Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-npwhs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T23:13:00.322Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pollen Response-Surface Estimates of Late-Quaternary Changes in the Moisture Balance of the Northeastern United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert S. Webb ,
Katherine H. Anderson  and
Thompson Webb III
Robert S. Webb
Affiliation:
Paleoclimatology Program, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80303
Katherine H. Anderson
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Box 1846, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912
Thompson Webb III
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Box 1846, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Quantitative estimates of late-Quaternary climate in the northeastern United States are reconstructed from fossil pollen data to evaluate changes in the regional moisture balance inferred from water-level fluctuations. We use environmental response surfaces to calibrate modern pollen data (for 17 different taxa) to an index of effective soil moisture and mean annual precipitation. We apply these response surfaces to fossil pollen data from 60 sites in the region to reconstruct changes in soil moisture and mean annual precipitation at 3000-yr intervals from 12,000 yr B.P. to present. The mapped reconstructions of soil moisture and mean annual precipitation illustrate how the regional moisture balance of the Northeast may have changed over the last 12,000 yr in response to changing climate. Reconstructions of annual precipitation show a gradual increase from 30% below modern values at 12,000 yr B.P. to near-modern values by 6000 yr B.P. and then remain relatively constant thereafter. Reconstructed changes in the index of effective soil moisture, however, show a pattern of near-modern values at 12,000, 6000, and 3000 yr B.P., with significantly lower values estimated for 9000 yr B.P., the time of maximum pine pollen abundances in the Northeast. This pattern of change is similar to the change in regional moisture balance inferred from stratigraphic records of water-level fluctuations. These results confirm previous interpretations, based on records of water-level fluctuations, that conditions in the Northeast were significantly drier during the early to middle Holocene than at other times during the last 12,000 yr.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , September 1993 , pp. 213 - 227
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anderson, P. M. Bartlein, P. J. Brubaker, L. B. Gajewski, K., and Ritchie, J. C. (1991). Vegetation-pollen-climate relationships for the arcto-boreal regions of North America and Greenland. Journal of Biogeography 18, 565–582.Google Scholar
Anderson, R. S. (1979). “A Holocene Record of Vegetation and Fire at Upper South Branch Pond in Northern Maine.” Unpublished M.S. thesis, University of Maine.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P. J. Prentice, I. C., and Webb, T. III (1986). Climatic re-sponse surfaces from pollen data for some eastern North American taxa. Journal of Biogeography 13, 35–57.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P. J. Webb, T. III, and Fieri, E. (1984). Holocene climatic change in the northern Midwest: Pollen-derived estimates. Quaternary Research 22, 361–374.Google Scholar
Bernabo, J. C. (1977). “Sensing Climatically and Culturally Induced Environmental Changes with Palynological Data.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Brown University.Google Scholar
Bostwick, L. K. (1978). “An Environmental Framework for Cultural Change in Maine: Pollen Influx and Percentage Diagrams from Mon-hegan Island.” Unpublished M.S. thesis, University of Maine.Google Scholar
COHMAP (1988). Climate changes of the last 18,000 years: Observations and model simulations. Science 241, 1043–1052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cotter, J. F. P. (1983). “The Minimum Age of the Woodfordian Degla-ciation of Northeastern Pennsylvania and Northwestern New Jersey.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Lehigh University.Google Scholar
Cotter, J. F. P., and Crowl, G. H. (1981). The paleolimnology of Rose Lake, Potter Co., Pennsylvania: A comparison of palynologic and paleo-pigment studies. In “Geobotany II” (Romans, R. C., Ed.), pp. 91–116. Plenum, New York.Google Scholar
Craig, A. J. (1969). Vegetational history of the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. Geological Society of America Special Paper 123, 283–296.Google Scholar
Cramer, W., and Prentice, 1. C. (1988). Simulations of regional soil moisture deficits on a European scale. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift 42, 149–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, M. B. (1969). Climatic changes in southern Connecticut re-corded by pollen deposition at Rogers Lake. Ecology 50, 409–422.Google Scholar
