tree clumps in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Washington, Seattle Google Scholar
Martin, A.C., Barkley, W.D. (1961). Seed Identification Manual. University of California Press, Berkeley CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathewes, R.W., Rouse, G.E. (1975). Palynology and paleoecology of postglacial sediments from the Lower Fraser River Canyon of British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 12. 745–756.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAndrews, J.H., Wright, H.E. Jr. (1969). Modern pollen spectra across the Wyoming basins and the northern Great Plains (U.S.A.). Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 9. 17–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullineaux, D.R., Wilcox, R.E., Ebaugh, W.F., Fryxell, R., Rubin, M. (1978). Age of last major Scabland flood of the Columbia Plateau in eastern Washington. Quaternary Research 10. 171–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munger, T.T. (1940). The cycle from Douglas-fir to hemlock. Ecology 21. 451–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, R.E. (1979). Quaternary environments of the Arctic slope of Alaska. Unpublished M.S. thesis. University of Washington, Seattle Google Scholar
Plummer, F.G. (1900). Mount Rainer Forest Reserve, Washington. U.S. Geological Survey 21st Annual Report to the Secretary of the Interior, 1899–1900; Part V: Forest Reserves 81–144.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C. (1976). Pleistocene glaciation in the southern part of the North Cascade Range, Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin 87. 61–75.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ralph, E.K., Michael, H.N., Han, M.C. (1973). Radiocarbon dates and reality. MASCA Newsletter 9. 1–20.Google Scholar
Schopmeyer, C.S. (1974). Seeds of woody plants in the United States. U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook No. 450 Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Heusser, C.J., Yang, I.G. (1978). North American glacial history extended to 75,000 vears ago. Science 200. 16–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce Weather Bureau, . (1960). Climatic Summary of the United States—Supplement for 1931 through 1952. Climatography of the United States No. 11–39 Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce Weather Bureau, . (1963). Climatological data: Washington. Annual Summary 1963–1967 210–222.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A. (1979). Late Quaternary vegetation of central Appalachia and the New Jersey coastal plain. Ecological Monographs 49. 427–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar