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Science 12 November 1982:
Vol. 218. no. 4573, pp. 675 - 677
DOI: 10.1126/science.218.4573.675
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Articles

Ice-Free Conditions on the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, at the Height of Late Wisconsin Glaciation

BARRY G. WARNER 1, ROLF W. MATHEWES 1, and JOHN J. CLAGUE 2

1 Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
2 Geological Survey of Canada, 100 West Pender Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 1R8, Canada

New radiocarbon dates and plant macrofossil data establish that parts of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, were ice-free during and subsequent to the late Wisconsin glacial maximum on the Pacific coast of Canada. A paleoecological investigation of dated sediments at Cape Ball has indicated that a varied flora consisting of terrestrial and aquatic plants was present there about 16,000 years ago. This finding provides support for the existence of a heretofore questioned biotic refugium on the Queen Charlotte Islands during the last glaciation. These results shed new light on problems of glacial chronology, climatic change, biogeography, and archeology along the western margin of North America.

Submitted on May 24, 1982
Revised on July 22, 1982


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