Quaternary Environmental History of Interior Alaska: Pollen Samples from Organic Colluvium and Peats
Mathews JV. 1970. Quaternary Environmental History of Interior Alaska: Pollen Samples from Organic Colluvium and Peats. Arctic and Alpine Research. 2(4):241-251
Thick sequences of late Pleistocene frozen silts and peats are exposed in many areas of forested interior Alaska. Pollen samples from such sediments show, like other types of paleoenvironmental evidence (fossil mammals, fossil insects, etc.), that an arctic environment once prevailed in large areas of lowland interior Alaska. Furthermore, a few of these pollen samples are referred to Livingstone's Herb Zone, suggesting that the Late Wisconsin environment of lowland interior Alaska was similar in some respects to that of present day Barrow, Alaska. During that time, spruce woodlands would have been nearly eliminated from interior Alaska. Two of the pollen samples represent forested conditions. One of these, of probable interglacial age, provides the first evidence from interior Alaska of a westward advance of pines during the Pleistocene. Surface samples from interior Alaska are presented for comparison with the fossil pollen samples.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Mathews, John
- Units
- YUCH
- Keywords
- History, Management, Soil Science