Year 1 of 3 Progress Report
High Resolution Holocene Paleoclimatic and Paleoceanographic
Records From Anoxic Basins Along the British Columbia Coast
Principle Investigator: Professor R. Timothy Patterson, Carleton
University
Progress
Research is proceeding as scheduled according to the milestones
outlined in the research proposal.
An initial planning meetings were held at the Pacific Geoscience
Centre, Sidney BC on December 7, 2001 and at Carleton University
February 7,8, 2002 to design sampling and analytical protocols.
The first cruise to the Belize/Seymour Inlet area took place from
April 15-26, 2002 aboard the CCGS Vector (Figure 1) with co-investigators
Professor Tim Patterson, (Carleton University) Dr. Rick Thomson
(Institute of Ocean Sciences-Department of Fisheries and Oceans;
IOS-DFO), Dr. Ed Reinhardt (McMaster University) and Dr. Helen Roe
(Queens University, Belfast) aboard, in addition to post doctoral
researcher Dr. Audrey Dallimore (Pacific Geoscience Centre, Geological
Survey of Canada, PGC-GSC) and oceanographic and coring specialists
from the IOS-DFO and PGC-GSC.
Water property data was collected throughout the inlet complex
(Figures 2,3,4) as well as nine freeze cores (Figure 5) and eight
piston cores (Figure 6; Table 1). Samples from the freeze and piston
cores have been submitted for 210Pb, 137Cs and 14C dating. In addition
a large number of grab samples were collected at the sediment/water
interface from throughout the complex (Figure 7; Table 2). The anoxic
nature of bottom water within Alison Sound and Frederick Sound was
confirmed and sensors were moored at the mouth of these inlets to
monitor oceanographic changes throughout the year. More than 100
meters of core was collected in all (Table 1).
In addition several coastal lakes were visited in the Belize/Seymour
Inlet complex to assess their suitability for paleo-sea level research.
Sediment water interface samples, Livingstone cores, and water property
data were collected from four (see data repository at: www.carleton.ca/ccrg).
Since the completion of the first cruise all collected cores have
been x-rayed (Figure 8) and subsamples collected and distributed
to co-investigators for analysis. Dr. Dallimore (PGC-GSC) has begun
work on interpreting the sedimentological history of the cores.
Dr. Andreas Prokoph (Speedstat) has begun work on assessing the
cyclostratigraphic record for cores containing laminated sediments.
In addition, several current and new graduate students starting
in the fall of 2002 will be evaluating various micropaloentological
(diatoms, palynology and foraminifera) and geochemical proxies.
Researcher Andreas Prokoph is carrying out cyclostratigraphic analysis
of cores with annual laminations.
A third science meeting was held immediately following the cruise
on April 29, 2002 to discuss the cruise results.
A fourth science meeting was held on August 22, 2002 to discuss
results thus far and to plan for the next cruise to the research
area from October, 15-24 2002.
In June 2002, with co-investigators professors Steve Calvert (UBC),
and Tom Pedersen (UVIC) leading the effort, the RV Marian Dufresne
obtained two super piston cores from Effingham Inlet on the west
coast of Vancouver Island. These nearly 50 m long cores, that encompass
the entire Holocene, have been x-rayed and samples are being distributed
to co-investigators for analysis. They contain an extremely high
quality record of annually deposited laminations that archive detailed
paleoclimatic data for the entire Holocene. In addition to the geochemical
analysis being carried out by the UBC-UVIC team Co-investigator
Thomson (IOS/UBC) has begun a detailed cyclostratigraphic analysis
of these sediments and Dallimore is assessing the sedimentological
record.
A project web site has just been developed (www.carleton.ca/ccrg),
where data collected from the project will be archived and made
available to other researchers.
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