Publications | 2011 - 2013 Research Publications (2011 - 2013) 2013 Patterson, R.T., Chang, A.S., Prokoph, A., Roe, H.M., Swindles, G.T., 2013. Influence of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, El Niño-Southern Oscillation and solar forcing on climate and primary productivity changes in the northeast Pacific. Quaternary International. v. 310, p. 124-139. Patterson, R.T., Lamoureux, E.D.R., Neville, L.A., Macumber, A.L. 2013. Arcellaceans (testate lobose amoebae) as pH indicators in a pyrite mine acidified lake, northeastern Ontario, Canada. Microbial Ecology. v. 65 (3), p. 541-554. Galloway, J.M., Wigston, A., Patterson, R.T., Swindles, G.T., Reindardt, E., Roe, H.M. 2013. Climate change and decadal to centennial-scale climate periodicities recorded in a late Holocene NE Pacific marine record: Examining the role of solar forcing. Palaeogeography, Paleoclimatology, Palaeoecology v. 386, p. 669-689. El Bilali, H., Patterson, R.T., Prokoph, A., 2013. A Holocene paleoclimate reconstruction for eastern Canada base on D18O cellulose of Sphagnum mosses from Mer Bleue Bog. The Holocene. v. 23, p. 1260-1271. Helen M. Roe, H.M., Christine T. Doherty, C.T., Patterson, R.T., Glenn A. Milne, G.A., 2013. Isolation basin records of late Quaternary sea-level change, central mainland British Columbia, Canada. Quaternary International. v. 310, p. 181-198. Babalola, L.O., Patterson, R.T., Prokoph, A. 2013. Foraminiferal evidence of a late Holocene westward shift of the Aleutian Low. Journal of Foraminiferal Research. v. 43 (2), p. 127-142. Watchorn, M.A., Hamilton, P.B., Patterson, R.T. 2013. The paleolimnology of Haynes Lake, Oak Ridges Moraine, Ontario, Canada: documenting anthropogenic and climatic disturbances. Environmental Earth Sciences. v. 68, p. 1823-1834. 2012 Mertens, K.N., Bringué, M., Van Nieuwenhove, N., Takano, Y., Pospelova, V., Rochon, A., de Vernal, A., Radi, T., Dale, B., Patterson, R.T., Weckström, K., Andrén, E., Louwye, S., Matsuoka, K. 2012. Process length variation of the cyst of the dinoflagellate Protoceratium reticulatum in the North Pacific and Baltic-Skagerrak region: calibration as annual density proxy and first evidence of pseudo-cryptic speciation. Journal of Quaternary Science. v. 27 (7), p. 734-744. DOI: 10.1002/jqs.2564 Neville, L.A., Gammon, P., Patterson , R.T., McCarthy, F.M.G., MacKinnon, M.D., Macumber, A.L. 2012. Response of benthic microorganisms (thecamoebians) to oil sands process-affected materials; providing endpoints for gauging aquatic reclamation success. Third International Oil Sands Tailings Conference. D. Sego, G.W. Wilson, N.Beier (Eds). Edmonton, AB, p. 369-377. Patterson, R.T., Roe, H.M., Swindles, G.T., 2012. Development of an Arcellacea (testate lobose amoebae) based transfer function for sedimentary phosphorus in lakes. Palaeogeography, Paleoclimatology, Palaeoecology. v. 348-349, p. 32-44. Elliott, S.M., Roe, H.M., Patterson, R.T., 2012. Testate amoebae as indicators of hydroseral change: An 8500 year record from Mer Bleue Bog, eastern Ontario, Canada. Quaternary International. v. 268, p. 128-144. Swindles, G.T., Patterson, R.T., Roe, H.M., Galloway, J.M., 2012. Evaluating periocidities in peat-based climate proxy records. Quanternary Science Reviews. v. 41, p. 94-103. Galloway, J.M., Sanei H, Patterson R.T., Mosstajiri, Hadlari T., Falck, H., 2012. Total arsenic concentrations of lake sediments near the City of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Geological Survey of Canada Open File 