Decomposing the mid-holocene Tsuga decline in eastern North America

The mid-Holocene decline of Tsuga canadensis (hereafter Tsuga) populations across eastern North America is widely perceived as a synchronous event, driven by pests/pathogens, rapid climate change, or both. Pattern identification and causal attribution are hampered by low stratigraphic density of pollen-sampling and radiometric dates at most sites, and by absence of highly resolved, paired pollen and paleoclimate records from single sediment cores, where chronological order of climatic and vegetational changes can be assessed. We present an intensely sampled (contiguous 1-cm intervals) record of pollen and water table depth (inferred from testate amoebae) from a single core spanning the Tsuga decline at Irwin Smith Bog in Lower Michigan, with high-precision chronology. We also present an intensively sampled pollen record from Tower Lake in Upper Michigan. Both sites show high-magnitude fluctuations in Tsuga pollen percentages during the pre-decline maximum. The terminal decline is dated at both sites ca. 5000 cal yr BP, some 400 years later than estimates from other sites and data compilations. The terminal Tsuga decline was evidently heterochronous across its range. A transient decline ca. 5350 cal yr BP at both sites may correspond to the terminal decline at other sites in eastern North America. At Irwin Smith Bog, the terminal Tsuga decline preceded an abrupt and persistent decline in water table depths by;200 years, suggesting the decline was not directly driven by abrupt climate change. The Tsuga decline may best be viewed as comprising at least three phases: a long-duration predecline maximum with high-magnitude and high-frequency fluctuations, followed by a terminal decline at individual sites, followed in turn by two millennia of persistently low Tsuga populations. These phases may not be causally linked, and may represent dynamics taking place at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Further progress toward understanding the phenomenon requires an expanded network of high-resolution pollen and paleoclimate chronologies.

High-precision ultra-distal Holocene tephrochronology in North America

Far-travelled volcanic ashes (tephras) from Holocene eruptions in Alaska and the Pacific northwest have been traced to the easternmost extent of North America, providing the basis for a new high-precision geochronological framework throughout the continent through tephrochronology (the dating and correlation of tephra isochrons in sedimentary records). The reported isochrons are geochemically distinct, with seven correlated to documented sources in Alaska and the Cascades, including the Mazama ash from Oregon (w7600 years old) and the eastern lobe of the White River Ash from Alaska (~1150 years old). These findings mark the beginning of a tephrochronological framework of enhanced precision across North America, with applications in palaeoclimate, surface process and archaeological studies. The particle travel distances involved (up tow7000 km) also demonstrate the potential for continent-wide or trans-Atlantic socio-economic disruption from similar future eruptions.

Autism and ABA: The gulf between North America and Europe

Prevalence estimations for Autism Spectrum Disorder have been increasing over the past few years with rates now reported to be at 1:68. Interventions that are based on Applied Behaviour Analysis are significantly related to best outcomes and are widely considered ‘treatment as usual’ in North America. In Europe, this is not the case, instead a rather ill-defined ‘eclectic’ approach is widely promoted and in this paper we discuss some of the roots of this gulf between Europe and North America and correct some of the misconceptions that prevail about Applied Behaviour Analysis in Europe.

A review of biomass co-firing in North America

Biomass fuels have long been accepted as useful renewable energy sources, especially in mitigating greenhouse gases (GHG), nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxide emissions. Biomass fuel is carbon neutral and is usually low in both nitrogen and sulfur. For the past decade, various forms of biomass fuels have been co-combusted in existing coal-fired boilers and gas-fired power plants. Biomass is used as a supplemental fuel to substitute for up to 10% of the base fuel in most full commercial operations. There are several successful co-firing projects in many parts of the world, particularly in Europe and North America. However, despite remarkable commercial success in Europe, most of the biomass co-firing in North America is limited to demonstration levels. This review takes a detailed look at several aspects of biomass co-firing with a direct focus on North America. It also explores the benefits, such as the reduction of GHG emissions and its implications. This paper shows the results of our studies of the biomass resources available in North America that can be used in coal-fired boilers, their availability and transportation to the power plant, available co-firing levels and technologies, and various technological and environmental issues associated with biomass co-firing. Finally, the paper proffers solutions to help utility companies explore biomass co-firing as a transitional option towards a completely carbon-free power sector in North America.

