Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-g8tfn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T03:49:10.785Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sedimentary Proxy Evidence of a Mid-Holocene Hypsithermal Event in the Location of a Current Warming Hole, North Carolina, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Benjamin R. Tanner ,
Chad S. Lane ,
Elizabeth M. Martin ,
Robert Young  and
Beverly Collins
Benjamin R. Tanner*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources, 331 Stillwell, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA
Chad S. Lane
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Geology, 601 South College Road, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA
Elizabeth M. Martin
Affiliation:
Biology Department, Natural Science Building 132, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA
Robert Young
Affiliation:
Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, Belk 294, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA
Beverly Collins
Affiliation:
Biology Department, Natural Science Building 132, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:btanner@wcu.edu (B.R. Tanner).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A wetland deposit from the southern Appalachian mountains of North Carolina, USA, has been radiocarbon dated and shows continuous deposition from the early Holocene to the present. Non-coastal records of Holocene paleoenvironments are rare from the southeastern USA. Increased stable carbon isotope ratios (?13C) of sedimentary organic matter and pollen percentages indicate warm, dry early- to mid-Holocene conditions. This interpretation is also supported by n-alkane biomarker data and bulk sedimentary C/N ratios. These warm, dry conditions coincide with a mid-Holocene hypsithermal, or altithermal, documented elsewhere in North America. Our data indicate that the southeastern USA warmed concurrently with much of the rest of the continent during the mid-Holocene. If the current "warming hole" in the southeastern USA persists, during a time of greenhouse gas-induced warming elsewhere, it will be anomalous both in space and time.

Keywords

HypsithermalMulti-proxyWarming holeBiomarkerBogHoloceneSoutheastClimate changePollenCarbon isotope

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , March 2015 , pp. 315 - 323
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

Albro, P.W. (1976). Bacterial waxes. Kolattukudy, P.E. Chemistry and Biochemistry of Natural Waxes Elsevier, Amsterdam.419–439.Google Scholar
Alexander, L.V. (2013). Observations: atmosphere and surface. Stocker, T.F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M.M.B., Allen, S.K., Boschung, J., Navels, A., Xia, Y., Bex, V., Midgley, P.M. Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.159–254.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P.J., Edwards, M.E., Shafer, S.L., and Barker jr., E.D. (1995). Calibration of radiocarbon ages and the interpretation of paleoenvironmental records. Quaternary Research 44, 417–424.Google Scholar
Birks, H.H., and Birks, H.J. (2006). Multi-proxy studies in palaeolimnology. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 15, 235-215.Google Scholar
Blumer, M., Guillard, R.R.L., and Chase, T. (1971). Hydrocarbons of marine plankton. Marine Biology 8, 183–189.Google Scholar
Blundell, A., and Barber, K. (2005). A 2800-year palaeoclimatic record from Tore Hill Moss, Strathspey, Scotland: the need for a multi-proxy approach to peat-based climate reconstructions. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, 1261–1277.Google Scholar
Chikaraishi, Y., and Naraoka, H. (2003). Compound-specific ?D-?13C analyses of n-alkanes extracted from terrestrial and aquatic plants. Phytochemistry 63, 361–371.Google Scholar
