HR: 1340h
AN: C13B-0284    [Abstracts]
TI: Paleoecological Studies From Peatlands on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska
AU: * Eisner, W R
EM: wendy.eisner@uc.edu
AF: Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0131 United States
AU: Hinkel, K M
EM: kenneth.hinkel@uc.edu
AF: Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0131 United States
AU: Bockheim, J G
EM: bockheim@facstaff.wisc.edu
AF: Department of Soil Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706-1299 United States
AU: Jones, B M
EM: jonebm@email.uc.edu
AF: Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0131 United States
AU: Peterson, K M
EM: afkmp@uaa.alaska.edu
AF: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK 99508 United States
AU: Nelson, F E
EM: fnelson@UDel.Edu
AF: Department of Geography, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 United States
AB: The dominant landscape process on the Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska is the formation and drainage of thaw lakes. Lakes and associated drained thaw-lake basins account for approximately 75% of the modern surface expression of the Outer Coastal Plain. Drained thaw-lake basins are wet depositional environments well suited for accumulation preservation of organic carbon and pollen in peat deposits. However, the paleoclimatic record is limited to the period since lake drainage and subsequent revegetation, and the primary signal records local plant succession. In contrast, uplands represent regions that have escaped the effects of thaw lake processes. Analyses of records from these sites demonstrate the response of vegetation to both regional and local change, and can be used to reconstruct temporal patterns of carbon sequestration during the Holocene. Regional geomorphic processes operate across several spatial and temporal scales, modifying local expression of the vegetation and altering rates of carbon and nutrient cycling. Local vegetation succession, soil development, and cryogenic processes may not be directly linked to climatic change, but the regional patterns of edaphic and geomorphic processes in varied settings can lead to an integrated understanding of past climatic influences. This research demonstrates that sensitive records of past landscape change on the Arctic Coastal Plain are obtainable, and that we can differentiate between local landscape processes and climate change effects.
UR: http://www.geography.uc.edu/~kenhinke/dtlb/
DE: 9315 Arctic region
DE: 4806 Carbon cycling
DE: 3344 Paleoclimatology
DE: 1823 Frozen ground
DE: 1824 Geomorphology (1625)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting