A Two-Million-Year-Old Insect Fauna from North Greenland Indicating Boreal Conditions at the Plio-Pleistocene Boundary

• Main Author: Bocher, J.
• Other Authors: COPENHAGEN UNIV (DENMARK)
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Geography; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Biology; *CLIMATE; *FRESH WATER; *GREENLAND; ARCTIC OCEAN; COMMUNITIES; CONTRAST; FORESTS; FOSSILS; INSECTS; LAYERS; OCEANS; TRANSITIONS; TUNDRA; VISION; WATER; SYMPOSIA; AQUATIC ORGANISMS; Component Reports; *Insect fauna; *Boreal conditions; *Plio-Pleistocene boundary; Organic detritus; Paleobotany; Paleoentomology; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Fairbanks; Greenland; Peary; Kap; Peary Land; Ice; North Greenland; permafrost; Subarctic; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP007343; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP007343

The Kap Kopenhavn Formation in NE Peary Land, Greenland, is assumed to be 2.0-2.5 Ma old, i.e., from the Plio-Pleistocene transition. Layers of organic detritus contain a wealth of well-preserved remains of land and fresh water organisms, almost all extant species. In striking contrast to the present harsh, high arctic conditions at Kap Kopenhavn, the fossil plants and insects show that immediately prior to the Quaternary glaciations a subarctic climate existed in this northernmost land on earth. A rich forest-tundra bordered the Arctic Ocean, and the plant communities were populated with a diverse, predominantly boreal insect fauna. These discoveries may have significance for the current discussion of the greenhouse effect. What we find imbedded in the sands at Kap Kopenhavn may present a vision of a future climatic development. 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 1990. Volume 2', AD-A253 028, p582-584. See also Volume 1, AD-A253 027.