Response of the Porcupine and Old Crow rivers in northern Yukon, Canada, to Holocene climatic change

Abstract

A major aggradation took place from 8000 BP to 4000 BP in the Porcupine and Old Crow rivers, northern Yukon. The aggradation was a consequence of an increase in flow and the result of a perturbation of the permafrost active layer following the early-Holocene climatic warming of northwestern Canada. These findings are useful for improving our understanding of how natural landscapes and river systems evolved in regions that experienced a permafrost history and, more particurlarly, an increase in climatic warming. This article also contributes to an improved understanding of natural landscape evolution along the Porcupine and Old Crow rivers in eastern Beringia, where there has been much interest in questions related to animal and human migration and adaptation.