Timber logging in central Siberia is the main source for recent Arctic driftwood

Recent findings indicated spruce from North America and larch from eastern Siberia to be the dominating tree species of Arctic driftwood throughout the Holocene. However, changes in source region forest and river characteristics, as well as ocean current dynamics and sea ice extent likely influence...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research
Main Authors: Hellmann, L., Tegel, W., Kirdyanov, A. V., Eggertsson, O., Esper, J., Agafonov, L., Nikolaev, A. N., Knorre, A. A., Myglan, V. S., Churakova (Sidorova), O., Schweingruber, F. H., Nievergelt, D., Verstege, A., Büntgen, U. (Ulf)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
mackenzie river driftwood
tree-ring width
sea-ice
ocean
origin
water
holocene
impact
north
chronology
Arctic
Faroe Islands
Greenland
Mackenzie River
Svalbard
Iceland
Mackenzie river
Sea ice
Siberia
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1657/AAAR0014-063
http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0270430
Description
Summary:Recent findings indicated spruce from North America and larch from eastern Siberia to be the dominating tree species of Arctic driftwood throughout the Holocene. However, changes in source region forest and river characteristics, as well as ocean current dynamics and sea ice extent likely influence its spatiotemporal composition. Here, we present 2556 driftwood samples from Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, and the Faroe Islands. A total of 498 out of 969 Pinus sylvestris ring width series were cross-dated at the catchment level against a network of Eurasian boreal reference chronologies. The central Siberian Yenisei and Angara Rivers account for 91% of all dated pines, with their outermost rings dating between 1804 and 1999. Intensified logging and timber rafting along the Yenisei and Angara in the mid-20th century, together with high discharge rates, explain the vast quantity of material from this region and its temporal peak ca. 1960. Based on the combined application of wood-anatomical and dendrochronological techniques on a well-replicated data set, our results question the assumption that Arctic driftwood mainly consists of millennial-old larch and spruce. Nevertheless, data from other species and regions, together with longer boreal reference chronologies, are needed for generating reliable proxy archives at the interface of marine and terrestrial environments.

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