Paleolimnologic Evidence of High Arctic Late Quaternary Paleoenvironmental Change: Truelove Lowland, Devon Island, N.W.T., Canada

• Main Authors: King, R. H., Smith, I. R., Young, R. B.
• Other Authors: UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO LONDON
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Hydrology; Limnology and Potamology; Ecology; *POLAR REGIONS; CHEMICAL COMPOSITION; CHEMICALS; DESERTS; ELEVATION; ISOLATION; LAKES; MATERIALS; OCEANS; RATES; RECORDS; REDUCTION; SEDIMENTATION; SEDIMENTS; STABILIZATION; SURFACES; TIME; VARIATIONS; CANADA; SYMPOSIA; FRESH WATER; STRATIGRAPHY; ARCTIC REGIONS; Component Reports; *Paleolimnologic evidence; *High arctic; Late Quaternary Paleo environmental change; *Trvelove; Lowland; *Devon Island; Diatoms; Arctic; Canada; Devon Island; Fairbanks; polar desert; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP007313; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP007313

Truelove Lowland (75033'N, 84 40'W) is a small area (43 km2) of relatively high biological diversity in the midst of the more typical Polar Desert of the Canadian High Arctic. Much of the Lowland is presently covered by freshwater lakes some of which are sufficiently deep (7-8.5 m) to contain stratified lake sediments. Sediment cores (= 2 m long) from the larger lakes have been analyzed for diatoms and chemical composition and reveal a stratigraphic record that spans the last 10,600 years. This record indicates that lake development in the Lowland began as a series of shallow marine lagoons isolated from the sea as a result of glacio-isostatic rebound and the progressive emergence of the Lowland from the sea. Following isolation, the timing of which was strongly controlled by elevation and the relative rate of isostatic uplift, the lakes have been flushed with freshwater. Since that time the lakes have remained oligotrophic and lake sedimentation has been dominated by variations in non-biogenic factors and particularly by variations in the influx of allochthonous materials from within the lake catchments. Over time, the progressive stabilization of surface materials and pedogenesis within the lake catchments has been marked by decreasing amounts of Cr, As and Na in the sediments and an increase in allochthonous Fe and Mn. This article is from 'Proceedings of the International Conference on the Role of the Polar Regions in Global Change Held in Fairbanks, Alaska on 11-15 June 990. Volume 2', AD-A253 028, p384-389. See also Volume 1, AD-A253 027.