Collister, J.W., Rieley, G., Stern, B., Eglinton, T., and Fry, B. (1994). Compound specific ?13C analyses of leaf lipids from plants with differing carbon dioxide mechanisms. Organic Geochemistry 21, 619–627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cranwell, P.A., Eglinton, G., and Robinson, N. (1987). Lipids of aquatic organisms as potential contributors to lacustrine sediments. Organic Geochemistry 11, 513–527.Google Scholar
Davidson, T.A., Reid, M.A., Sayer, C.D., and Chilcott, S. (2013). Palaeolimnological records of shallow lake biodiversity change: exploring the merits of single versus multi-proxy approaches. Journal of Paleolimnology 49, 431–446.Google Scholar
Delcourt, H.R. (1979). Late Quaternary vegetation history of the Eastern Highland Rim and adjacent Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee. Ecological Monographs 49, 255–280.Google Scholar
Delcourt, H.R., and Delcourt, P.A. (1985). Quaternary palynology and vegetational history of the Southeastern United States. Bryant jr., V.M., Holloway, R.G. Pollen Records of Late-Quaternary North American Sediments. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation, 1–37.Google Scholar
Delcourt, H.R., and Delcourt, P.A. (1997). Pre-Columbian native American use of fire on Southern Appalachian landscapes. Conservation Biology 11, 1010–1014.Google Scholar
Driese, S.G., Li, Z.-H., and McKay, L.D. (2008). Evidence for multiple, episodic, mid-Holocene hypsithermal recorded in two soil profiles along an alluvial floodplain catena, southeastern Tennessee, USA. Quaternary Research 69, 276–291.Google Scholar
Driese, S.G., Li, Z.-H., Cheng, H., Stinchcomb, G.E., Kocis, J.J., Horn, S.P., and Boehm, M.S. (2012). Speleothem micromorphology improves interpretations of floodplain paleoclimate records and enhances interpretations of the timing and structure of the mid-Holocene Warm Period. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 44, 303.Google Scholar
Ehleringer, J.R., Cerling, T.E., and Helliker, B.R. (1997). C4 photosynthesis, atmospheric CO2, and climate. Oecologia 112, 285–299.Google Scholar
Faegri, K., and Iverson, J. (1989). Textbook of Pollen Analysis. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK.Google Scholar
Farquhar, G.D., Ehleringer, J.R., and Hubick, K.T. (1989). Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 40, 503–537.Google Scholar
Ficken, K.J., Li, B., Swain, D.L., and Eglinton, G. (2000). An n-alkane proxy for the sedimentary input of submerged floating freshwater aquatic macrophytes. Organic Geochemistry 31, 745–749.Google Scholar
Gelphi, E., Schneider, H., Mann, J., and Oró, J. (1970). Hydrocarbons of geochemical significance in microscopic algae. Phytochemistry 9, 603–612.Google Scholar
Giger, W., Schaffner, C., and Wakeham, S.G. (1980). Aliphatic and olefinic hydrocarbons in recent sediments of Greifensee, Switzerland. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 44, 119–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goman, M., and Leigh, D.S. (2004). Wet early to middle Holocene conditions on the upper Coastal Plain of North Carolina, USA. Quaternary Research 61, 256–264.Google Scholar
Goman, M., and Leigh, D.S. (2006). Comment on "Holocene aridity and storm phases, Gulf and Atlantic coasts, USA" by Ervin G. Otvos. Quaternary Research 66, 182–184.Google Scholar
Han, B.J., McCarthy, E.D., van Hoeven, W., Calvin, M., and Bradley, W.H. (1968). Organic geochemical studies, II. A preliminary report on the distribution of aliphatic hydrocarbons in algae, in bacteria, and in a recent lake sediment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 59, 29–33.Google Scholar
Huang, Y., Shuman, B., Wang, Y., Webb III, T., Grimm, E.C., and Jacobson jr., G. (2006). Climatic and environmental controls on the variation of C3 and C4 plant abundances in central Florida for the past 62,000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 237, 428–435.Google Scholar
Inderm�hle, A. (1999). Holocene carbon-cycle dynamics based on CO2 trapped in ice at Taylor Dome, Antarctica. Nature 398, 121–126.Google Scholar
Jansen, E. (2007). Palaeoclimate. Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K.B., Tignor, M., Miller, H.L. Climate change 2007: the physical science basis Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.433–497.Google Scholar
