MULTI-PROXY EVIDENCE OF LATE QUATERNARY PALEOENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES FROM TWO CAROLINA BAYS IN NORTH CAROLINA: 1. POLLEN AND MICROSCOPIC CHARCOAL

Knowledge of Holocene paleoenvironmental change in the southeastern United States is lacking due to a paucity of suitable archives relative to the rest of the country. However, the coastal plain of the eastern United States has thousands of shallow, elliptical lakes, bogs, and pocosins, collectively known as the Carolina Bays. These bays have the capability to provide essential data needed to fill this regional gap in the paleoenvironmental record. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on sedimentary records from Carolina Bays conducted by David Frey and Donald Whitehead in the 1950’s indicate a relatively stable Holocene climate. However, more recent studies indicate the Holocene in the southeastern United States was not nearly as stable as originally described and likely punctuated by abrupt shifts in climate. This study uses multi-proxy analyses of sediment cores recovered from Jones and Singletary Lake, Bladen County, North Carolina to provide new insight into Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental change in the region. Pollen and microscopic charcoal records are used to reconstruct regional vegetation assemblages and fire histories during the Holocene with an approximate 800 year sample interval. Previous studies used much larger sampling intervals resulting in a low-resolution record. Holocene pollen assemblages from both sites are dominated by Pinus and Quercus, but variations in the abundances of climatically sensitive genera such as Betula, Fagus, Juglans, Liquidambar, Ostrya/Carpinus, Taxodium, and Tsuga, are indicative of change. In addition to the vegetation record, macroscopic charcoal and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses provide further insight into vegetation change, fire history, and nutrient cycling in response to significant shifts in regional climate.