Siliceous microfossils in a Holocene, High Arctic peat deposit (Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland)
Siliceous microfossils (diatom valves, chrysophyte stomatocysts, and testate amoebae plates) were examined from a 2.6-m thick peat deposit from Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland (76°44′N, 73° 13′W). The moss, predominantly Aplodon wormskioldii (Hornem.) R.Br., began to accumulate approximately 6500...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Botany |
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1994
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/b94-029 2023-12-17T10:25:10+01:00 Siliceous microfossils in a Holocene, High Arctic peat deposit (Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland) Brown, Kimberley M. Douglas, Marianne S. V. Smol, John P. 1994 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b94-029 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b94-029 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Botany volume 72, issue 2, page 208-216 ISSN 0008-4026 Plant Science journal-article 1994 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/b94-029 2023-11-19T13:38:43Z Siliceous microfossils (diatom valves, chrysophyte stomatocysts, and testate amoebae plates) were examined from a 2.6-m thick peat deposit from Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland (76°44′N, 73° 13′W). The moss, predominantly Aplodon wormskioldii (Hornem.) R.Br., began to accumulate approximately 6500 years ago and persisted for about 2000 years. Siliceous microfossils were generally well preserved in the peat, although taxon richness was low (i.e., only 19 diatom taxa, 16 chrysophyte cyst morphotypes, and 4 testate amoebae genera). Despite the paucity of taxa, marked shifts in species composition were recorded. Geochemical analyses and biogenic silica determination on the peat did not show any significant trends. To our knowledge, this study represents the first such combined analysis of a High Arctic peat, so our interpretations should be considered tentative. Environmental variables were not stable during the 2000 years of peat accumulation, as suggested by microfossil assemblage changes. For example, about 5000 years BP, diatoms reached their maximum relative abundance with taxa indicative of wetter habitats. We hypothesize that an influx of meltwater to the peat may have occurred at this time, perhaps because of wetter conditions or larger accumulations of snow during winter. These preliminary data indicate that siliceous microfossil analyses from arctic peat cores may eventually fine-tune paleoecological inferences for this climatically important region, once the environmental variables determining species distributions in peat deposits are determined. Key words: peat deposits, Greenland, diatoms, chrysophyte cysts, protozoan plates, paleoecology. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Arctic Greenland Nordvestø ENVELOPE(-73.168,-73.168,76.727,76.727) Canadian Journal of Botany 72 2 208 216 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Plant Science |
spellingShingle |
Plant Science Brown, Kimberley M. Douglas, Marianne S. V. Smol, John P. Siliceous microfossils in a Holocene, High Arctic peat deposit (Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland) |
topic_facet |
Plant Science |
description |
Siliceous microfossils (diatom valves, chrysophyte stomatocysts, and testate amoebae plates) were examined from a 2.6-m thick peat deposit from Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland (76°44′N, 73° 13′W). The moss, predominantly Aplodon wormskioldii (Hornem.) R.Br., began to accumulate approximately 6500 years ago and persisted for about 2000 years. Siliceous microfossils were generally well preserved in the peat, although taxon richness was low (i.e., only 19 diatom taxa, 16 chrysophyte cyst morphotypes, and 4 testate amoebae genera). Despite the paucity of taxa, marked shifts in species composition were recorded. Geochemical analyses and biogenic silica determination on the peat did not show any significant trends. To our knowledge, this study represents the first such combined analysis of a High Arctic peat, so our interpretations should be considered tentative. Environmental variables were not stable during the 2000 years of peat accumulation, as suggested by microfossil assemblage changes. For example, about 5000 years BP, diatoms reached their maximum relative abundance with taxa indicative of wetter habitats. We hypothesize that an influx of meltwater to the peat may have occurred at this time, perhaps because of wetter conditions or larger accumulations of snow during winter. These preliminary data indicate that siliceous microfossil analyses from arctic peat cores may eventually fine-tune paleoecological inferences for this climatically important region, once the environmental variables determining species distributions in peat deposits are determined. Key words: peat deposits, Greenland, diatoms, chrysophyte cysts, protozoan plates, paleoecology. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brown, Kimberley M. Douglas, Marianne S. V. Smol, John P. |
author_facet |
Brown, Kimberley M. Douglas, Marianne S. V. Smol, John P. |
author_sort |
Brown, Kimberley M. |
title |
Siliceous microfossils in a Holocene, High Arctic peat deposit (Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland) |
title_short |
Siliceous microfossils in a Holocene, High Arctic peat deposit (Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland) |
title_full |
Siliceous microfossils in a Holocene, High Arctic peat deposit (Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland) |
title_fullStr |
Siliceous microfossils in a Holocene, High Arctic peat deposit (Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Siliceous microfossils in a Holocene, High Arctic peat deposit (Nordvestø, northwestern Greenland) |
title_sort |
siliceous microfossils in a holocene, high arctic peat deposit (nordvestø, northwestern greenland) |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1994 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b94-029 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b94-029 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-73.168,-73.168,76.727,76.727) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Nordvestø |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Nordvestø |
genre |
Arctic Greenland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Botany volume 72, issue 2, page 208-216 ISSN 0008-4026 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/b94-029 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Botany |
container_volume |
72 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
208 |
op_container_end_page |
216 |
_version_ |
1785573971360481280 |