| Document ID: | QUT2005-001 |
| Document Type: | Thesis |
| Author: | Andrea Masterman Nurse |
| E-mail Address: | |
| URN: | |
| Title: | 12,000-Year Record of Lake-Level and Vegetative Change at Mathews Pond, Piscataquis County, Maine, USA |
| |
| Degree: | M.S. |
| Department: | Quaternary and Climate Studies |
| Committee Chair: | George L. Jacobson Jr., Professor of Biological Sciences and Quaternary Studies, Advisor |
| Chair's E-mail: | |
| Committee Members: | Daniel F. Belknap, Professor of Geological Sciences and Quaternary Studies; Ann C. Dieffenbacher-Krall, Associate Research Scientist, Quaternary Studies; David Sanger, Professor of Anthropology and Quaternary Studies |
| Subjects: | Environmental archaeology -- Maine -- Piscataquis County; Human ecology -- History -- Maine -- Piscataquis County; Paleoecology -- Holocene -- Maine -- Piscataquis County |
| Date of Defense: | 2003 |
| Availability: | |
Abstract
This study of late-glacial and Holocene changes in lake-level and vegetation at
Mathews Pond contributes new information about Holocene environments in northeastern
North America. The research establishes a 12,000-year record of paleohydrology for the
watershed adjacent to Big Reed Forest Reserve, the largest stand of old-growth forest in
the northeastern United States. Mathews Pond is a 7.4 ha, closed-basin, groundwaterseepage
lake located in an upland, forested region of the Aroostook River drainage
system. Glacial meltwater briefly filled the basin - 13.0 ka (1 ka = 1000 I4C yr BP)). The
lake existed as a shallow pool in the deep area of the basin between 11.0 and 9.4 ka.
Water levels rose to near-modern levels by 8.4 ka, and, except for a slight decline around
7.5 ka (8200 cal yr BP), remained high until 4.8 ka, when a distinct low-stand lasted until
3.0 ka. After 3.0 ka the lake level rose to the modern level with intermittent low and high
fluctuations of 200-500 year duration. Synchrony of lake-level changes between
Mathews Pond and Whited Lake, a groundwater seepage lake in an adjacent watershed,
and from additional sites across northeastern North America provides strong evidence that
Holocene climate varied with 1500-2000 year periodicity and with sufficient intensity to
alter regional moisture balance. Synchrony of groundwater response between watersheds
and across broad geographic regions suggests that changes in moisture balance are driven
by external influences such as solar insolation or shifts in atmospheric circulation.
Integration of lake-level, charcoal, and pollen data at centennial-scale temporal resolution
identified subtle increases in groundwater recharge in response to decreased forest
transpiration following local forest fires.
Masterman Nurse, Andrea, University of Maine, QUT2005-001
