Fossils from Lake Sediments in Northern Québec and Labrador: A Window into Past Climate Changes

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Author: Fallu, Marie-Andrée
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 2001
• Subjects: Climate change; Diatoms; Bottom sediments; Lakes; Diptera; Temperature; Palynology; Chironomidae; Cores; Animal distribution; Palaeobotany; Palaeogeography; Labrador; Kangiqsualujjuaq region; Québec; Schefferville region; Sable; Lac au; (51 24 N; 66 13 W); K2; Lake; Kangiqsualujjuaq; Second Lake; Sept-Îles; Ungava Bay; Arctic; Labrador region
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/63859

. The overall objectives of my study are 1) to establish a high-resolution temporal reconstruction of environmental and climatic impacts on aquatic conditions at three sites, each at a different latitude and in a different ecoclimatic zone; 2) to develop a spatial-temporal image of postglacial environmental changes in the Québec-Labrador region through the use of radiocarbon dating; and 3) to compare the synchronicity of several indicators (diatoms, chironomids, and pollen) in order to assess differences between the responses of aquatic and terrestrial organisms to climate change. . The first lake, K2 (informal name), is located at 58° 44' N, 65° 56' W, 6 km northeast of the town of Kangiqsualujjuaq and about 11 km southwest of Ungava Bay. The second lake, Oksana (informal name), is located at 54° 49 N, 66° 50' W, near Schefferville. The third lake, Lac au Sable at 51° 24' N, 66° 13' W, was sampled by researchers George A. King and Herb E. Wright (Limnological Research Center, University of Minnesota) and is located about 130 km north of Sept-Îles. The sediment cores from each lake were subsampled at 1 cm intervals, each representing a period of approximately 10 - 50 years. . So far, diatoms and chironomids have been underexploited as biological indicators of change in northern Québec-Labrador, and they will be increasingly used in future research. .