Thane W. Anderson

Stratigraphy, paleontology, and age of Lake Algonquin sediments in southwestern Ontario, Canada

Abstract Molluscs, ostracodes, diatoms, pollen, plant macrofossils, peat, and wood have been found in glacial Lake Algonquin sediments, and estuarine-alluvial sediments of the same age, in southern Ontario. Molluscs and ostracodes are particularly abundant and widespread. Pollen analysis of Lake Algonquin sediments, bogs on the Algonquin terrace, and upland bogs above the Algonquin terrace, indicate that Lake Algonquin was still in existence at the time of the spruce-pine pollen transition, previously dated at an average of 10,600 yr BP at a number of sites in Michigan, Ohio, and southern Ontario. Wood in estuarine-alluvial sediments graded to the Algonquin level is of similar radiocarbon age. Evidence from several sites in the eastern Great Lakes area suggests the presence of a preceding low-water stage (Kirkfield outlet stage); drowned and alluviated valleys and fining-upward sediment sequences have been identified in this study as further supporting evidence. Lake Algonquin drained from the southern sites by isostatic tilting and eventual opening of the “North Bay outlet” some time shortly after 10,400 yr BP. Our radiocarbon dates suggest the low-water stage has an age of about 11,000 yr BP, and that Lake Algonquin drained 10,000–15,000 y. a. Dates previously published for the Lake Michigan basin are generally too young in comparison with ours, and dates on the Champlain Sea are generally too old. More critical evaluation of all dating results is desirable. From fossil remains we suggest a rapidly expanding fauna in the waters of Lake Algonquin. The spruce pollen period was a time of rapid faunal and floral migration, when the ice front was retreating from Kirkfield to North Bay, Ontario. Diversity of some species and fossil numbers increased substantially at the transition from spruce to pine just before Lake Algonquin drained.

Oscillations of levels and cool phases of the Laurentian Great Lakes caused by inflows from glacial Lakes Agassiz and Barlow-Ojibway

Two distinct episodes of increased water flux imposed on the Great Lakes system by discharge from upstream proglacial lakes during the period from about 11.5 to 8 ka resulted in expanded outflows, raised lake levels and associated climate changes. The interpretation of these major hydrological and climatic effects, previously unrecognized, is mainly based on the evidence of former shorelines, radiocarbon-dated shallow-water sediment sequences, paleohydraulic estimates of discharge, and pollen diagrams of vegetation change within the basins of the present Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Nipissing. The concept of inflow from glacial Lake Agassiz adjacent to the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet about 11–10 and 9.5–8.5 ka is generally supported, with inflow possibly augmented during the second period by backflooding of discharge from glacial Lake Barlow-Ojibway.Although greater dating control is needed, six distinct phases can be recognized which characterize the hydrological history of the Upper Great Lakes from about 12 to 5 ka; 1) an early ice-dammed Kirkfield phase until 11.0 ka which drained directly to Ontario basin; 2) an ice-dammed Main Algonquin phase (11.0–10.5 ka) of relatively colder surface temperature with an associated climate reversal caused by greater water flux from glacial Lake Agassiz; 3) a short Post Algonquin phase (about 10.5–10.1 ka) encompassing ice retreat and drawdown of Lake Algonquin; 4) an Ottawa-Marquette low phase (about 10.1–9.6 ka) characterized by drainage via the then isostatically depressed Mattawa-Ottawa Valley and by reduction in Agassiz inflow by the Marquette glacial advance in Superior basin; 5) a Mattawa phase of high and variable levels (about 9.6–8.3 ka) which induced a second climatic cooling in the Upper Great Lakes area. Lakes of the Mattawa phase were supported by large inflows from both Lakes Agassiz and Barlow-Ojibway and were controlled by hydraulic resistance at a common outlet — the Rankin Constriction in Ottawa Valley — with an estimated base-flow discharge in the order of 200000 m3s−1. 6) Lakes of the Nipissing phase (about 8.3–4.7 ka) existed below the base elevation of the previous Lake Mattawa, were nourished by local precipitation and runoff only, and drained by the classic North Bay outlet to Ottawa Valley.

Great Lakes paleohydrology: Complex interplay of glacial meltwater, lake levels, and sill depths

The oxygen isotope record of ostracode and clam shells recovered from Great Lakes cores of known age allows definition of times when meltwaters from the Laurentide ice sheet were important components of lake water in the several lake basins since 12 ka. We find that the lowstands in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay are characterized by isotopically light waters (δ 18 O values of -20‰ to -22‰ relative to SMOW [standard mean ocean water]) and the highstands by isotopically heavy waters of more local origin. These data can be used to determine the degree of hydraulic separation among the early Holocene lakes. Southern Lake Michigan, for instance, may mix with northern-source waters only during times of rising and high water levels. Generally it is characterized by waters of local origin.

