Pollen analysis of the 1973 ice core from Devon Island glacier, Canada

Abstract

Meltwater from a 299-m-long ice core was filtered and analyzed for fossil pollen and spores. Pollen concentration was higher in the late Holocene and interglacial intervals (ca. 7 liter −1) than in the early Holocene and Wisconsinan (ca. 1–2 liter −1) ones. The late Holocene and interglacial assemblages were dominated by Alnus (alder), whereas the early Holocene and Wisconsinan ones were dominated by Betula (birch) and Artemisia (sage). During the Holocene and probably the last interglaciation, most of the pollen and spores were blown a minimum of 1000 km from low arctic shrub tundra and adjacent subarctic Picea (spruce) forest; these areas were dominated by the arctic air mass during the summer pollinating season. During the Wisconsinan-early Holocene, glacier ice and arctic air were more widespread and pollen sources were more distant; thus, at this time relatively little pollen was incorporated into the ice. The Devon ice-core data suggest that there should have been pollen in the continental ice sheet of Wisconsin time. When the ice sheet retreated this pollen would be carried by meltwater and redeposited with silt and clay together with contemporary pollen, producing an ecologically anomalous assemblage.