Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-7qhmt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T10:52:44.505Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Accelerator-Mass-Spectrometer Ages for the Younger Dryas Event in Atlantic Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Abstract

In Atlantic Canada, bulk-sediment dates for the onset of a late-glacial cooling, widely regarded as the Younger Dryas event, are highly variable, ranging from 14,300 ± 270 to 10,800 ± 100 yr B.P. We present the first accelerator-mass-spectrometer (AMS) 14C dates from Atlantic Canada, at or close to the boundaries of this event, from six sites in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The mean of five dates places the onset of this cooling at ca. 10,770 yr B.P.; the inclusion of a sixth, perhaps anomalously old date, changes the mean to 10,880 yr B.P. The termination averages (three dates) ca. 10,000 yr B.P. These dates place the timing of the Younger Dryas event in Atlantic Canada closer in line with the traditional chronozone boundaries of 11,000 and 10,000 yr B.P. in Northwest Europe.

Type
Articles
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

Anderson, T. W. (1983). Preliminary evidence for late Wisconsinan climatic fluctuations from pollen stratigraphy in Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland. In “Current Research,” Part B, Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 83-1B, pp. 185188.Google Scholar
Broecker, W. S. Kennett, J. P. Flower, B. P. Teller, J. T. Trumbore, S. Bonani, G., and Wolfli, W. (1989). Routing of meltwater from the Laurentide ice sheet during the Younger Dryas cold episode. Nature 341, 318321.Google Scholar
Cwynar, L. C Burden, E., and McAndrews, J. H. (1979). An inexpensive sieving method for concentrating pollen and spores from finegrained sediments. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 16, 11151120.Google Scholar
Cwynar, L. C., and Watts, W. A. (1989). Accelerator-mass spectrometer ages for late-glacial events at Ballybetagh, Ireland. Quaternary Research 31, 377380.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W. Clausen, H. B. Gundestrup, N. Hammer, C. U. Johnsen, S. F. Kristinsdottir, P. M., and Reeh, N. (1982). A new Greenland deep ice core. Science 218, 12731277.Google Scholar
Engstrom, D. R. Hansen, B. C. S., and Wright, H. E. Jr. (1990). A possible Younger Dryas record in southeastern Alaska. Science 250, 13831385.Google Scholar
Faegri, K., and Iversen, J. (1975). “Textbook of Pollen Analysis.” Munksgaard, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Jetté, H., and Mott, R. J. (1989). Palynostratigraphie du tardiglaciaireet de l’Holocène de la région du lac Chance Harbour, Nouvelle-Écosse. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 43, 2738.Google Scholar
Jouzel, J. Lorius, C. Merlivat, L., and Petit, J.-R. (1987). Abrupt climatic changes: The Antarctic ice record during the late Pleistocene. In “Abrupt Climatic Change” (Berger, W. H. and Labey-rie, L. D., Eds.), pp. 235245. Reidel, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Keigwin, L., and Jones, G. (1988). High resolution paleoclimate change in the north Atlantic Ocean. American Quaternary Association, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA, Abstracts, p. 2425.Google Scholar
Kudrass, H. R. Erlenkeuser, H. Vollbrecht, R., and Weiss, W. (1991). Global nature of the Younger Dryas cooling event inferred from oxygen isotope data from Sulu Sea cores. Nature 349, 406409.Google Scholar
Livingstone, D. A., and Livingstone, B. G. R. (1958). Late-glacial and postglacial vegetation from Gillis Lake in Richmond County, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. American Journal of Science 256, 341359.Google Scholar
Lotter, A. F. (1991). Absolute dating of the late-glacial period in Switzerland using annually laminated sediments. Quaternary Research 35, 321330.Google Scholar
Lowe, J. J. Gray, J. M., and Robinson, J. E., Eds. (1980). “Studies in the Late-Glacial of North-West Europe.” Pergamon, Oxford.Google Scholar
Lowe, J. J. Lowe, S. Fowler, A. J. Hedges, R. E. M., and Austin, T. 3. F. (1988). Comparison of accelerator and radiometric radiocarbon measurements obtained from late Devensian late-glacial lake sediments from Llyn Gwernan, north Wales, U.K.. Boreas 17, 355369.Google Scholar
Mangerud, J. Andersen, S. T. Berglund, B. E., and Donner, J. J. (1974). Quaternary stratigraphy of Norden, a proposal for terminology and classification. Boreas 3, 109127.Google Scholar
Mathewes, R. W. (1987). A possible Younger Dryas climatic oscillation in western Canada? International Union for Quaternary Research: XII International Congress, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Abstracts, p. 221.Google Scholar
Mott, R. J. (1975). Palynological studies of lake sediment profiles from southwestern New Brunswick. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 12, 273288.Google Scholar
Mott, R. J. Grant, D. R. Stea, R., and Occhietti, S. (1986). Late-glacial climatic oscillation in Atlantic Canada equivalent to the Alle-rød/Younger Dryas event. Nature 323, 247250.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, 219230.Google Scholar
Pons, A., de Beaulieu, J.-L. Guiot, J., and Reille, M. (1987). The Younger Dryas in southwestern Europe: An abrupt climatic change as evidenced from pollen records. In “Abrupt Climatic Change” (Berger, W. H. and Labeyrie, L. D., Eds.), pp.195208. Reidel, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Rind, D. Peteet, D. Broecker, W. Mclntyre, A., and Ruddiman, W. (1986). The impact of cold North Atlantic sea surface temperatures on climate: Implications for the Younger Dryas cooling (11-10 k). Climate Dynamics 1, 333.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W. F., and Mclntyre, A. (1981). The north Atlantic Ocean during the last deglaciation. Palaeogeography, Pafaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 35, 145214.Google Scholar
Shane, L. C. K. (1987). Late-glacial vegetational and climatic history of the Allegheny Plateau and the Till Plains of Ohio and Indiana, U.S.A. Boreas 16, 120.Google Scholar
Stea, R. R., and Mott, R. J. (1989). Deglaciation environments and evidence for glaciers of Younger Dryas age in Nova Scotia, Canada. Boreas 18, 169187.Google Scholar
Stea, R. R. Forbes, D. L., and Mott, R. J. (1992). “Quaternary Geology and Coastal Evolution of Nova Scotia.” Field Excursion A-6: Guidebook, Geological Association of Canada and Mineralogical Association of Canada, Joint Annual Meeting, Wolfville, Nova Scotia.Google Scholar
Walker, I. R. Mott, R. J., and Smol, J. P. (1991). Allerød-Younger Dryas lake temperatures from midge fossils in Atlantic Canada. Sci-ence 253, 10101012.Google Scholar
Watts, W. A. (1980). Regional variation in the response of vegetation to late-glacial climatic events in Europe. In “Studies in the Late-Glacial of North-West Europe” (Lowe, J. J. Gray, J. M., and Robinson, J. E., Eds.), pp. 121. Pergamon, Oxford.Google Scholar
Wright, H. E. Jr. (1967). A square-rod piston sampler for lake sediments. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 27, 957976.Google Scholar