Johnson, R.W., and Calder, J.A. (1973). Early diagenesis of fatty acids and hydrocarbons in a salt marsh environment. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 37, 1943–1955.Google Scholar
Kaufman, D.S. (2004). Holocene thermal maximum in the western Arctic (0�180 degrees W). Quaternary Science Reviews 23, 529–560.Google Scholar
Kocis, J.J. (2011). Late Pleistocene and Holocene hydroclimate change in the Southeastern United States: sedimentary, pedogenic, and stable carbon isotope evidence in Tennessee River floodplain paleosols. (Masters Thesis)The University of Tennessee, .Google Scholar
Kornegay, B. (2003). A Guide's Guide to Panthertown Valley. 4th edition Slickrock Expeditions, Cullowhee, NC.Google Scholar
Kunkel, K.E., Liang, X.Z., Zhu, J.H., and Lin, Y.R. (2006). Can CGCMs simulate the twentieth-century "warming hole" in the central United States?. Journal of Climate 19, 4137–4153.Google Scholar
LaMoreaux, H.K., Brook, G.A., and Knox, J.A. (2009). Late Pleistocene and Holocene environments of the Southeastern United States from the stratigraphy and pollen content of a peat deposit on the Georgia Coastal Plain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 280, 300–312.Google Scholar
Leigh, D.S. (2008). Late Quaternary climates and river channels of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, Southeastern USA. Geomorphology 101, 90–108.Google Scholar
Lejju, B.J., Taylor, D., and Robertshaw, P. (2005). Late-Holocene environmental variability at Munsa archaeological site, Uganda: a multicore, multiproxy approach. The Holocene 15, 1044–1061.Google Scholar
Li, Z.-.H., Cheng, H., and Driese, S.G. (2012). Episodic drought during mid-Holocene warm period revealed by speleothem carbon and oxygen isotopes and UV fluorescence in southern Appalachians, USA. AGU Fall Meeting Abstract PP21A-1971 .Google Scholar
Lichvar, R.W., Butterwick, M., Melvin, N.C., and Kirchner, W.N. (2014). The national wetland plant list: 2014 update of wetland ratings. Phytoneuron 2014�41, 1–42.Google Scholar
Liu, Y., Andersen, J.J., Williams, J.W., and Jackson, S.T. (2013). Vegetation history in central Kentucky and Tennessee (USA) during the last glacial and deglacial periods. Quaternary Research 79, 189–198.Google Scholar
Loisel, J., and Garneau, M. (2010). Late Holocene paleoecohydrology and carbon accumulation estimates from two boreal peat bogs in eastern Canada: potential and limits of multi-proxy archives. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 291, 493–533.Google Scholar
Martin, E.M. (2014). Holocene environmental history of Panthertown Valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. (Master's Thesis)Western Carolina University, .Google Scholar
McDonald, J.M., and Leigh, D.S. (2011). Terminal Pleistocene through Holocene evolution of Whiteoak Bottoms, a Southern Blue Ridge Mountains peatland. Wetlands 31, 783–797.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyers, P.A. (1994). Preservation of elemental and isotopic source identification of sedimentary organic matter. Chemical Geology 114, 289–302.Google Scholar
Misra, V., Michael, J.P., Boyles, R., Chassignet, E.P., Griffin, M., and O'Brien, J.J. (2012). Reconciling the spatial distribution of the surface temperature trends in the southeastern United States. Journal of Climate 25, 3610–3618.Google Scholar
Mullins, H.T., Patterson, W.P., Teece, M.A., and Burnett, A.W. (2011). Holocene climate and environmental change in central New York (USA). Journal of Paleolimnology 45, 243–256.Google Scholar
Nordt, L.C., Boutton, T.W., Hallmark, C.T., and Waters, M.R. (1994). Late Quaternary vegetation and climate change in Central Texas based on the isotopic composition of organic carbon. Quaternary Research 41, 109–120.Google Scholar
O'Leary, M.H. ('Leary, 1988). ), Carbon isotopes in photosynthesis: fractionation techniques may reveal new aspects of carbon dynamics in plants. BioScience 38, 328–336.Google Scholar
