Late Holocene Pollen and Present-Day Vegetation, Prudhoe Bay and Atigun River, Alaskan North Slope
Walker DA, Short SK, Andrews JJ, Webber PJ. 1981. Late Holocene Pollen and Present-Day Vegetation, Prudhoe Bay and Atigun River, Alaskan North Slope. Arctic and Alpine Research. 13(2):153-172
Four peat profiles of late Holocene age and a single stratum of peat of middle Holocene age were radiocarbon dated, and their pollen spectra analyzed. The samples were from four sites close to Prudhoe Bay on the arctic coast of Alaska and from one site at the edge of the Brooks Range, Alaska, near Galbraith Lake. Nearly all levels in the pollen profiles showed significant amounts of Picea and Pinus tree pollen. At sites near the coast the quantities of Alnus and Betula pollen were also high despite the fact that the floristic limits of these genera occur 120 and 70 km to the south. The pollen profiles were frequently dominated by Cyperaceae pollen. Because the prevailing winds in May and June across the Prudhoe Bay region are from the east and east-north-east, the high percentages of Picea and Pinus in the diagrams may represent pollen transport from the forest-tundra ecotone and boreal forest of northwestern Canada. Many important taxa in the present vegetation were not represented in the pollen profiles, and difficulties of making inferences regarding past vegetation and climate are emphasized.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Walker, D; Short, S; Andrews, J; Webber, P
- Units
- ARCN , BELA , CAKR , GAAR , KOVA , NOAT
- Keywords
- Arctic, Disturbance, Ecology, Human, Paleoecology, Vegetation