Davis, M. B. (1978). Climatic interpretation of pollen in Quaternary sediments. In “Biology and Quaternary Environments” (Walker, D. and Guppy, J. C., Eds.), pp. 35–51. Australian Academy of Science.Google Scholar
Davis, M. B. Spear, R. W., and Shane, L. C. K. (1980). Holocene climate of New England. Quaternary Research 14, 240–250.Google Scholar
Davis, R. B. Bradstreet, T. E. Stuckenrath, R. Jr., and Borns, H. W. Jr. (1975). Vegetation and associated environments during the past 14,000 years near Moulton Pond, Maine. Quaternary Research 5, 436–465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, R. B., and Jacobson, G. L. (1987). Late-Glacial and early Holocene landscapes in northern New England and adjacent areas. Quaternary Research 23, 341–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delcourt, P. A. Delcourt, H. R., and Webb, T. III (1984). “Atlas of Mapped Distributions of Dominance and Modern Pollen Percentages for Important Tree Taxa of Eastern North America.” American As-sociation of Stratigraphic Palynologists, Contribution Series 14. Google Scholar
Federer, C. A. (1982). Transpiration supply and demand: Plant, soil, and atmospheric effects evaluated by simulation. Water Resources Research 18, 355–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fries, M. (1962). Pollen profiles of late Pleistocene and recent sedi-ments from Weber Lake, northeastern Minnesota. Ecology 43, 295–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaudreau, D. C. (1986). “Late-Quaternary Vegetational History of the Northeast: Paleoecological Implications of Topographic Patterns in Pollen Data.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University.Google Scholar
Gaudreau, D. C. (1988). Paleoecological interpretation of geographic patterns in pollen data: Spruce and birch in northeastern North America. In “Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Paleoecology and Archeology of the Eastern Great Lakes Region” (Laub, R. S. Miller, N. G., and Steadman, D. W., Eds.). Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences 33, 15–29.Google Scholar
Gaudreau, D. C, and Webb, T. III (1985). Late-Quaternary pollen stratigraphy and isochron maps for the northeastern United States. In “Pollen Records of Late-Quatemary North American Sediments” (Bryant, V. M. Jr., and Holloway, R. G., Eds.), pp. 247–280. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation, Dallas.Google Scholar
Harrison, S. P. (1989). Lake level and climate changes in eastern North America. Climate Dynamics 3, 157–167.Google Scholar
Ibe, R. A. (1982). “Quaternary Palynology of Five Lacustrine Deposits in the Catskill Mountain Region of New York.” Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, New York University.Google Scholar
Jacobson, G. L. (1992). “A 7000-Year History of White Pine.” The White Pine Symposium: History, Ecology, Policy, and Management, Duluth.Google Scholar
Likens, G. E., and Davis, M. B. (1975). Post-glacial history of Mirror Lake and its watershed in New Hampshire U.S.A.: An initial report. Verhandlungen der Internationalen Vereinigung fur theoretische und angewandte Limnologie 19, 982–993.Google Scholar
Male, D. H., and Gray, D. M. (1981). Snowcover ablation and runoff. In “Handbook of Snow: Principles, Processes, Management, and Use” (Gray, D. M. and Male, D. H., Eds.), pp. 360–436. Pergamon, Ontario.Google Scholar
Maxwell, J. A., and Davis, M. B. (1972). Pollen evidence of Pleistocene and Holocene vegetation on the Allegheny Plateau, Maryland. Quaternary Research 2, 506–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDowell, L. L. Dole, R. M. Jr. Howard, M. Jr., and Farrington, R. A. (1971). Palynology and radiocarbon chronology of Bugbee Wildflower Sanctuary and Natural Area, Caledonia County, Vermont. Pollen et Spores XIII, 73–91.Google Scholar
Miller, N. G. (1973). Late-glacial plants and plant communities in northwestern New York State. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 54, 123–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mott, R. J. (1975). Palynologicai studies of lake sediment profiles from southwestern New Brunswick. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 12, 273–288.Google Scholar
Mott, R. J. (1977). Late Pleistocene and Holocene palynology in southeastern Quebec. Geographie physique et Quaternaire 31, 139–149.Google Scholar
Nicholas, J. (1968). “Late Pleistocene Palynology of Southeastern New York and Northern New Jersey.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, New York University.Google Scholar
Niering, W. A. (1953). The past and present vegetation of High Point State Park, New Jersey. Ecological Monographs 23, 127–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Overpeck, J. T. (1985). A pollen study of a fate-Quaternary peat bog: South-central Adirondack Mountains, New York. Geological Society of America Bulletin 96, 145–154.Google Scholar
Overpeck, J. T., and Fieri, E. C. (1982). The development of age models for Holocene sediment cores: Northeastern examples. American Quaternary Association, Abstracts 152.Google Scholar
