Input of Terrestrial Palynomorphs since the Last Deglaciation from Sediments of the Chukchi Sea Shelf, Western Arctic Ocean

Abstract

We report the palynology of marine sediment core ARA02B/01A-GC from the Western margin of the shallow shelf of the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic, a site which was synchronously influenced by climatic changes during the last deglaciation with those in the Bering Strait. The core contains a rich concentration of continental palynomorphs, even though the coring location is quite a distance from land. The catchment area for the observed palynomorphs includes the territories of both North America (Alaska and North Canada) and Northern Siberia (Chukotka peninsula and Northern East-Siberian coast). Based on this fact, we can reconstruct a common paleoenvironmental history for this location and the Bering Strait during the postglacial interval. We hypothesize that palynomorphs were carried to the sea during low sea-ice coverage intervals by large rivers (Yukon, Mackenzie and Siberian rivers) and were then transferred by oceanic currents. During intervals of extensive sea-ice coverage the source of the palynomorphs was predominantly eroded shelf sediments. The percentage ratio of tree-herb pollen and spores in the palynomorph assemblages shows that favorable conditions for an increase in forest vegetation took place between ~8 and 4 kyr BP, which coincides with maximum freshwater input to the sea. During a climatic optimum at ~5 kyr BP, as inferred from the total dominance of tree and herb pollen, the Chukchi Sea was apparently warmer than today. This represents the maximum ice-free period for the sea. The low sea-ice interval ended ~3 kyr BP, as suggested by a sharp drop in tree pollen, a reduction in fresh water input, and a drop in the concentration of the algae Pediastrum. Our data correlate well with data from marine core HLY0501-5 from the Bering Strait (Polyak et al., 2009) for the interval of 10-8 kyr BP, but shows a divergence since ~4 kyr BP, which may correspond to the beginning of the differentiation of North American and East-Siberian ecosystem zones.