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Younger Dryas Climatic Reversal in Northeastern USA? AMS Ages for an Old Problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

D. M. Peteet ,
J. S. Vogel ,
D. E. Nelson ,
J. R. Southon ,
R. J. Nickmann  and
L. E. Heusser
D. M. Peteet
Affiliation:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, New York 10025 USA
J. S. Vogel
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
D. E. Nelson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
J. R. Southon
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
R. J. Nickmann
Affiliation:
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 USA
L. E. Heusser
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, New York 10964 USA
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Abstract

Late-glacial macrofossils from a 10-m core from Alpine Swamp, New Jersey, were radiocarbon dated using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The arrival of the first trees to the area following deglaciation is indicated by maximum percentages of spruce pollen and a date of 12,290 ± 440 yr B.P. on a single spruce needle. Subsequent spread of deciduous hardwoods was followed by the expansion of boreal taxa, including spruce (Picea), fir (Abies), larch (Larix laricina), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), and alder (Alnus). Three AMS dates on paper birch seeds and a spruce needle during this boreal expansion indicate that it took place between 11,000 and 10,000 yr B.P. The timing of this vegetational shift and its correlation with late-glacial pollen stratigraphy from many sites in southern New England indicate that a climatic reversal correlative with the Younger Dryas characterized the North Atlantic seaboard of the United States.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , March 1990 , pp. 219 - 230
Copyright
University of Washington

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