7037, 47 p. El Bilali, H, Patterson, R.T., 2012. Influence of cellulose oxygen isotope variability in sub-fossil Sphagnum and plant macrofossil components on the reliability of paleoclimate records at the Mer Bleue Bog, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Organic Geochemistry, v. 43, p. 39-49. doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2011.11.003 Macumber, A.L., Neville, L.A., Galloway, J.M., Patterson, R.T., Falck, H., Swindles, G.T., Crann, C., Clark, I., Gammon, P., Madsen, E. 2012. Climatological assessment of the Northwest Territories and implications for the long-term viability of the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, Part II: March 2010 Field Season. NWT Open Report 2011-010, 83 p. 2011 Patterson, R.T., Swindles, G.T., Roe, H.M., Kumar, A., Prokoph, A. 2011. Dinoflagellate cyst-based reconstructions of mid to late Holocene winter sea-surface temperature and productivity from an anoxic fjord in the NE Pacific Ocean. Quaternary International. v. 235, p. 13-25. Macumber, A.L., Patterson, R.T.,Neville, L.A., Falck, H., 2011. A sledge microtome for high resolution subsampling of freeze cores. Journal of Paleolimnology, v. 45, p. 307-310. DOI 10.1007/s10933-010-9487-4.
2013 Abstracts
Climate change and decadal to centennial-scale climate periodicities recorded in a late Holocene NE Pacific marine record: Examining the role of solar forcing.
A 12-m late Holocene sediment core (VEC02A04) obtained from Frederick Sound in the Seymour-Belize Inlet Complex of central British Columbia, Canada, was deposited between ca. 4380 ± 240 cal. yr BP and ca. 1230 ± 315 cal. yr BP under primarily dysoxic conditions. This partially laminated sediment core contains well preserved marine microfossils that document fluctuations in primary productivity related to terrestrial hydrology due to the isolated location of Frederick Sound over 60 km inland from the Pacific Ocean. Between ca. 3270 ± 250 cal. yr BP and ca. 2030 ± 265 cal. yr BP, a change in diatom assemblages preserved in the Frederick Sound sediment record suggests that a relatively sunny and dry climate interval punctuated otherwise wet conditions at Frederick Sound. This change is related to millennial-scale variations in the relative influence of the Aleutian Low pressure system on the climate of the study region. Spectral and wavelet time-series analysis reveals centennial to decadal-scale cyclic changes in primary productivity that reflect ocean-atmosphere variability and solar irradiance cyclicities of the Suess-de Vries and Gleissberg frequencies that impacted the hydrology of the Seymour-Belize Inlet Complex. Solar activity is most pronounced during the dry and sunny climate interval documented at Frederick Sound and may have been manifested as a prolonged westward shift and/or weakening of the Aleutian Low pressure system in the mid-late Holocene.
A Holocene paleoclimate reconstruction for eastern Canada base on δ18O cellulose of Sphagnum mosses from Mer Bleue Bog.
Keywords: Eastern Canada, cellulose, ombrotrophic bog, oxygen isotopes, paleotemperatures, solar activity Influence of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, El Niño-Southern Oscillation and solar forcing on climate and primary productivity changes in the northeast Pacific.
Keywords: diatoms, laminated sediments, solar cycles, ENSO, PDO, upwelling, cyclostratigraphy, northeast Pacific Isolation basin records of late Quaternary sea-level change, central mainland British Columbia, Canada.
