Mid-Wisconsin to Holocene permafrost and landscape dynamics based on a drained lake basin core from the northern Seward Peninsula, Northwest Alaska ...

• Main Authors: Lenz, Josefine, Grosse, Guido, Jones, Benjamin M, Walter Anthony, Katey M, Bobrov, Anatoly A, Wulf, Sabine, Wetterich, Sebastian
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2015
• Subjects: Permafrost Research Periglacial Dynamics @ AWI AWI_PerDyn; Climate change; permafrost; Seward Peninsula; Thermokarst; Alaska; Beringia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.845556; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.845556

Permafrost-related processes drive regional landscape dynamics in the Arctic terrestrial system. A better understanding of past periods indicative of permafrost degradation and aggradation is important for predicting the future response of Arctic landscapes to climate change. Here, we used a multi-proxy approach to analyze a ~4 m long sediment core from a drained thermokarst lake basin on the northern Seward Peninsula in western Arctic Alaska (USA). Sedimentological, biogeochemistical, geochronological, micropaleontological (ostracoda, testate amoeba) and tephra analyses were used to determine the long-term environmental Early-Wisconsin to Holocene history preserved in our core for Central Beringia. Yedoma accumulation dominated throughout the Early to Late-Wisconsin but was interrupted by wetland formation from 44.5 to 41.5 ka BP. The latter was terminated by deposition of 1 m of volcanic tephra, most likely originating from the South Killeak Maar eruption at about 42 ka BP. Yedoma deposition continued ... : Supplement to: Lenz, Josefine; Grosse, Guido; Jones, Benjamin M; Walter Anthony, Katey M; Bobrov, Anatoly A; Wulf, Sabine; Wetterich, Sebastian (2015): Mid-Wisconsin to Holocene permafrost and landscape dynamics based on a drained lake basin core from the northern Seward Peninsula, Northwest Alaska. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes ...