NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
A 12,000-Yr Pollen Record off Cape Hatteras: Pollen Sources and Mechanisms of Pollen DispersionIntegrating both marine and terrestrial signals from the same sediment core is one of the primary challenges for understanding the role of ocean-atmosphere coupling throughout past climate changes. It is therefore vital to understand how the pollen signal of a given marine record reflects the vegetation changes of the neighboring continent. The comparison between the pollen record of marine core JPC32 (KNR178JPC32) and available terrestrial pollen sequences from eastern North America over the last 12,170 years indicates that the pollen signature off Cape Hatteras gives an integrated image of the regional vegetation encompassing the Pee Dee river, Chesapeake and Delaware hydrographic basins and is reliable in reconstructing the past climate of the adjacent continent. Extremely high quantities of pollen grains included in the marine sediments off Cape Hatteras were transferred from the continent to the sea, at intervals 10,100-8800 cal yr BP, 8300-7500 cal yr BP, 5800- 4300 cal yr BP and 2100-730 cal yr BP, during storm events favored by episodes of rapid sea-level rise in the eastern coast of US. In contrast, pollen grains export was reduced during 12,170-10,150 cal yr BP and 4200- 2200 cal yr BP, during episodes of intense continental dryness and slow sea level rise episodes or lowstands in the eastern coast of US. The near absence of reworked pollen grains in core JPC32 contrasts with the high quantity of reworked material in nearby but deeper located marine sites, suggesting that the JPC32 recordwas not affected by the DeepWestern Boundary Current (DWBC) since the end of the Younger Dryas and should be considered a key site for studying past climate changes in the western North Atlantic.
Document ID
20150021893
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Naughton, F.
(Portuguese Inst. for the Ocean and Atmosphere Lisbon, Portugal)
Keigwin, L.
(Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. MA, United States)
Peteet, D.
(NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies New York, NY United States)
Costas, S.
(Algarve Univ. Faro, Portugal)
Desprat, S.
(Bordeaux Univ. France)
Oliveira, D.
(Portuguese Inst. for the Ocean and Atmosphere Lisbon, Portugal)
de Vernal, A.
(Quebec Univ. Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Voelker, A.
(Portuguese Inst. for the Ocean and Atmosphere Lisbon, Portugal)
Abrantes, F.
(Portuguese Inst. for the Ocean and Atmosphere Lisbon, Portugal)
Date Acquired
November 25, 2015
Publication Date
June 9, 2015
Publication Information
Publication: Marine Geology
Publisher: Elsevier
Volume: 367
Subject Category
Oceanography
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN26347
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF-OCE-0214144
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
climate change
air water interactions
coasts
sediments
vegetation
pollen

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available