Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T19:33:53.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Peatland development at the arctic tree line (Québec, Canada) influenced by flooding and permafrost

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Najat Bhiry*
Affiliation:
Centre d’études nordiques and Département de géographie, Université Laval, Québec City (Qc), Canada G1K 7P4
Serge Payette
Affiliation:
NSERC Northern Research Chair, Centre d’études nordiques, Université Laval, Québec City (Qc), Canada G1K 7P4
Élisabeth C. Robert
Affiliation:
Centre d’études nordiques, Université Laval, Québec City (Qc), Canada G1K 7P4
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:najat.bhiry@cen.ulaval.ca (N. Bhiry).

Abstract

In this study, we documented the Holocene history of a peat plateau at the arctic tree line in northern Québec using stratigraphic and macrofossil analyses to highlight the effects of geomorphic setting in peatland development. Paludification of the site began about 6800 cal yr BP. From 6390 to 4120 cal yr BP, the peatland experienced a series of flooding events. The location of the peatland in a depression bounded by two small lakes likely explains its sensitivity to runoff. The proximity of a large hill bordering the peatland to the south possibly favored the inflow of mineral-laden water. The onset of permafrost aggradation in several parts of the peatland occurred after 3670 cal yr BP. Uplifting of the peatland surface caused by permafrost stopped the flooding. According to radiocarbon dating of the uppermost peat layers, permafrost distribution progressed from the east to the west of the peatland, indicating differential timing for the initiation of permafrost throughout the peatland. Most of the peatland was affected by permafrost growth during the Little Ice Age. Picea mariana macroremains at 6450 cal yr BP indicate that the species was present during the early stages of peatland development, which occurred soon after the sea regression.

Type
Research Article
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.)

