Paleoenvironmental Interpretation of Late Glacial and Post
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PALEOENVIRONMENTAL INTERPRETATION OF LATE GLACIAL AND POST- GLACIAL FOSSIL MARINE MOLLUSCS, EUREKA SOUND, CANADIAN ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in the Department of Geography University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By Shanshan Cai © Copyright Shanshan Cai, April 2006. All rights reserved. i PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis. Requests for permission to copy or to make other use of material in this thesis in whole or part should be addressed to: Head of the Department of Geography University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A5 i ABSTRACT A total of 5065 specimens (5018 valves of bivalve and 47 gastropod shells) have been identified and classified into 27 species from 55 samples collected from raised glaciomarine and estuarine sediments, and glacial tills. The bivalves Hiatella arctica, Mya truncata, Astarte borealis, and Serripes groenlandicus are the most common species. Our samples record the dominance of infaunal suspension-feeders that are most abundant on soft substrates typically occurring in nearshore environments. The dominance of bivalves with respect to gastropods reflects an averaged record of the fossil assemblages inhabiting the high latitude nearshore environments. Six unique associations, which are comparable to the composition of modern communities inhabiting in fiords and on continental shelf from Canadian high arctic, and three distinctive taxa groups (deposit feeders, suspension-feeders, and rare taxa) are recognized by cluster analysis and Multidimensional Scaling conducted on presence- absence data. The trophic composition of paleocommunities in this study is as follows: suspension-feeders > deposit feeders > carnivores > browsers. The occurrence of Mya pseudoarenaria in fossil assemblages indicates an age of the fossils around early Holocene. Most of the samples are not substantially transported nor significantly reworked. Shell disarticulation and fragmentation can result from sea ice scouring of the seafloor and the development of permafrost in raised marine sediments. The degree of shell disarticulation for the four most common taxa is generally low which likely reflects high sedimentation rates and rapid burial in nearshore environments, especially those from glaciomarine silts and estuarine deposits. Four common species exhibit different ii preservation potential based the degree of fragmentation and disarticulation (Serripes < Mya < Hiatella < Astarte). Shells with high (or low) degree of fragmentation for single species (i.e. Hiatella) also correspond to different energy conditions of the associated sediments facies from which the shells are recovered. The general absence of strongly bioeroded or encrusted shells among samples suggests rapid burial of the shells with only limited exposure on the sediment surface, or the absence of grazing, boring or encrusting taxa in the environment that is dominated by infaunal habit of most of the taxa represented in the shell assemblages. Four taphofacies are recognized by cluster analysis on the basis of four taphonomic variables (fragmentation, corrasion, bioerosion, and encrustation) characterized by poor preservation, fair preservation, fair-good preservation, and fair preservation with poor corrasion respectively. Faunal succession and paleo-marine environments during the deglaciation in early Holocene are reconstructed from the seven sedimentation facies (glacial, beaches, shallow marine, proglacial, shallow marine or estuarine - pebbly sand and gravel with algal debris, shallow marine or estuarine - pebbly silt with algal debris, shallow marine or estuarine - interbedded silt and sand). iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank my supervisor Dr. Alec Aitken for his tremendous patience, tolerance, guidance, and good humor throughout this work. Alec has cheerfully given too much of his time, energy, and thought to this thesis, and for this and more I am very grateful. I also wish to thank my advisory committee Dr. Xulin Guo for her help on statistical analysis and encouragement, and Dr. Bill Archibold for his insights. I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the many people who have supported and encouraged me in this work. I thank Ms. Jennifer Murray for her introducing me to taphonomic analysis. I thank the Museum of Nature for helping me on mollusc species identification. I also thank my graduate colleagues for their always kind assistance and encouragement. I would like to thank the Department of Geography at University of Saskatchewan and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) for the financial assistance. Finally, I wish to give my particular thanks to my parents for their support and understanding on my study abroad. This thesis could not have been completed without the tremendous love and support of my fiancé, HanJie, throughout my graduate program. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PERMISSION TO USE .................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................... x Chapter 1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Significance of the Study........................................................................................ 2 1.3 Research Objectives ............................................................................................... 2 1.3.1 Holocene Environmental Change in the Canadian High Arctic...................... 2 1.3.2 The Role of Glaciers and Sea Ice Cover in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago 6 1.3.3 Preservation Pattern in Fossil Molluscs Assemblages of Marine Molluscs and Quaternary Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction in Canadian Arctic Archipelago.. 8 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................. 11 2.1 Regional Studies and Field Methods.................................................................... 11 2.2 Ecology and Zoogeography of Modern Arctic Marine Molluscs ........................ 12 2.2.1 Zoogeography................................................................................................ 12 2.2.2 Ecology.......................................................................................................... 17 2.2.2.1 Life Habits.............................................................................................. 17 2.2.2.2 Environmental Variables........................................................................ 20 2.3 Paleoenvironmental Research .............................................................................. 24 2.3.1 Taphonomic properties.................................................................................. 25 2.3.2 Comparable Taphonomy and Taphofacies.................................................... 29 2.3.3 Paleo-communities and Death Assemblages................................................. 31 2.3.4 Guild Analysis............................................................................................... 33 2.3.5 Preservation Pattern....................................................................................... 33 2.3.6 Holocene Paleoenvironments and Faunal Succession................................... 35 2.3.7 Paleoenvironmental Studies .......................................................................... 36 2.4 Problems and Gaps............................................................................................... 37 Chapter 3 Study Area and The Physical Setting ............................................................ 39 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 39 3.2 Bedrock Geology and Physiography.................................................................... 39 3.3 Glacial and Post-glacial Geomorphology............................................................