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Vegetation history in central Kentucky and Tennessee (USA) during the last glacial and deglacial periods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Yao Liu ,
Jennifer J. Andersen ,
John W. Williams  and
Stephen T. Jackson
Yao Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
Jennifer J. Andersen
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
John W. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Geography & Nelson Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Stephen T. Jackson*
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: DOI Southwest Climate Science Center, 1955 E. Sixth St., Tucson, AZ 85719, USA. E-mail address:Jackson@uwyo.edu (S.T. Jackson).
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Abstract

Knowledge about vegetation dynamics during the last glacial and deglacial periods in southeastern North America is under-constrained owing to low site density and problematic chronologies. New pollen records from two classic sites, Anderson Pond, TN, and Jackson Pond, KY, supported by AMS 14C age models, span 25.2–13.7 ka and 31.0–15.4 ka, respectively. A transition from Pinus dominance to Picea dominance is recorded at Jackson Pond ca. 26.2 ka, ~ coincident with Heinrich Event H2. Anderson and Jackson Ponds record a transition from conifer to deciduous-tree dominance ~ 15.9 and 15.4 ka, respectively, marking the development of no-analog vegetation characterized by moderate to high abundances of Picea, Quercus, Carya, Ulmus, Fraxinus, Ostrya/Carpinus, Cyperaceae, and Poaceae, and preceding by ~ 2000 yr the advent of similar no-analog vegetation in glaciated terrain to the north. No-analog vegetation developed as a time-transgressive, south-to-north pattern, mediated by climatic warming. Sporormiella abundances are consistently low throughout the Jackson and Anderson Pond records, suggesting that megafaunal abundances and effects on vegetation varied regionally or possibly that the Sporormiella signal was not well-expressed at these sites. Additional records with well-constrained chronologies are necessary to assess patterns and mechanisms of vegetation dynamics during the last glacial and deglacial periods.

Keywords

Pollen recordsAnderson PondTNJackson PondKYNo-analog vegetationGlacial and deglacial periodsSoutheastern North America
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 79 , Issue 2 , March 2013 , pp. 189 - 198
Copyright
University of Washington

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