IMPENDING LOSS OF LITTLE ICE AGE GLACIERS IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

Swamp Lake, Yosemite National Park, is the only known lake in California containing long sequences of varved sediments and thus has the potential to provide a high-resolution record of climate variability. This preliminary analysis of the diatom assemblages from a 947-cm-long composite sediment core (freeze core FZ02–05; 0–67 cm, Livingstone core 02–05; 53–947 cm) shows that the lake has been freshwater, oligotrophic, and circumneutral to alkaline throughout its ~16,000-year-long history. The first sediments deposited in the lake show that the vegetation in the watershed was sparse, allowing organic matter-poor silt and clay to be deposited in the basin. The basin filled quickly to a depth of at least 5 m and remained at least that deep for most of the sediment record. Several short intervals provided evidence of large fluctuations in lake level during the Holocene. The upper 50 cm of the core contains evidence of the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age.

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Prehistoric Irrigation in Central Utah: Chronology, Agricultural Economics, and Implications

American Antiquity ◽

10.1017/aaq.2020.25 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 85 (3) ◽

pp. 452-469 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Steven R. Simms ◽

Tammy M. Rittenour ◽

Chimalis Kuehn ◽

Molly Boeka Cannon

Keyword(s):

Little Ice Age ◽

National Park ◽

Colorado River ◽

Agricultural Economics ◽

Ice Age ◽

National Forest ◽

Irrigation Canal ◽

Maintenance Costs ◽

Cultural Affiliation ◽

Original Construction

In 1928, Noel Morss was shown “irrigation ditches” along Pleasant Creek on the Dixie National Forest near Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, by a local guide who contended they were ancient. We relocated the site and mapped the route of an unusual mountain irrigation canal. We conducted excavations and employed OSL and AMS 14C showing historic irrigation, and an earlier event between AD 1460 and 1636. Geomorphic evidence indicates that the canal existed prior to this time, but we cannot date its original construction. The canal is 7.2 km long, originating at 2,450 m asl and terminating at 2,170 m asl. Less than half of the system was hand constructed. We cannot ascribe the prehistoric use-event to an archaeological culture, language, or ethnic group, but the 100+ sites nearby are largely Fremont in cultural affiliation. We also report the results of experimental modeling of the capital and maintenance costs of the system, which holds implications for irrigation north of the Colorado River and farming during the Little Ice Age. The age of the prehistoric canal is consistent with a fragmentary abandonment of farming and continuity between ancient and modern tribes in Utah.

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Recent Debris-Flow and Flash-Flood History of Northeastern Yellowstone National Park

The UW National Parks Service Research Station Annual Reports ◽

10.13001/uwnpsrc.1996.3265 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 20 ◽

pp. 3-11

Author(s):

Joshua Landis ◽

Grant Meyer

Keyword(s):

Debris Flow ◽

Yellowstone National Park ◽

Little Ice Age ◽

National Park ◽

Flash Flood ◽

Global Climate ◽

Ice Age ◽

Drought Severity ◽

History Of ◽

Flow Activity

An understanding of the ecological health of stream systems and riparian areas in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) requires knowledge of their response to climatic and hydrological influences; intrinsic factors such as relief and geological materials are important influences as well (e.g., O'Hara and Meyer 1995). Recent studies of southwestern (Ely et al. 1993) and midwestern U.S. rivers (Knox 1993) have shown that relatively minor climatic changes in the late Holocene are associated with large fluctuations in flood magnitude and frequency. In small, steep drainage basins of northeastern YNP (Figure 1), Meyer et al. (1992, 1995) associated increased fire-related debris-flow activity with decadal to millennial-scale cycles of drought over the Holocene. Observations of modern events indicate that debris-flow and flash floods are also produced in the absence of fire in this rugged mountainous region, primarily by intense summer thunderstorm precipitation. Although a correlation between drought severity and fire magnitude in Yellowstone is clear (Balling et al. 1992a, 1992b), the relationship hypothesized by Meyer et al. (1992,1995) between warm, drought-prone climatic episodes and debris-flow activity in this region requires further investigation. Therefore, we use relatively high-resolution lichenometric and treeÂring dating methods to construct a 250-year history of major hydrologic events in small, steep tributary basins of Soda Butte Creek in northeastern Yellowstone. This period spans the transition from the generally cooler global climate of the Little Ice Age to the present (e.g., Grove 1988). Although the Little Ice Age was not uniformly cold in either a spatial or temporal sense (Jones and Bradley 1995), and YNP climate is not well known in the earlier part of this interval, trends toward increasing summer temperatures and decreasing winter precipitation in YNP over the last ~100 yr are consistent with this transition (Balling et al. 1992a).

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Anthropogenic and natural effects on the coastal lagoons in the southwest of Spain (Doñana National Park)

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1093/icesjms/fsp106 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 66 (7) ◽

pp. 1508-1514 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Arturo Sousa ◽

Pablo García-Murillo ◽

Julia Morales ◽

Leoncio García-Barrón

Keyword(s):

Global Warming ◽

Little Ice Age ◽

National Park ◽

Coastal Lagoons ◽

Underground Water ◽

Ice Age ◽

Doñana National Park ◽

Anthropogenic Effect ◽

Marine Sand ◽

Mobile Dune

Abstract Sousa, A., García-Murillo, P., Morales, J., and García-Barrón, L. 2009. Anthropogenic and natural effects on the coastal lagoons in the southwest of Spain (Doñana National Park). – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1508–1514. The Doñana peridunal lagoons, located in the southwest of Spain, have been well studied, because their conservation is of great interest. Since 1965, they have also been affected by the extraction of underground water for local coastal tourist resorts. A reconstruction of the evolution of this series of coastal lagoons reveals that, along with the anthropogenic effect, there was a natural effect resulting from the reactivation of mobile dune fronts that have blocked and filled the original lagoon complex—in the period 1920–1987, the lagoons were reduced by 70.7%. These fronts might have been fed by deposits of marine sand during the climatically driest phases of the Little Ice Age in Andalusia, Spain. Therefore, if the frequency and duration of dry periods increase, as well as droughts as a whole, because of global warming, the desiccation and disappearance of the lagoons could become more widespread, not only at this site in southwestern Europe, but in other Mediterranean coastal ecosystems as well.