Isolation basin records from the Seymour–Belize Inlet Complex, a remote area of central mainland British Columbia, Canada are used to constrain post-glacial sea-level changes and provide a preliminary basis for testing geophysical model predictions of relative sea-level (RSL) change. Sedimentological and diatom data from three low-lying (<4 m elevation) basins record falling RSLs in late-glacial times and isolation from the sea by ~11,800-11,200 14C yr BP. A subsequent RSL rise during the early Holocene (~8,000 14C yr BP) breached the 2.13 m sill of the lowest basin (Woods Lake), but the two more elevated basins (sill elevations of ~3.6 m) remained isolated. At ~2,400 14C yr BP, RSL stood at 1.49 ± 0.34 m above present MTL. Falling RSLs in the late Holocene led to the final emergence of the Woods Lake basin by 1,604 ± 36 14C yr BP. Model predictions generated using the ICE-5G model partnered with a small number of different Earth viscosity models generally show poor agreement with the observational data, indicating that the ice model and/or Earth models considered can be improved upon. The best data-model fits were achieved with relatively low values of upper mantle viscosity (5×1019 Pa s), which is consistent with previous modelling results from the region. The RSL data align more closely with observational records from the southeast of the region (eastern Vancouver Island, central Strait of Georgia), than the immediate north (Bella Bella–Bella Coola and Prince Rupert-Kitimat) and areas to the north-west (Queen Charlotte Sound, Hecate Strait), underlining the complexity of the regional response to glacio-isostatic recovery. Foraminiferal evidence of a late Holocene westward shift of the Aleutian Low.
The late Holocene distribution of agglutinated foraminifera and freshwater thecamoebians were documented within a 12.26 m piston core (VEC02A04) deposited between ~4560 - ~1090 calendar years before present (cal yr BP), collected from glacier-carved Frederick Sound, Seymour-Belize Inlet Complex, British Columbia. The sedimentary record archived in this core was characterized by unevenly distributed massive and laminated intervals interrupted by occasional slumps and turbidites. The faunal assemblages within the core was characterized by low diversity-low abundance agglutinated foraminiferal faunas (Shannon Diversity Index (SDI ≤1.36) ) with occasional allochthonous freshwater thecamoebians. The predominance of low-oxygen tolerant agglutinated foraminiferal taxa and absence of calcareous fauna indicate that oxygen was the main environmental stressor. Abundant organic matter in the core sediments provides additional evidence of low oxygen conditions that excluded most organisms that might have utilized this rich food resource. The paleolimnology of Haynes Lake, Oak Ridges Moraine, Ontario, Canada: documenting anthropogenic and climatic disturbances. Environmental Earth Sciences. DOI 10.1007/s12665-012-1870-1
Haynes Lake is a small kettle lake located on the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM), and is within the Greater metropolitan area of Toronto, Ontario; Canada’s most populous region. Lake sedimentation, flux rates, diatoms and thecamoebians extracted from a benthic core were used as biological proxies to evaluate changes in water quality through time as a function of anthropogenic activity and changing climate. High-resolution details of the sedimentary history of the lake were determined through x-ray analysis of the sediment cores. There were two clear periods of disturbance to the Haynes Lake ecosystem from ca 8500 YBP through to ca A.D. 2003 which were significant enough to cause changes in lake sedimentation, the diatom flora, and thecamoebian fauna. The first disturbance was concomitant with the decline in global temperatures following the Hypsithermal Climate Optimum (ca. 4700 YBP). However, the most significant disruption to Haynes Lake over the last 8500 years was the settlement of Europeans and subsequent urban development (ca. A.D. 1875), including the construction of a road immediately adjacent to the lake. Anthropogenic disturbance of inorganic clays in the recent paleosediment record (<5cm) is indicative of more recent eutrophication events.
Arcellaceans (testate lobose amoebae) as pH indicators in a pyrite mine acidified lake, northeastern Ontario, Canada. Microbial Ecology.
