Spruce trees from a melting ice patch: evidence for Holocene climatic change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA
In September, 2006, we found the remains of timber-sized spruce trees ( Picea engelmannii) on the floors of melting ice patches at altitudes of 3465—3480 m in the Mummy Range of north-central Colorado. The ice patches occupy northeast-facing recesses in which windblown snow, scoured from a tundra up...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/0959683608095578 2024-10-06T13:53:15+00:00 Spruce trees from a melting ice patch: evidence for Holocene climatic change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA Benedict, James B. Benedict, Robert J. Lee, Craig M. Staley, Dennis M. 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683608095578 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683608095578 en eng SAGE Publications https://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license The Holocene volume 18, issue 7, page 1067-1076 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 journal-article 2008 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683608095578 2024-09-24T04:14:22Z In September, 2006, we found the remains of timber-sized spruce trees ( Picea engelmannii) on the floors of melting ice patches at altitudes of 3465—3480 m in the Mummy Range of north-central Colorado. The ice patches occupy northeast-facing recesses in which windblown snow, scoured from a tundra upland to the southwest, accumulates deeply. We hypothesize that the upland was timbered during the early to middle Holocene. Dense forest vegetation intercepted snow, preventing it from blowing to the recesses, and allowing trees to become established there. Neoglacial cooling led to gradual deforestation of the upland, renewed transport and deposition of snow by wind, and death of the ice-patch trees. Radiocarbon dates show that the trees died between 3860 ± 15 and 3780 ± 20 14 C yr BP ( c. 4200 cal. yr BP). The trunks show decay similar to that of historic log structures built above timberline during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, suggesting that they have been protected by ice for all but a small portion of the past 4200 years. A series of warm summers and dry winters led to their recent emergence. The study illustrates the importance of monitoring glaciers and ice patches for floral, faunal and archaeological remains whenever severe melting occurs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra SAGE Publications The Holocene 18 7 1067 1076 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
SAGE Publications |
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crsagepubl |
language |
English |
description |
In September, 2006, we found the remains of timber-sized spruce trees ( Picea engelmannii) on the floors of melting ice patches at altitudes of 3465—3480 m in the Mummy Range of north-central Colorado. The ice patches occupy northeast-facing recesses in which windblown snow, scoured from a tundra upland to the southwest, accumulates deeply. We hypothesize that the upland was timbered during the early to middle Holocene. Dense forest vegetation intercepted snow, preventing it from blowing to the recesses, and allowing trees to become established there. Neoglacial cooling led to gradual deforestation of the upland, renewed transport and deposition of snow by wind, and death of the ice-patch trees. Radiocarbon dates show that the trees died between 3860 ± 15 and 3780 ± 20 14 C yr BP ( c. 4200 cal. yr BP). The trunks show decay similar to that of historic log structures built above timberline during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, suggesting that they have been protected by ice for all but a small portion of the past 4200 years. A series of warm summers and dry winters led to their recent emergence. The study illustrates the importance of monitoring glaciers and ice patches for floral, faunal and archaeological remains whenever severe melting occurs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Benedict, James B. Benedict, Robert J. Lee, Craig M. Staley, Dennis M. |
spellingShingle |
Benedict, James B. Benedict, Robert J. Lee, Craig M. Staley, Dennis M. Spruce trees from a melting ice patch: evidence for Holocene climatic change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA |
author_facet |
Benedict, James B. Benedict, Robert J. Lee, Craig M. Staley, Dennis M. |
author_sort |
Benedict, James B. |
title |
Spruce trees from a melting ice patch: evidence for Holocene climatic change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA |
title_short |
Spruce trees from a melting ice patch: evidence for Holocene climatic change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA |
title_full |
Spruce trees from a melting ice patch: evidence for Holocene climatic change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA |
title_fullStr |
Spruce trees from a melting ice patch: evidence for Holocene climatic change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spruce trees from a melting ice patch: evidence for Holocene climatic change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA |
title_sort |
spruce trees from a melting ice patch: evidence for holocene climatic change in the colorado rocky mountains, usa |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683608095578 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683608095578 |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_source |
The Holocene volume 18, issue 7, page 1067-1076 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 |
op_rights |
https://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683608095578 |
container_title |
The Holocene |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
1067 |
op_container_end_page |
1076 |
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1812181930488102912 |