| Title | Dune stabilization in central and southern Yukon in relation to early Holocene environmental change, northwestern North America |
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| Author | Wolfe, S ; Bond,
J; Lamothe, M |
| Source | Quaternary Science Reviews vol. 30, 2011 p. 324-334, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.11.010 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2011 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20090434 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Yukon |
| NTS | 105D; 105E; 105M |
| Area | southern Yukon; Whitehorse; Fox Creek; Rusty Creek |
| Lat/Long WENS | -136.0000 -134.0000 62.0000 60.0000 |
| Lat/Long WENS | -136.0000 -134.0000 64.0000 63.0000 |
| Subjects | sedimentology; surficial geology/geomorphology; environmental geology; Nature and Environment; dunes; eolian deposits; glacial deposits; Holocene; climatic fluctuations; vegetation; sands; sediment
transport; erosion; paleoenvironment; loess; Cenozoic; Quaternary |
| Illustrations | location maps; photographs; tables |
| Program | Climate Change Geoscience |
| Released | 2011 02 01 |
| Abstract | Eolian deposits of central and southern Yukon, northwestern Canada, consist of loess mantles, small areas of active dunes, and larger stabilized dune fields. Dune fields in valley settings within the
region are situated both within and beyond the limit of the last glaciation. Infrared stimulation luminescence (IRSL) dating in central and southern Yukon reveals that these dune fields stabilized as late as 9e8.5 ka, well after the retreat of
Cordilleran glaciers. These findings are comparable to other valley-setting dune fields and loess from central Alaska, which record activity during the period from the Lateglacial to the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM), and reduced or altered activity
after 9e8 ka. Post-glacial dune activity was most likely related to warm, dry conditions during the HTM, under predominantly shrubtundra vegetation. Early Holocene stabilization of these dunes probably occurred in response to cooler, moister
conditions, and replacement of predominantly tundra by boreal forest cover, dominated by spruce. Stabilization of dune fields in southern Yukon and Alaska most likely represented an extension of the time-transgressive stabilization of dune fields
that occurred across northwestern North America with the post-glacial expansion of the boreal forest. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 261761 |
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