References

Allard, M., and Rousseau, L. The internal structure of a palsa and a peat plateau in the rivière Boniface region, Québec: inferences on the formation of ice segregation mounds. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire 53, (1999). 373387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allard, M., and Seguin, M.K. The Holocene evolution of permafrost near the tree-line, on the eastern coast of Hudson Bay (northern Québec). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 24, (1987). 22062222.Google Scholar
Allard, M., and Seguin, M.K. Le pergélisol au Québec nordique: bilan et perspectives. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire 41, (1987). 141152.Google Scholar
Allard, M., Seguin, M.K., and Lévesque, R. Palsas and mineral permafrost mounds in northern Québec. Gardiner, V. International Geomorphology Part II. (1987). John Wiley, New York. 285309.Google Scholar
Arlen-Pouliot, Y., and Bhiry, N. Palaeoecology of a palsa and a filled thermokarst pond in a permafrost peatland, subarctic Québec, Canada. Holocene 15, (2005). 408419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beilman, D.W. Plant community and diversity change due to localized permafrost dynamics in bogs of western Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 79, (2001). 983993.Google Scholar
Bhiry, N., and Filion, L. Holocene plant succession in a dune-swale environment of southern Québec: a macrofossil analysis. Écoscience 3, (1996). 330342.Google Scholar
Bhiry, N., and Filion, L. Analyse des macrorestes végétaux. Payette, S., and Rochefort, L. Écologie des Tourbières du Québec-Labrador. (2001). Presses de l'Université Laval, Québec. 259273.Google Scholar
Bhiry, N., and Robert, E.C. Reconstruction of changes in vegetation and trophic conditions of a palsa in a permafrost peatland, subarctic Québec, Canada. Écoscience 13, (2006). 5665.Google Scholar
Bhiry, N., Garneau, M., and Filion, L. Macrofossil record of a Middle Holocene drop in relative sea level at the St. Lawrence estuary, Québec. Quaternary Research 54, (2000). 228237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Couillard, L., and Payette, S. Évolution holocène d'une tourbière à pergélisol (Québec nordique). Canadian Journal of Botany 63, (1985). 11041121.Google Scholar
Crum, H.A., and Anderson, L.E. Mosses of Eastern North America. (1980). Columbia Univ. Press, New York.Google Scholar
Filion, L. A relationship between dunes, fire and climate recorded in the Holocene deposits of Québec. Nature 309, (1984). 543546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gajewski, K., Payette, S., and Ritchie, J.C. Holocene vegetation history at the boreal-forest–shrub-tundra transition in north-western Québec. Journal of Ecology 81, (1993). 433443.Google Scholar
Halsey, L.A., Vitt, D.H., and Zoltai, S.C. Disequilibrium response of permafrost in boreal continental western Canada to climate change. Climatic Change 30, (1995). 5773.Google Scholar
Heim, J. Étude palynologique d'une palse de la région du golfe de Richmond (Nouveau-Québec, Canada). Cahiers de Géographie de Québec 20, (1976). 221238.Google Scholar
Ireland, R.R. Moss Flora of the Maritime Provinces. (1982). National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Jackson, R.M., and Mason, P.A. Mycorrhiza. (1984). Edward Arnold, London.Google Scholar
Juggins, S. Palaeo Data Plotter, Beta Test Version 1.0. (2002). University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne.Google Scholar
Laberge, M.-J., and Payette, S. Long-term monitoring of permafrost change in a palsa peatland in northern Québec, Canada: 1983–1993. Arctic and Alpine Research 27, (1995). 167171.Google Scholar
Lavoie, C., and Payette, S. Analyse macrofossile d'une palse subarctique (Québec nordique). Canadian Journal of Botany 73, (1995). 527537.Google Scholar
Lewkowicz, A.G., and Coultish, T.L. Beaver damming and palsa dynamics in a subarctic mountainous environment, Wolf Creek, Yukon Territory, Canada. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 36, (2004). 208218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, J.A., Dahl, S.O., Berrisford, M.S., and Nesje, A. Cyclic development and thermokarstic degradation of palsas in the mid-alpine zone at Leirpullan, Dovrefjell, southern Norway. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 8, (1997). 107122.Google Scholar
Montgomery, F.H. Seeds and Fruits of Plant of Eastern Canada and Northeastern United States. (1977). Univ. of Toronto Press, Toronto.Google Scholar
Payette, S. The forest-tundra and present tree-lines of the northern Québec-Labrador peninsula. Morisset, P., and Payette, S. Tree-Line Ecology, Proceedings of the Northern Québec Tree-Line Conference. Nordicana vol. 47, (1983). 323.Google Scholar
Payette, S. The range limit of boreal tree species in Québec-Labrador: an ecological and palaeoecological interpretation. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 79, (1993). 730.Google Scholar
Payette, S. Les processus et les formes périglaciaires. Payette, S., and Rochefort, L. Écologie des Tourbières du Québec-Labrador. (2001). Presses de l'Université Laval, Québec. 199239.Google Scholar
Payette, S., and Delwaide, A. Dynamics of subarctic wetland forests over the last 1500 years. Ecological Monographs 74, (2004). 373391.Google Scholar
Payette, S., and Filion, L. Holocene water-level fluctuations of a subarctic lake at the tree-line in northern Québec. Boreas 22, (1993). 714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seppälä, M. Surface abrasion of palsas by wind action in Finnish Lapland. Geomorphology 52, (2003). 141148.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., and Spurk, M. INTCAL98: radiocarbon age calibration 24000-0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40, (1998). 10411083.Google Scholar
Vardy, S.R., Warner, B.G., and Aravena, R. Holocene climate and the development of a subarctic peatland near Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada. Climatic Change 40, (1998). 285313.Google Scholar
Vitt, D.H., Halsey, L.A., and Zoltai, S.C. The changing landscape of Canada's western boreal forest: the current dynamics of permafrost. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 30, (2000). 283287.Google Scholar
Yu, Z., McAndrews, J.H., and Siddiqi, D. Influences of Holocene climate and water levels on vegetation dynamics of lakeside wetland. Canadian Journal of Botany 74, (1996). 16021615.Google Scholar
Zoltai, S.C. Palsas and peat plateaus in central Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 2, (1972). 291302.Google Scholar
Zuidhoff, F.S., and Kolstrup, E. Changes in palsa distribution in relation to climate change in Laivadalen, northern Sweden, especially 1960–97. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 11, (2000). 5569.Google Scholar