CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Hallett, D.
Date : 1999
Title : Holocene fire history of the mountain hemlock zone in Southwestern British Columbia, based on high-resolution charcoal analysis of lake sediments and soil.
Publication : Program and Abstracts. 42nd Annual Meeting of the Western Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers, Okanagan University College, Kelowna, British Columbia, March 11 to 13, 1999
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
Little is known about the role of fire in the cool, wet high-elevation forests of the Mountain Hemlock Zone in southwestern British Columbia. Two high-resolution charcoal methods were used to create independent fire history records in the Frozen Lakes area near Yale, B.C. The first method involves extensive AMS radiocarbon dating of soil charcoal collected from finely sampled mor humus profiles. The presence of Bridge River (2435 14C years BP) and Mazama (6730 14C years BP) tephras in the profiles, along with multiple charcoal lenses, provides the basis for this Holocene fire history reconstruction. The fire history based on 50 radiocarbon ages from Frozen Lakes soils is characterized by long fire return intervals and occasional periods of frequent fire. Charcoal peaks in the Frozen Lake sediment record are the second method of determining fire history and represent a master fire chronology for the area. Sediment magnetic susceptibility was also examined and provides a proxy measure for erosion events in the watershed. The sediment charcoal record suggests a continuously varying fire frequency throughout the Holocene as climate and vegetation changes. An increase in fire frequency between 2200 and 1200 14C years BP is apparent in both the soil charcoal and lake sediment records, and may be linked to drier summer climate or potentially, human-lit fire.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology