CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Campbell, I.D.; Zoltai, S.C.; and Delorme, D.D.
Date : 1995
Title : Palynology of the St. Laurent Ferry Fen, in the grassland near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Publication : Abstracts of the Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists. Ottawa, Ontario
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
St. Laurent Ferry Fen is a small, spring-fed wetland near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in the grassland well south of the forest margin; it is the most southerly fen known in this region. A 3.3 m core spanning some 4,000+ years shows a record of rapid moistening, with prairie elements reducing rapidly in the first few cm, then continuing to decline until EuroCanadian disturbance. The site was initially fringed with shrub birch, which rapidly declined and was replaced in part by willow and sedges. Conifers arrived at the site fairly early in the record. The ostracods and sedge pollen both agree that there were strong fluctuations in moisture throughout the last 4,000 years, but the general trend shown by the regional pollen is toward increasing moisture. It is likely that both the ostracods and the sedges are responding to minor water-table fluctuations superimposed on the tendency of the fen to maintain itself at or close to the ground water table. Tamarack (Larix laricina) pollen increases ca. 3,500 BP; at the same time, there is the first occurrence of tamarack-like microscopic charcoal.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology