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- Title
Macrofossil Record of a Middle Holocene Drop in Relative Sea Level at the St. Lawrence Estuary, Québec.
- Authors
Bhiry, Najat; Garneau, Michelle; Filion, Louise
- Abstract
Macrofossil analysis of a peat layer overlying shallow-water estuarine sediments allows the reconstruction of vegetation changes between 7000 and 6000 14 C yr B.P. near Montmagny, Québec. About 7500–7000 14 C yr B.P., the study site was brackish and intertidal. Next, a cattail marsh dominated by Typha changed into a terrestrial fire-prone environment that contained xero-mesophilous tree species ( Pinus / Tsuga ) and lasted a few hundred years, until about 6800 14 C yr B.P. This rapid change may have resulted from land tilting associated with the northward migration of the postglacial forebulge. An abrupt change from a Pinus / Tsuga -dominated cover to shrubby vegetation was due to a fire that affected the site 6800 14 C yr B.P. Fossil mosses at the site reflect local wetness likely produced by a rise in the water table starting about 6600 14 C yr B.P. By 6500–6400 14 C yr B.P., seawater returned and freshwater plants were replaced by semihalophilous and halophilous plants. Thinning of annual rings in fossil larch reflects this change from a terrestrial peatland to a treeless coast.
- Publication
Quaternary Research, 2000, Vol 54, Issue 2, p228
- ISSN
0033-5894
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1006/qres.2000.2160