Modern and Holocene Pollen Assemblages from Some Small Arctic Lakes on Somerset Island, NWT, Canada

Abstract

AbstractModern pollen samples from 15 lakes along a north-south transect on western Somerset Island, NWT, Canada, show a decrease in pollen concentrations from the high arctic to the mid-arctic zone, but there are few differences in the pollen percentages between these sites. Long-distance transport accounts for up to 50% of the pollen in these lake sediments. Cores from two lakes show few changes in the percentages of important pollen types, except for an initial period, before 6000 yr B.P., of increased Salix. The pollen concentration of lake RS36 from the mid-arctic is twice that of lake RS29 from the high arctic, and at both sites the concentrations decreased during the past 6000 yr B.P. This suggests a climatic deterioration during the past 6000 yr which has caused a decrease in the abundance of plants on the landscape.