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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).
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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
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , March 2015 , pp. 315 - 323
Copyright
University of Washington

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