Multidisciplinary Investigations of Alpine Ice Patches in Southwest Yukon, Canada: Paleoenvironmental and Paleobiological Investigations

ABSTRACT. Since the discovery of dung-rich alpine ice patches in southwest Yukon in 1997, continuing multidisciplinary studies have provided a unique window on the biology, climate, and hunting activity in this region over much of the Holocene. Aerial surveys have identified 72 ice patches of variab...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sheila Greer, Ruth Gotthardt
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2004
Subjects:
Key words
Rangifer tarandus
permanent snowfields
climate change
Holocene mammals
Little Ice Age
Canada
Yukon
Arctic
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.595.7140
http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic57-3-247.pdf
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Summary:ABSTRACT. Since the discovery of dung-rich alpine ice patches in southwest Yukon in 1997, continuing multidisciplinary studies have provided a unique window on the biology, climate, and hunting activity in this region over much of the Holocene. Aerial surveys have identified 72 ice patches of variable size, and 65 patches have been ground-surveyed for organic remains. Of these, 35 yielded an abundance of biological specimens, including caribou and other rare large mammal remains, mummified small mammals and birds, and artifacts spanning 8000 years. The dung provides pollen and plant macrofossils for analysis and paleoenvironmental reconstruction, as well as dietary, genetic, and parasitic information. Stratigraphically controlled sampling of dung within ice layers has yielded a geochronology placing their formation as early as 8300 to 8000 years BP. Ice patch

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