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Lichenometric dating of holocene moraines at Mount Edith Cavell, Jasper, Alberta

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e77-154 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 14 (8) ◽

pp. 1809-1822 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

B. H. Luckman

Keyword(s):

Growth Curve ◽

Little Ice Age ◽

National Park ◽

Ice Age ◽

Linear Phase ◽

Average Growth ◽

Small Areas ◽

Rhizocarpon Geographicum ◽

Maximum Estimate ◽

Glacial Advance

A preliminary growth curve for the lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum over a 250 year period was determined on moraines of quartzite debris at Mount Edith Cavell and Penstock Creek, Jasper National Park, Alberta. The dating control was obtained by dendrochronology and from documentary and photographic sources. The average growth over this period is 25 mm/century but the curve appears to be exponential in form and can he subdivided into 42 mm/century for the first 110 years and 11.4 mm/century for the subsequent 140 years. The latter figure gives a maximum estimate for the linear phase of Rhizocarpon geographicum in this area.Four "Little Ice Age" moraines are identified and dated as 1705 ± 5, 1720 ± 5, 1858 ± 7, and 1888 ± 7 AD at Mount Edith Cavell, and 1765 ± 5, 1810 ± 5, 1876 ± 5, and 1907 ± 5 AD at Penstock Creek. Recession of Cavell Glacier averaged about l6m/yearfrom 1927–1963 and 6–8 m/year from 1963–1975. Angel Glacier shows a similar pattern but has maintained its frontal position since 1962. Remnants of at least three "pre-Little Ice Age" moraines occur in two small areas at Mount Edith Cavell. The minimum lichenometric age for the oldest moraine is about 1800 BP. The presence of Bridge River Ash in the soils in front of the 1705 moraine indicate s no greater glacial advance in the last 2600 years. Thus although several glacial advances occurred at this site during the Holocene they were of similar or smaller extent than the "Little Ice Age" maximum.

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Distribution and characteristics of rock glaciers in the southern part of Jasper National Park, Alberta

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e78-060 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 540-550 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

B. H. Luckman ◽

K. J. Crockett

Keyword(s):

Little Ice Age ◽

National Park ◽

Ice Age ◽

Rock Glacier ◽

Genetic Classification ◽

Climatic Fluctuations ◽

Glacial Ice ◽

Jasper National Park ◽

Rock Glaciers ◽

Two Phases

One hundred and nineteen rock glaciers were identified in an aerial photograph inventory of 4632 km2 in Jasper National Park, Alberta. Morphological subdivision indicated 33 lobate, 76 tongue-shaped and 10 spatulate rock glaciers, whereas a 'genetic' classification identified 65 'glacial' (ice-cored) and 54 'non-glacial' (ice-cemented) rock glaciers. Head elevations of the glacial group (mean 2318 m) are significantly higher than the non-glacial group (mean 2256 m). The total elevation range of rock glaciers is 1710–2670 m.Optimal rock glacier sites are below north- or northeast-facing quartzite cliffs in cirques or on valley walls. These topographic and geologic controls produce a greater concentration of rock glaciers in the Main Ranges than the Front Ranges. Rock glacier head elevations rise eastwards and, to a lesser extent, southward across the area in response to regional climatic and latitudinal effects. Two phases of pre-'Little Ice Age' rock glacier activity are recognized on morphologic grounds and, since Little Ice Age glaciers overrode most of the evidence of Holocene glacier fluctuation, provide a major source of information on Holocene climatic fluctuations. Preliminary data suggest most rock glacier activity pre-dates the Little Ice Age and the oldest phases probably occurred between 6600 and 9000 BP.

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Lichenometric dating of the ‘Little Ice Age’ maximum in Mt Cook National Park, Southern Alps, New Zealand

The Holocene ◽

10.1191/0959683604hl767rp ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 14 (6) ◽

pp. 911-920 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Stefan Winkler

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Little Ice Age ◽

National Park ◽

Southern Alps ◽

Ice Age

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Greenhouses, hot water bottles, cycles and the future of New Zealand climate

Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association ◽

10.33584/jnzg.2009.71.2772 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 61-67

Author(s):

W.P. De Lange

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Thermal Energy ◽

Infrared Radiation ◽

Little Ice Age ◽

Hot Water ◽

Ice Age ◽

The Sun ◽

Weather Patterns ◽

Time Periods ◽

Almost All

The Greenhouse Effect acts to slow the escape of infrared radiation to space, and hence warms the atmosphere. The oceans derive almost all of their thermal energy from the sun, and none from infrared radiation in the atmosphere. The thermal energy stored by the oceans is transported globally and released after a range of different time periods. The release of thermal energy from the oceans modifies the behaviour of atmospheric circulation, and hence varies climate. Based on ocean behaviour, New Zealand can expect weather patterns similar to those from 1890-1922 and another Little Ice Age may develop this century.

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