Arcellacea (testate lobose amoebae) were examined in 24 sediment-water interface samples collected over two late August field seasons in 2010 and 2011, from James and Granite lakes, Temagami region, northeastern Ontario. The work was carried out to quantitatively test species-environment relationships in a lake system known to be characterized by a significant pH gradient, partially the result of contamination from the early 20th century Northland Pyrite Mine Co., located on the shoreline in the southern basin of James Lake. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) confirmed that arcellacean assemblage structure was most strongly controlled by pH, explaining 14.06% (p<0.002) of the total variance. Q- and R-mode cluster analysis supported by Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) yielded two major fauna assemblages. The Oligotrophic Assemblage (1) had a Shannon Diversity Index (SDI) ranging up to 2.45, typical of healthy boreal lakes. This assemblage characterized samples collected from higher pH stations within James and Granite lakes away from the immediate area of the mine site, while the Low pH Assemblage-2010 (2a) and Low pH Assemblage-2011 (2b) groupings were from the very low pH environments of James Lake adjacent to the former mine site. Both low diversity assemblages (SDI ranging from 0.62-1.22) were characterized by Arcella vulgaris, a species known to thrive in hostile lacustrine environments. Differing depositional conditions during August 2010, a probable result of different prevailing wind patterns that summer, led to allochthonous specimens of the seasonally planktic Cucurbitella tricuspis dominating the Low pH Assemblage-2010 (2a) fauna. 2012 Abstracts Process length variation of the cyst of the dinoflagellate Protoceratium reticulatum in the North Pacific and Baltic-Skagerrak region: calibration as annual density proxy and first evidence of pseudo-cryptic speciation.
We investigated the process length variation of cysts of Protoceratium reticulatum in surface sediments from the North Pacific. Average process length showed a significant inverse relation to annual sea water density, σt annual =1000 + (3.5184 x average process length - 6.686) (R2=0.87). A sediment trap study from Effingham Inlet (British Columbia) shows the same relation of average process length to local sea water density variations. This calibration cannot be reconciled with a calibration from the Baltic-Skaggerak, accentuating the regional character of these calibrations. Response of benthic microorganisms (thecamoebians) to oil sands process-affected materials; providing endpoints for gauging aquatic reclamation success.
Constructed wetlands and end-pit lakes will play an important role in reclamation options for fluid tailings (OSPW/M) at surface oil sands operations. Through time and with natural bioremediation viable aquatic habitats will develop, but currently few tools are available to determine the rates of Development of an Arcellacea (testate lobose amoebae) based transfer function for sedimentary phosphorus in lakes.
Arcellacea (testate lobose amoebae) communities were assessed from 73 sediment-water
Evaluating periodicities in peat-based climate proxy records.
Proxy records derived from ombrotrophic peatlands provide important insights into climate change over decadal to millennial timescales. We present mid- to late- Holocene humification data and testate amoebae-derived water table records from two peatlands in Northern Ireland. We examine the replication of periodicities in these proxy climate records which have been precisely linked through tephrochronology. Age-depth models were constructed using a Bayesian piece-wise linear accumulation model and chronological errors were calculated for each profile. A Lomb-Scargle Fourier transform-based spectral analysis is used to test for statistically significant periodicities in the data. Periodicities of c. 130, 180, 260, 540 and 1160 years are present in at least one proxy records in each site. The replication of these periodicities provides persuasive evidence that they are a product of allogenic climate controls, rather than internal peatland dynamics. A technique to estimate the possible level of red noise in the data is applied and demonstrates that these periodicities cannot be explained by a first-order autoregressive model. We evaluate the periodicities with a review of those reported previously from marine and terrestrial climate proxy data and put into the context of climate forcing parameters.
Climatological assessment of the Northwest Territories and implications for the long-term viability of the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, Part II: March 2010 Field Season.
