Holocene climate change and landscape development from a low-Arctic tundra lake in the western Hudson Bay region of Manitoba, Canada

Philip Camill; Charles E Umbanhowar; Christoph Geiss; William O Hobbs; Mark B Edlund; Avery Cook Shinneman; Jeffrey A Dorale; Jason Lynch

doi:10.1007/s10933-012-9619-0

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Holocene climate change and landscape development from a low-Arctic tundra lake in the western Hudson Bay region of Manitoba, Canada

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Holocene climate change and landscape development from a low-Arctic tundra lake in the western Hudson Bay region of Manitoba, Canada

Philip Camill, Charles E Umbanhowar, Christoph Geiss, William O Hobbs, Mark B Edlund, Avery Cook Shinneman, Jeffrey A Dorale and Jason Lynch

Journal of paleolimnology, Vol.48(1), pp.175-192

06/2012

DOI: 10.1007/s10933-012-9619-0

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Abstract

The low-Arctic region of western Hudson Bay in interior Canada is one of the most poorly described areas of North America in terms of Holocene climate history. Here, we present new data from a well-dated lake sediment core from northern Manitoba, Canada. We assemble one of the richest multi-proxy datasets to date for a low-Arctic lake and characterize terrestrial and lake processes and exchanges between them. These proxies include fossil pollen and diatom assemblages, charcoal, magnetic properties (susceptibility and remanance), mineral grain size, bulk density, organic-matter content, elemental geochemistry, sediment cation (K (super +) , Mg (super 2+) , Ca (super 2+) , Fe (super 2+) /Fe (super 3+) ) and macronutrient (P, N, C) contents, biogenic-silica content, basal peat dates (wetland initiation), and stable isotopes (delta (super 13) C, delta (super 15) N). The sediment proxies record both broad- and fine-scale (millennial and sub-millennial) climate change. We find indirect evidence for a cool and dry post-glacial period from 9,000 to 6,500 cal yr BP, a warm and moist mid-Holocene period from 6,500 to 2,500 cal yr BP, and a cool and moist late Holocene period from 2,500 cal yr BP to present. High-resolution geochemical data suggests 300- to 500-year-long dry periods at approximately 6,500-6,100, 5,300-5,000, 3,300-2,800, and 400-0 cal yr BP. These results suggest that terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem dynamics in the western Hudson Bay region are sensitive to past climate change and are likely to respond to future changes in temperature and precipitation. Copyright 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

algae

Atlantic Ocean

Canada

Cenozoic

chemical composition

climate change

diatoms

geochemistry

Holocene

Hudson Bay

lacustrine environment

lake sediments

Little Ice Age

Manitoba

microfossils

miospores

Neoglacial

North Atlantic

Nunavut

paleoclimatology

paleolimnology

palynomorphs

peat

Plantae

pollen

pollen analysis

Quaternary

Quaternary geology

sediments

tundra

Unit Lake

upper Holocene

Western Canada

X-ray diffraction data

Details

Title: Subtitle: Holocene climate change and landscape development from a low-Arctic tundra lake in the western Hudson Bay region of Manitoba, Canada
Creators: Philip Camill - Bowdoin College
Charles E Umbanhowar - St. Olaf College
Christoph Geiss - Trinity College Dublin
William O Hobbs - Science Museum of Minnesota
Mark B Edlund - Science Museum of Minnesota
Avery Cook Shinneman
Jeffrey A Dorale - University of Iowa
Jason Lynch - North Central College
Contributors: Darrell S Kaufman (Editor) - Northern Arizona University
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of paleolimnology, Vol.48(1), pp.175-192
Publisher: Springer
DOI: 10.1007/s10933-012-9619-0
ISSN: 0921-2728
eISSN: 1573-0417
Alternative title: Holocene paleoenvironmental records from Arctic lake sediment
Language: English
Date published: 06/2012
Academic Unit: University College Courses; Earth and Environmental Sciences
Record Identifier: 9984229169002771

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