Late Holocene forest dynmics, volcanism, and climate change at Whitewing Mountain and San Joaquin Ridge, Mono County Sierra Nevada, CA USA
Millar CI, Science Direct, King JC, Westfall RD, Alden HA, Delany DL. 2006. Late Holocene forest dynmics, volcanism, and climate change at Whitewing Mountain and San Joaquin Ridge, Mono County Sierra Nevada, CA USA. Quaternary Research. 66:273-287
Deadwood tree stems scattered above treeline on tephra-covered slopes of Whitewing Mtn (3051 m) and San Joaquin Ridge (3122 m) showevidence of being killed in an eruption from adjacent Glass Creek Vent, Inyo Craters. Using tree-ring methods, we dated deadwood to AD 815–1350 and infer from death dates that the eruption occurred in late summer AD 1350. Based on wood anatomy, we identified deadwood species as Pinus albicaulis, P. monticola, P. lambertiana, P. contorta, P. jeffreyi, and Tsuga mertensiana. Only P. albicaulis grows at these elevations currently; P. lambertiana is not locally native. Using contemporary distributions of the species, we modeled paleoclimate during the time of sympatry to be significantly warmer (+3.2°C annual minimum temperature) and slightly drier (−24 mm annual precipitation) than present, resembling values projected for California in the next 70–100 yr.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Millar, Constance; Science Direct; King, John; Westfall, Robert; Alden, Harry; Delany, Diane
- Date of Issue
- 2005-06-17
- Units
- DEPO , SIEN
- Keywords
- Climate Change, forest history, Inyo Craters, Late Holocene, Long Valley volcanism, medieval climate, paleoclimatic modeling, Paleoecology, tree-ring dating