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Long-term river discharge and multidecadal climate variability inferred from varved sediments, southwest Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Claire A. Kaufman ,
Scott F. Lamoureux  and
Darrell S. Kaufman
Claire A. Kaufman
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada
Scott F. Lamoureux*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada
Darrell S. Kaufman
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA 86011–4099
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: + 1 613 533 6122. E-mail address:scott.lamoureux@queensu.ca (S.F. Lamoureux).
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Abstract

Sedimentological analyses of 289 years (AD 1718–2006) of varved sediment from Shadow Bay, southwest Alaska, were used to investigate hydroclimate variability during and prior to the instrumental period. Varve thicknesses relate most strongly to total annual discharge (r2 = 0.75, n = 43, p < 0.0001). Maximum annual grain size depends most strongly on maximum spring daily discharge (r2 = 0.63, n = 43, p < 0.0001) and maximum annual daily discharge (r2 = 0.61, n = 43, p < 0.0001), while varve thickness is poorly correlated with maximum annual grain size (r2 = 0.004, n = 287, p = 0.33). Relations between varve thickness and annual climate variables (temperature, precipitation, North Pacific (NP) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) indices) are insignificant. On multidecadal timescales, however, regime shifts in varve thickness and total annual discharge coincide with shifts in NP and PDO indices. Periods with increased varve thickness and total annual discharge were associated with warm PDO phases and a strengthened Aleutian Low. The varve-inferred record of PDO suggests that any periodicity in the PDO varied over time, and that the early 19th century marked a transition to a more frequent or detectable shifts.

Keywords

VarvesSouthwest AlaskaDischargeClimate variabilityPacific Decadal OscillationNorth Pacific IndexAleutian Low
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , July 2011 , pp. 1 - 9
Copyright
University of Washington

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