Loading...
Late-Quaternary climate in the Ridge and Valley of Virginia, U.S.A.: Changes in vegetation and depositional environment: A contribution to the ‘North Atlantic seaboard programme’ of IGCP-253, ‘Termination of the Pleistocene’
Kneller, Margaret
Peteet, Dorothy
Peteet, Dorothy
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract
Browns Pond, Virginia, in the Ridge and Valley physiographic province, contains a record of changing vegetational and depositional environments that dates to 17,130 BP. Six cores were retrieved in a transect of the pond. Pollen and macrofossils were identified from the longest central core and a series of AMS radiocarbon dates obtained from identified macrofossils and sediment. The pollen and macrofossil record combined with laterally consistent changes in lithostratigraphy reveal a changing climate. From 17,300 to 14,1(30 BP, a closed boreal forest of Pinus-Picea-Abies grew at the site. Pinus dominates the pollen assemblage while Picea and Abies dominate the macrofossil assemblage. Subtle increases in more thermophilous and mesophytic taxa indicate gradual climate amelioration after the fullglacial. A marked increase in A/nus at 14,100 BP signals an increase in moisture, possibly related to the global evidence for rapid climate change at 14,000 BP. At this central Appalachian site, Abies and Alnus are found in relatively greater amounts in the late-glacial forest than
previous studies indicated. Low organic contents and evidence of gleyed conditions, seen in the core transect from 10,000 to 8000 BP, point towards low-water levels in the early Hoiocene----approximately coincident with the expansion of Quercus.
Description
Date
1993
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Climate change, Vegetation changes, Paleoclimate, Paleoenvironment, Environmental reconstruction
Citation
Kneller, Margaret, and Dorothy Peteet. “Late-Quaternary Climate in the Ridge and Valley of Virginia, U.S.A.: Changes in Vegetation and Depositional Environment: A Contribution to the ‘North Atlantic Seaboard Programme’ of IGCP-253, ‘Termination of the Pleistocene.’” Quaternary Science Reviews 12 (8): 613–28. 1993.