We characterize water quality and present biological and chemical data from lake sediments in support of an NSERC Strategic Project mandated to investigate background climate variability over the past ca. 3500 years in the southern Northwest Territories (NT). Goals of the project "Paleoclimatological assessment of the central Northwest Territories: Implications for the long-term viability of the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Ice Road" include providing data to increase the understanding of natural climate variability in the southern NT in general, and the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road (TCWR) in particular. A complete understanding of past climate systems is critical to predicting future climate variability and impacts on northern ecosystems. Eighteen lakes were sampled during March 2010 (Appendix C - Table C01): a total of thirteen freeze cores, sixty Glew cores, twenty sediment-water interface samples, twenty bottom and top water samples and twenty vertical lake profiles were collected. The eighteen lakes samples are spread along a latitudinal transect that spans the length of the TCWR from Tibbitt Lake to Lac de Gras. Lake sediment cores are composed mainly of mud, although a few contain intervals of sand and gravel. Freeze coring was performed with a custom designed device that captured sediments on two faces and was successful in capturing the unconsolidated sediment-water interface. Sediment cores were digitally imaged and sedimentologically described and a subset was X-Ray imaged. Limnological properties and chemical characterization of lake water will be used in concert with analyses of sediment-water interface samples to develop thecamoebian (arcellacean) and diatom-based transfer functions. These transfer functions will be used to quantify the paleoclimate record of the central NT over the past 3000 years. This research represents the first analysis of fossil and modern assemblages of arcellaceans in the southern NT and is only the second investigation involving arcellaceans, after Dallimore et al. (2000), to occur in the territory. Other microfossil techniques, such as palynology and microscopic charcoal analysis, will permit reconstruction of treeline movement and the response of fire regime to past climate change. Influence of cellulose oxygen isotope variability in sub-fossil Sphagnum and plant macrofossil components on the reliability of paleoclimate records at the Mer Bleue Bog, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Highlights - Significant difference in δ18Ocel was found between Sphagnum and vascular plants. - There is no significant difference in δ18Ocel between different Sphagnum species. - Paleotemperature reconstructions from peatland are best from δ18Ocel of Sphagnum.
This study provides a new understanding of cellulose oxygen (δ18Ocel) isotopic variability in various plant macrofossils, particularly Sphagnum, derived from an ∼9200year succession of Holocene peat in Mer Bleue Bog, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The variation of δ18Ocel isotopic composition, commonly used as a proxy of paleotemperature and paleoprecipitation, was compared between (1) Sphagnum and other plant macrofossils down core and (2) Sphagnum species within and between samples. The most common Sphagnum species encountered was Sphagnum magellanicum von Bridel, 1798 with lesser amounts of Sphagnum capillifolium (Breutel) Steudel, 1824, Sphagnum fuscum Klinggräff, 1872 and Sphagnum angustifolium Jensen, 1896. There is a statistically significant offset in δ18Ocel isotopic values (mean offset: 1.6‰, standard deviation=3.2‰, n=19) obtained from Sphagnum in comparison with values obtained from other plant macrofossils, particularly rhizomes. The δ18Ocel isotopic offset (mean offset: 0.1‰, standard deviation=1.0‰, n=11) between Sphagnum specimens from the same core horizons, irrespective of the species analyzed, was statistically insignificant at >95%. These results indicate that δ18Ocel isotopic analysis of bulk peat material with high percentage of rhizome and other vascular plants could result in erroneous paleoclimate reconstructions. Total arsenic concentrations of lake sediments near the City of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Geological Survey of Canada Open File 7037, 47 p.
We report on recent geoscience data collected by the Geological Survey of Canada in collaboration with Northwest Territories Geoscience Office and Carleton University. Fifty sediment-water interface samples from 19 lakes were collected between July and August 2009 along a 90 km east-west transect and analyzed for grain size, organic matter, nutrients, and metals. The work was undertaken to establish a dataset to contribute to the determination of natural variability of arsenic in freshwater sediments in the Yellowknife area, Northwest Territories. Geochemistry results of lake sediments are compared to previous work, bedrock geochemistry where available, and the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Interim Sediment Quality Guidelines and Probable Effects Levels for the Protection of Aquatic Life. Concentrations of arsenic in bulk lake sediment samples are elevated above Interim Sediment Quality Quidelines and Probable Effects Levels in lakes located west of the City of Yellowknife. These lakes occur on granitoid bedrock, which contain low arsenic relative to other bedrock types in the study region. The spatial pattern of arsenic in lake sediments is consistent with aerial dispersion of emitted particulates from mine smelting point sources and transportation by prevailing winds west of the City of Yellowknife. Testate amoebae as indicators of hydroseral change: An 8500 year record from Mer Bleue Bog, eastern Ontario, Canada.