A mid to late Holocene cryptotephra framework from eastern North America

Holocene cryptotephras of Alaskan and Pacific Northwestern origin have recently been detected ca. 7000 km away on the east coast of North America. This study extends the emerging North American tephrochronological framework by geochemically characterising seventeen cryptotephra layers from four newly explored peatlands. All detected tephras were deposited during the late Holocene, with no horizons present in the peat between ca. 3000–5000 years ago. The prevalence of the Alaskan White River Ash eastern lobe (AD 847 ± 1) is confirmed across the eastern seaboard from Newfoundland to Maine and a regional depositional pattern from Mount St Helens Set W (AD 1479–1482) is presented. The first occurrences of four additional cryptotephras in eastern North America are described, three of which may originate from source regions in Mexico, Kamchatka (Russia) and Hokkaido (Japan). The possibility of such tephras reaching eastern North America presents the opportunity to link palaeo-archives from the tropics and eastern Asia with those from the western Atlantic seaboard, aiding inter-regional comparisons of proxy-climatic records.

Molluscan carbonate geochemistry and paleoceanography of the Late Cretaceous western interior seaway of North America

North Amerlc8 W8S inundated by fJ major eplcontlnental sea during ihe C:retaceo.us Period. The sOljihw6rd transgression of th.e northern Boreal See along the ~\festern Interior Seaway resulted in a meetlng with the northward edv6nclng waters from the GUlf of Mexico (Obradovich and Cobban, 1975). Th1s link was 1n eXlstence by late Albien time and 6llowed for the comm1ngl1ng of the prol1ferous Arctic and Gulf rnar1ne faunas (F1g. 1). By early Campanlan time, there was a widening of B6ffln Bay wlth a slrnult8neous subsidence 1n the Arct1c Archlpelago and Sverdrup 6as1n (W11liam and Stelck, 1975). Williams and Burk (1964) found 6 break 1n the marines sedlmentatlon in the f1anltoba area, suggesting Bland corlnectlon from the Dlstrlct of Keewatln through eastern M6fl1toba to the lake Sl~perlor reglon, lmplying that the only dlrect connection between the Interlor Sea with Baffln Bay, was yia the Arct1c. This hiatus was also documented by Meek and Hayden (1861) ln the United states between the Niobrara and Pierre Format1ons. Jeletzky (1971) suggested that the retreat of the sea towards the east was by a serles of strong pulses resultlng in the regression of the Campanlan and M66str1chtlan seas. During ttle Cretaceous1 the r1s1ng Corl1111era caused the western shoreline of the Interlor Sea to migrate eastwards and the Cordillera'l detritus produced deltaic cornplexes from the Mackenzie Valley to Ne\N Mexlcoo The foreland basin was continually subslding and thls down\",arplng aided in the eastward m1gration of the western shorel1ne. Thls also lndicates that trle water 'tIes becom1ng deeper in the central Plains sect10n of the Seaway (Fig. 2).

Postglacial water levels in the Great Lakes Region in relation to Holocene climate change : Thecamoebian and Palynological evidence /

Various lake phases have developed in the upper Great Lakes in response to isostatic adjustment and changes in water supply since the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Georgian Bay experienced a lowstand that caused a basin wide unconformity approximately 7,500 years ago that cannot be explained by geological events. Thecamoebians are shelled protozoans abundant in freshwater environments and they are generally more sensitive to changing environmental conditions than the surrounding vegetation. Thecamoebians can be used to reconstruct the paleolimnology. The abundance of thecamoebians belonging to the genus Centropyxis, which are known to tolerate slightly brackish conditions (i.e. high concentrations of ions) records highly evaporative conditions in a closed basin. During the warmer interval (9000 to 700 yBP), the Centropyxis - dominated population diminishes and is replaced by an abundant and diverse Difflugia dominate population. Historical climate records from Tobermory and Midland, Ontario were correlated with the Lake Huron water level curve. The fossil pollen record and comparison with modem analogues allowed a paleo-water budget to be calculated for Georgian Bay. Transfer function analysis of fossil pollen data from Georgian Bay records cold, dry winters similar to modem day Minneapolis, Minnesota. Drier climates around this time are also recorded in bog environments in Southem Ontario - the drying of Lake Tonawanda and inception of paludification in Willoughby Bog, for instance, dates around 7,000 years ago. The dramatic impact of climate change on the water level in Georgian Bay underlines the importance of paleoclimatic research for predicting future environmental change in the Great Lakes.

Four days at Niagara Falls, in North America /

Inscription in ink, t.p. verso: James Ainsworth Esq With the respectful com'ts of the author.