Otvos, E.G. (2004). Prospect for interregional correlations using Wisconsin and Holocene aridity episodes, northern Gulf or Mexico coastal plain. Quaternary Research 61, 105–118.Google Scholar
Otvos, E.G. (2005). Holocene aridity and storm phases, Gulf and Atlantic coasts, USA. Quaternary Research 63, 368–373.Google Scholar
Otvos, E.G. (2006). Reply to letter to the editor from Goman and Leigh. Quaternary Research 66, 185–186.Google Scholar
Paillet, F.L. (2002). Chestnut: history and ecology of a transformed species. Journal of Biogeography 29, 1517–1530.Google Scholar
Pan, Z., Arritt, R.W., Takle, E.S., Gutowski jr., W.J., Anderson, C.J., and Segal, M. (2004). Altered hydrologic feedback in a warming climate introduces a "warming hole". Geophysical Research Letters 31, L17109, 10.1029/2004GL020528.Google Scholar
Pittillo, J.D. (1994). Natural areas inventory for Jackson County, North Carolina. A Report to the Conservation Trust for North Carolina Jackson County Department of Planning and Development, State of North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, Raleigh, NC.Google Scholar
Portmann, R.W., Solomon, S., and Hegerl, G.C. (2009). Spatial and seasonal patterns in climate change, temperatures, and precipitation across the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, 7324–7329.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J. (2013). IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0�50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55, 1869–1887.Google Scholar
Robinson, W.A., Reudy, R., and Hansen, J.E. (2002). General circulation model simulations of recent cooling in the east-central United States. Journal of Geophysical Research 107, 4748, 10.1029/2001JD001577.Google Scholar
Schafale, M.P. (2012). Guide to the Natural Communities of North Carolina, Fourth Approximation. North Carolina Heritage Program, Raleigh, NC.Google Scholar
Schafale, M.P., and Weakley, A.S. (1990). Classification of the Natural Communities of North Carolina, Third Approximation. North Carolina Heritage Program, Raleigh, NC.Google Scholar
Shafer, D.S. (1988). Late Quaternary landscape evolution at Flat Laurel Gap, Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina. Quaternary Research 30, 7–11.Google Scholar
Tanner, B.R., Uhle, M.E., Mora, C.I., Kelley, J.T., Schuneman, P.J., Lane, C.S., and Allen, E.S. (2010). Comparison of bulk and compound-specific ?13C analyses and determination of carbon sources to salt marsh sediments using n-alkane distributions (Maine, USA). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 86, 283–291.Google Scholar
Teeri, J.A., and Stowe, L.G. (1976). Climatic patterns and the distribution of C4 grasses in North America. Oecologia 23, 1–12.Google Scholar
Telford, R.J., Heegaard, E., and Birks, H.J.B. (2004). The intercept is a poor estimate of a calibrated radiocarbon age. The Holocene 14, 296–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thein, S.J. (1979). A flow diagram for teaching texture by feel analysis. Journal of Agronomic Education 8, 54–55.Google Scholar
Waller, S.S., and Lewis, J.K. (1979). Occurrence of C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways in North American grasses. Journal of Range Management 32, 12–28.Google Scholar
Wang, X.C., Chen, R.F., and Berry, A. (2003). Sources and preservation of organic matter in Plum Island salt marsh sediments (MA, USA): long-chain n-alkanes and stable carbon isotope compositions. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 58, 917–928.Google Scholar
Weakley, A.S. (2012). Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina Botanical Garden, UNC Herbarium.Google Scholar
Weete, J.D. (1976). Algal and fungal waxes. Kolattukudy, P.E. Chemistry and Biochemistry of Natural Waxes Elsevier, Amsterdam.350–404.Google Scholar
Wickstrom, C.W. (1979). Geology of the eastern half of the Blue Ridge Quadrangle, North Carolina. (Master's Thesis)University of New Orleans, .Google Scholar