Proxy late Holocene climatic record deduced from northwest Alaska beach ridges
Technical Report
·
OSTI ID:7271604
A climatically sensitive, oscillatory pattern of progradation and erosion is revealed in late Holocene accretionary sand ridge and barrier island complexes of Seward Peninsula, northwest Alaska. Archaeological and geological radiocarbon dates constrain the chronology for the Cape Espenberg beach ridge plain and the Shishmaref barrier islands, 50 km to the southwest. Cape Espenberg, the depositional sink for the northeastward longshore transport system, contains the oldest sedimentary deposits: 3700 +/- 90 B.P. (B-23170) old grass from a paleosol in a low dune. The oldest date on the Shishmaref barrier islands is 1550 +/- 70 B.P. (B-23183) and implies that the modern barrier is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Late Holocene sedimentation along the Seward Peninsula varied between intervals of rapid progradation and erosion. Rapid progradation predominated from 4000-3300 B.P. and from 2000-1200 B.P., with the generation of low beach ridges without dunes, separated by wide swales. During erosional periods higher dunes built atop beach ridges: as between 3300-2000 B.P. and intermittently from 1000 B.P. to the present. Dune formation correlates with the Neoglacial and Little Ice Age glacial advances and increased alluviation in northern and central Alaska, while rapid progradation is contemporaneous with warmer intervals of soil and/or, peat formation atop alluvial terraces, dated to 4000-3500 and 2000-1000 B.P.
- Research Organization:
- Alaska Univ., College, AK (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 7271604
- Report Number(s):
- AD-P-007353/6/XAB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Thesis/Dissertation
·
Wed Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1986
·
OSTI ID:5984709
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Technical Report
·
Sat Feb 29 23:00:00 EST 1992
·
OSTI ID:7263777
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Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1989
· AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)
·
OSTI ID:5028844
Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540110*
540210 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
AGE ESTIMATION
ALASKA
CARBON ISOTOPES
CENOZOIC ERA
CLIMATIC CHANGE
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DUNES
ENERGY SOURCES
EROSION
FORECASTING
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC AGES
ICE
ISLANDS
ISOTOPE DATING
ISOTOPES
LITTLE ICE AGE
MATTER
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC MATTER
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY
PALEONTOLOGY
PEAT
QUATERNARY PERIOD
SAND
SEDIMENTATION
SOILS
USA
540110*
540210 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
AGE ESTIMATION
ALASKA
CARBON ISOTOPES
CENOZOIC ERA
CLIMATIC CHANGE
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DUNES
ENERGY SOURCES
EROSION
FORECASTING
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC AGES
ICE
ISLANDS
ISOTOPE DATING
ISOTOPES
LITTLE ICE AGE
MATTER
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC MATTER
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY
PALEONTOLOGY
PEAT
QUATERNARY PERIOD
SAND
SEDIMENTATION
SOILS
USA