Overpeck, J. T. Webb, T. III, and Prentice, I. C. (1985). Quantitative interpretation of fossil pollen spectra: Dissimilarity coefficients and the method of modern analogs. Quaternary Research 23, 87–108.Google Scholar
Pastor, J., and Post, W. M. (1986). Influence of climate, soil moisture, and succession on forest carbon and nitrogen. Biochemistry 2, 3–27.Google Scholar
Penman, H. L. (1963). “Vegetation and Hydrology.” Technical Communication 53, Commonwealth Bureau of Soils, Farham Royal, Bucks, England.Google Scholar
Peteet, D. M. Vogel, J. S. Nelson, D. E. Southon, J. R. Nickmann, R. J., and Heusser, L. E. (1990). Younger Dryas climatic reversal in northeastern USA? AMS ages for an old problem. Quaternary Research 33, 219–230.Google Scholar
Prentice, I. C Bartiein, P. J., and Webb, T. III (1991). Vegetation and climatic change in eastern North America since the last glacial maximum. Ecology 72, 2038–2056.Google Scholar
Solomon, A. M. (1986). Transient response of forest to C02-induced climate change: Simulation modeling experiments in eastern North America. Oecologia 68, 567–579.Google Scholar
Spear, R. W. (1981). “The History of High-Elevation Vegetation in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Spear, R. W., and Miller, N. G. (1976). A radiocarbon dated pollen diagram from the Allegheny Plateau of New York State. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 57, 369–403.Google Scholar
Suter, S. M. (1985). Late-glacial and Holocene vegetational history in southeastern Massachusetts: A 14,000 year pollen record. Current Research in the Pleistocene 2, 87–88.Google Scholar
Thornthwaite, C. W. (1948). An approach towards a rational classification of climate. Geographic Review 38, 55–94.Google Scholar
Walker, P. C, and Hartman, R. (1960). The forest sequence of the Hartstown Bog area in western Pennsylvania. Ecology 41, 461–474.Google Scholar
Watts, W. A. (1979). Late Quaternary vegetation of central Appalachia and the New Jersey coastal plain. Ecological Monographs 49, 427–469.Google Scholar
Webb, R. S. (1990). “Late Quaternary Water-Level Fluctuations in the Northeastern United States.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Brown University.Google Scholar
Webb, R. S. Rosenzweig, C. E., and Levine, E. R. (1993b). Specifying land surface characteristics in general circulation models: Soil profile dataset and derived water-holding capacities. Global Biogeochemicai Cycles!, 97–108.Google Scholar
Webb, R. S., and Webb, T. III (1988). Rates of sediment accumulation in pollen cores from small lakes and mires of eastern North America. Quaternary Research 30, 284–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, T. III (1982). Temporal resolution in Holocene pollen data. Proceedings of the Third North American Paleontological Convention 2, 569–572.Google Scholar
Webb, T. III Bartiein, P. J., and Kutzbach, J. E. (1987). Climate change in eastern North America during the past 18,000 years: Com-parisons of pollen data with model results. In “North America and Adjacent Oceans During the Last Deglaciation. The Geology of North America” (Ruddiman, W. F. Wright, H. E., Eds), Vol. K-3, pp. 447–462. The Geological Society of America, Decade of North American Geology Series.Google Scholar
Webb, T. III Bartiein, P. J. Harrison, S., and Anderson, K. H. (1993a), Vegetation, lake levels, and climate in eastern United States since 18,000 yr B.P., In “Global Climates Since the Last Glacial Maximum” (Wright, H. E. Webb, T. III, and Kutzbach, J. E., Eds.), Chap. 17. Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, in press.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. R. (1979). Late-glacial and post-glacial vegetational history of the Berkshires, western Massachusetts. Quaternary Research 12, 333–357.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. R., and Crisman, T. (1978). Paleolimnological studies of small New England (U.S.A.) ponds. I, Late glacial and postglacial trophic oscillations. Polskie Archiwum Hydrobtologii 25, 471–481.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. R. Charles, D. F. Jackson, S. T. Reed, S. E., and Sheehan, M. C. (1986). Late-glacial and Holocene acidity changes in Adirondack (N.Y.) lakes. In “Diatoms and Lake Acidity” (Smol, J. P. Battarbee, R. W. Davis, R. B., and Merilainen, J., Eds.), pp. 251–274. Dr. W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. R., and Jackson, S. T. (1990). The regional vegetational history of the High Peaks (Adirondack Mountains), New York. New York State Museum Bulletin Number 478. Albany.Google Scholar
Winkler, M. G. (1985). A 12,000-year history of vegetation and climate for Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Quaternary Research 23, 301–312.Google Scholar
Winkler, M. G. Swain, A. M., and Kutzbach, J. E. (1986). Middle Holocene dry period in the northern midwestern United States: Lake levels and pollen stratigraphy. Quaternary Research 25, 235–250.Google Scholar