Testate amoebae have been used widely as a proxy of hydrological change in ombrotrophic peatlands, although their response to abiotic controls in other types of mire and fenland palaeo-environments isless well understood. This paper examines the response of testate amoebae to hydroseral and other environmental changes at Mer Bleue Bog, Ontario, Canada, a large ombrotrophic peatland, which evolved from a brackish-water embayment in the early Holocene. Sediments, plant macrofossils and diatoms examined from a 5.99 m core collected from the dome of the bog record six stages of development: i) a quiet, brackish-water riverine phase (prior to ca. 8500 cal BP); ii) a shallow lake (ca. 8500-8200 cal BP); iii) fen (8200-7600 cal BP); iv) transitional mire (7600-6900 cal BP); v) pioneer raised mire (6900-4450 cal BP); and vi) ombrotrophic bog (4450 cal BP-present). Testate amoebae, notably small (<25 mm diameter) specimens of Centropyxis aculeata type, first appear in low abundances in sediments ascribed to the lacustrine phase. Diatoms from the same horizons record a shallowing in water depth, a decline in salinity and the development of emergent macrophytic vegetation, which may have provided favourable conditions for testate amoeba colonization. The testate amoeba communities of the inferred fen phase are more diverse and include centropyxids, cyclopyxids, Arcellidae and Hyalospheniidae, although the assemblages show some differences to those recently reported in modern European fen environments. The FeneBog Transition (FBT) is also dominated by C. aculeata type. The change in testate amoeba communities around this key transition is apparent in the results of Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA), and appears to reflect a latent nutrient gradient and a secondary moisture gradient. DCA analyses of plant macrofossil remains around the FBT show a similar trend, although the sensitivity of the two proxies to the inferred environmental changes differs. Comparisons with other regional mid-Holocene peatland records confirm the important influence of reduced effective precipitation on the testate amoeba communities during the initiation and development of Sphagnum-dominated, raised bog communities.
2011 Abstracts Dinoflagellate cyst-based reconstructions of mid to late Holocene winter sea-surface temperature and productivity from an anoxic fjord in the NE Pacific Ocean.
Published contemporary dinoflagellate distributional data from the NE Pacific margin and estuarine environments (n = 136) were re-analyzed using Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and partial Canonical Correspondence Analysis (pCCA). These analyses illustrated the dominant controls of winter temperature and productivity on the distribution of dinoflagellate cysts in this region. Dinoflagellate cyst-based predictive models for winter temperature and productivity were developed from the contemporary distributional data using the modern analogue technique and applied to subfossil data from two mid to late Holocene (w5500 calendar years before presentepresent) cores; TUL99B03 and TUL99B11, collected from Effingham Inlet, a 15 km long anoxic fjord located on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island that directly opens to the Pacific Ocean through Barkley Sound. Sedimentation within these basins largely comprises annually deposited laminated couplets, each made up of a winter deposited terrigenous layer and spring to fall deposited diatomaceous layer. The Effingham Inlet dinoflagellate cyst record provides evidence of a mid-Holocene gradual decline in winter SST, ending with the initiation of neoglacial advances in the region by ~3500 cal BP. A reconstructed Late Holocene increase in winter SST was initiated by a weakening of the California Current, which would have resulted in a warmer central gyre and more El Niño-like conditions. A sledge microtome for high resolution subsampling of freeze cores.
We describe a sledge microtome designed for the high-resolution subsampling of freeze cores. This inexpensive freeze-core microtome is capable of producing precise subsamples at mm to sub-mm resolution without sediment loss and cross-contamination. Such a subsampling resolution permits recognition of sub-decadal to annual events even in systems with low sedimentation rates. The freeze-core microtome is particularly useful for obtaining high-resolution subsamples at the environmentally important sediment-water interface due to freeze corers being capable of capturing this boundary with minimal disturbance as compared to other coring methods.
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Copyright T. Patterson 1996-2014
Carleton University
Updated:
April 16, 2014