Changes in late Quaternary vegetation and insect communities in southwestern Ontario

Abstract The Gage Street site in Kitchener, Ontario, is a peat/marl sequence representing continuous lacustrine sedimentation from the time of deglaciation (ca. 13,000 yr B.P.) through 6900 yr B.P. Insect, pollen, and plant macrofossil remains isolated from the sediments indicate that from ca. 13,000 to 12,500 yr B.P. the region was characterized by parkland-tundra vegetation existing within thermal conditions more analogous to those today of the midboreal forest. The transition from parkland to coniferous forest at ca. 12,500 yr B.P. occurred within a climate that was only gradually warming. By the time of the spruce/pine transition at 10,500 yr B.P., an insect fauna had become established that is typical of southwestern Ontario today. The replacement of this fauna at ca. 8400 yr B.P. by one characteristic of the lowlands of the east-central United States represents the beginning of Hypsithermal conditions in southern Ontario. Vegetation and insects indicate that the climate continued to gradually warm through the mid-Holocene.

Uplift-driven expansion delayed by middle Holocene desiccation in Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

New findings of paleoenvironmental change in Lake Winnipeg, southern Manitoba, reveal evidence of unexpectedly dry conditions from 7.5 to 4 ka (7500 to 4000 radiocarbon years before present), with reduced lake area in the north and a desiccated lake basin in the south. Changes in extent of this large lake, now ∼400 km long, can be explained by a combination of (1) expansion due to postglacial differential uplift (tilting), and (2) lake-area reduction due to drier climates associated with the former presence of dry-grassland vegetation. Comparing lake areas sustainable by grassland climate with computed potential lake areas based on the assumption of open (overflowing) conditions, we quantify the atmospheric moisture reduction represented by the middle Holocene dry conditions. This approach holds promise for calibrating regional models of climate change and exploring the effects of dry paleoclimates in other large lake basins such as the Laurentian Great Lakes. The ongoing postglacial tilting is of societal concern because it contributes to long-term lakeshore erosion and to the decrease in discharge capacity of the inflowing flood-prone Red River in a populated region.

Late-glacial paleoenvironment of Lake Algonquin sediments near Clarksburg, Ontario

Excavation below the Lake Algonquin gravel beach bar near Clarksburg, Ontario, exposed mollusc-bearing clay over a lens of plant debris. This is the northernmost and most deeply buried Lake Algonquin fossil site found thus far in Ontario. It is the first site to provide dates from directly below the Algonquin beach bar. Two radiocarbon dates of about 11 200 years confirm the age of isostatically transgressing Lake Algonquin. Plant macrofossils (21 taxa), pollen (39 taxa), molluscs (12 taxa), and ostracodes (18 taxa) indicate that the climate was colder than present by several degrees and the forest-tundra ecotone was nearby initially but retreated northward rather quickly. Upward increases in abundances and diversity of molluscs and ostracodes suggest it was a time of rapid migration and colonization of species.

Forest Changes in the Great Lakes Region at 5-7 ka BP

Pollen stratigraphy from 90 sites in and bordering the Great Lakes record the 5-7 ka history of forest development of the Great Lakes region. By 7 ka beech (Fagus grandifolia) had invaded the oak-hickory (Quercus-Carya) forest of lower Michigan and hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and beech the white pine (Pinus strobus)-dominated forest of southern Ontario. At the same time, white pine replaced jack pine (P banksiana) as it expanded northward to the Clay Belt beyond its present-day range. Forest changes at 6 and 5 ka were dominated by range extensions of beech and hemlock in a northwesterly direction, by northward expansion of eastern white cedar (Cupressineae), and southward migration of white pine into the Michigan basin. The beech and hemlock migrations (160 m yr-1 and 280 m yr-1, respectively) may have been influenced by the cool-moist climate generated by the Nipissing Great Lakes in combination with enhanced regional warming. White pine and eastern white cedar responded to regional warming and reduced precipitation, whereas birch (Betula) and alder (Alnus) may have been influenced more by fire activity caused by the warm-dry climate. The boreal-mixed forest ecotone was displaced 140 km northward at 5-7 ka compared to 60-70 km for the mixed-deciduous forest ecotone.