Late Glacial and Holocene Palaeoecology of the Lake St Clair
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Late Glacial and Holocene Palaeoecology of the Lake St Clair Region, Tasmania Felicitas Hopf A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University. March 2018 © Copyright by Felicitas Hopf 2018 All Rights Reserved Declaration I declare that this thesis was composed by myself, that the work contained herein is my own except where explicitly stated otherwise in the text, and that this work has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification except as specified. Word count: 64, 505 words ii | P a g e Acknowledgements Firstly, I’d like to thank my supervisory panel, chaired by Prof Simon Haberle and including Em Prof Geoffrey Hope, Dr Michael Macphail and Dr Janelle Stevenson. I have been very lucky to have so much great expertise at hand resulting in engaging discussions and valuable feedback. A big thank you to Simon for his support, guidance and encouragement over the years. I will be forever grateful for the support in making this last push to submission happen! Thank you to Geoff for involving me on the Skullbone Plains Bog project leading to the inclusion of the pollen record in this thesis. The Department of Archaeology and Natural History has been such a friendly and supportive working environment and I would also like to extend my thanks to all of my fellow students and other staff for their support and friendship over the years. In particular, the other pollen enthusiasts with whom I’ve shared many hours at the microscope: Ben, Ulli, Sue, Rebecca, Mat, Iona, Alexa and Jay. Thank you also to Larissa and Anna for your friendship as well as Rani for many years of shared office, home and friendship! I’d like to thank Patrick De Deckker for the use of the MD03-2611 ocean core data, which provided interesting comparisons with the sediment cores from the Lake St Clair region, as well as his feedback on the discussion chapter and fruitful discussions about the data. Thank you also to Michael-Shawn Fletcher for many interesting discussions over the years and his generous sharing of his skillset in dataset analysis and presentation. This has taken a few years and I am very grateful for the many opportunities I’ve had to work on other projects both within Tasmania and beyond which has allowed me to grow within this wonderful field. Thanks again to Simon, Geoff, Janelle and Michael for these opportunities. I’d also like to acknowledge the early origins of this project at the University of Newcastle. Thankyou to Eric Colhoun for introducing me to research in Tasmania and starting me off on a fantastic Honours project. I’d like to thank Eric for his support and guidance and opportunity to work on the Lake St Clair cores, retrieved from the great depths of Lake St Clair by Dr Charlie Barton, formerly at Geoscience Australia, with the help of Tony Fowler. I’d also like to thank the many people that helped in the field: Simon Richards, Peter Shimeld, Stuart Pearson, Paula Jones, Warwick Dyson, Glenn Behnke and Christian Thun. Thank you also to Stuart for his inspiring lectures and early support on the project and Peter Shimeld for his guidance on my entry into the world of pollen, his immense enthusiasm, knowledge and great friendship. Special thanks also to the rangers at Lake St Clair for their help, support, interest and provision of accommodation during fieldwork. I will never forget the feeling of awe and excitement when I first stepped onto the shores of Cynthia Bay and looked out into the amazing landscape that I would have the privilege to explore. Thank you to Sib Corbett for providing vegetation maps and interesting discussions on Tasmania’s vegetation. Thank you to Kevin Kiernan and iii | P a g e Tim Barrows for helpful discussions on the glaciation of the region. I have spent countless hours in Kevin’s PhD thesis on the glacial geomorphology of the Lake St Clair region. And finally, a big thank you to my family and friends for being there for me on this lengthy journey and their unquestionable support! Thank you to Simon Richards and Christian Reepmeyer for sharing a part of the journey. Thank you to Naroa and Janay for all the good times, support and laughter. Naroa’s perfectly timed, surprise deliveries of ice cream played a critical role in reaching this point of thesis submission… not to mention the amazing friendship that is linked to this. And how could I forget, thank you to the Bearded Ladies! iv | P a g e Abstract This thesis presents a history of regional and local changes in vegetation in the Lake St Clair region, supported by modern vegetation and pollen analyses. The records span into oxygen isotope stage 3, with a focus on the last Glacial Holocene transition and fill a gap in the poorly studied region of Central Tasmania. The vegetation during the last glaciation prior to the Last Glacial Maximum was characterised by widespread Pherosphaera hookeriana dominated alpine coniferous heath growing together with a mosaic of alpine grasslands, herbfields, heathland and sedgeland. The lakes at Clarence Lagoon and Excalibur Bog are inferred to have dried up under the cold and dry climate during the Last Glacial Maximum. The legacy of Pherosphaera hookeriana dominated vegetation extends to the early deglacial sediments in Lake St Clair, declining to only trace representation through the remainder of the late Glacial and Holocene in the wider Lake St Clair region. Deglaciation of Lake St Clair was complete by c. 18.3 cal kyr BP and subsequent replacement of an early mosaic of alpine vegetation types, by subalpine Athrotaxis cupressoides and Diselma archeri dominated rainforest and/or woodland in response to rapidly rising temperatures and precipitation, is in sync with postglacial Antarctic warming and rising sea surface temperatures. A 900-year period of renewed grassland expansion is inferred to represent slightly cooler/drier conditions leading into the Antarctic Cold Reversal, abruptly ended by strong increases in rainforest mid-way through the Antarctic Cold Reversal suggesting a shift to a wetter and warmer climate leading to the establishment of Phyllocladus aspleniifolius-Nothofagus cunninghamii rainforest. The abrupt decline in Phyllocladus aspleniifolius at c. 12.4 cal kyr BP marks the expansion of Nothofagus cunninghamii-Atherosperma moschatum callidendrous rainforest growing under optimal conditions during the Early Holocene, which becomes more complex between c. 10-8 cal kyr when Phyllocladus aspleniifolius returns to high values, together with a secondary peak of Athrotaxis/Diselma under an inferred wetter and warm climate. At c. 8 cal kyr BP, the rainforest taxon Anodopetalum/Eucryphia becomes important and the remainder of the Holocene sees an overall decline in rainforest taxa and increase in sclerophyll and herbaceous taxa and fire activity, which intensifies during the late Holocene. The observed changes in the record are consistent with the onset of ENSO and a more variable climate from c. 8 cal kyr BP and an intensification and cooling temperatures from c. 5 cal kyr BP. v | P a g e Table of Contents Declaration……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….iii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….v List of figures……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………xi List of tables………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….xvii List of plates………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………....xvii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Context ................................................................................................................................ 2 1.2.1 Periods of abrupt climate change in the past .............................................................. 2 1.2.2 The last glacial interglacial transition and teleconnections of climate signals ............ 5 1.2.3 The Antarctic Cold Reversal ........................................................................................ 7 1.3 Statement of Problem ....................................................................................................... 10 1.4 Research Aims ................................................................................................................... 12 1.4.1 Primary Aim ................................................................................................................ 12 1.4.2 Secondary Aim ........................................................................................................... 13 1.5 Thesis plan......................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2 The Modern Environment .......................................................................................... 15 2.1 Location and topographical setting .................................................................................. 15 2.2 Climate .............................................................................................................................. 17 2.2.1 Overview .................................................................................................................... 17 2.2.2 Tasmanian Climate Drivers ........................................................................................ 18