The evolution of Arctic marine mammals

This review deals only with the evolutionary history of core Arctic marine mammals: polar bear (Ursus maritimus), walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus), harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandica), ringed seal (Phoca hispida), bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), white whale (Delphinapterus leucas), and narwhal (Monodon monoceras). Sections on the evolutionary background of pinnipeds and whales help to provide a better perspective on these core species. Polar bears stemmed from brown bears about the Early to Middle Pleistocene. Fossils are rare; the earliest records are from approximately Early Weichselian deposits of Kew Bridge, London, and Svalbard. Existing Pacific and Atlantic walruses probably arose from splitting of a former Holarctic range during a Pleistocene glacial phase of extensive sea ice in the Canadian Arctic. The earliest known bearded seal remains are from Early to Middle Pleistocene deposits of Norfolk, England, and Cape Deceit, Alaska. Other Pleistocene fossils of this species are recorded from the North Sea, southwestern Sweden, and the Champlain Sea that existed in eastern North America approximately 12 000-10000 BP. The harp seal is the commonest pinniped in the Weichselian deposits of the southern North Sea. The earliest recorded fossil is from about 2 million years ago (2 Ma), from Ocean Point, Alaska. The earliest known Pleistocene ringed seal fossils are from last interglacial deposits near Teshekpuk Lake, Alaska, and Thule, Greenland, although an earlier (3 Ma?) specimen from Malaspina, Alaska, has been reported. This species seems to have been relatively abundant along the coasts of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, during the Last Glacial Maximum. The bowhead whale probably originated in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The earliest (mid-Wisconsinan) Canadian remains are from Ellesmere and Devon islands. More than 400 radiocarbon-dated bowhead remains have been used to reconstruct Holocene sea ice history in the Canadian Arctic. White whales are common in the late warming stage (approximately 10 500 BP) of the Champlain Sea and are one of the commonest marine mammal fossils in Late Pleistocene North Sea deposits. Fourteen narwhal specimens of Late Glacial or Early Holocene age are known from Atlantic Canada, as well as Ellesmere, Baffin, and Prince of Wales islands in Arctic Canada. Arctic marine mammals have tended to shift to more southerly ranges during glacial phases of the Pleistocene.

Late Wisconsinan Deglaciation and Champlain Sea Invasion in the St. Lawrence Valley, Québec

Champlain Sea history is directly linked to Late Wisconsinan deglacial episodes. Champlain Sea Phase I (Charlesbourg Phase) began in the Québec area at about 12.4 ka. It represented a western extension of the Goldthwait Sea between remnant Appalachian ice masses and the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Further south, at about the same time, in the Appalachian uplands and piedmont, high-level glacial lakes were impounded by the ice-front during glacial retreat toward NNW: lakes Vermont, Memphrémagog and Mégantic. Lowlands of the Upper St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain valleys were progressively deglaciated and inundated by Lake Iroquois and Lake Vermont. At about 12.1 ka, these two lakes coalesced and formed a single water-body, here referred to as Lake Candona. After the Ulverton-Tingwick Moraine was constructed, this lake extended northeastward onto the Appalachian piedmont where varved sediments containing Candona subtriangulata underlie marine clays. Current data and interpretations bring into question the former concept of the Highland Front Moraine System. The invasion of the main basin, or Champlain Sea Phase II, began around 12 ka. Replacement of Lake Candona by the sea resulted in a fall of about 60 m in water levels. Champlain Sea Phase III began at the end of the Saint-Narcisse episode, at about 10.8 ka. At this time marine waters were able to enter valleys of the Laurentian Highlands where brackish or fresh paramarine basins developed.

Quaternary Vertebrates of Québec: a Summary

The only representative of the extinct North American megafauna known from Québec is an American mastodon from Pointe de Chambord, Lac-Saint-Jean. Marine mammals have played a prominent part in our knowledge of the Quaternary vertebrates of Québec since Per Kalm was informed of a whale skeleton found inland from the St. Lawrence River about 1749. Five species of whales particularly adapted to inshore conditions have been reported from Late-glacial deposits of Champlain Sea age. The bones represent mainly white whales, but also narwhals, harbour porpoise, humpback, common finback and bowhead whales. Seals (ringed, harp, bearded and harbour) have also been discovered, and walrus remains are known from Sainte-Julienne-de-Montcalm and Saint-Nicolas. Sandpits at Saint-Nicolas (bottom-dwelling fishes, seabirds, ringed seal and white whale) and Saint-Césaire (fish, eider duck, ringed seal and white whale) have yielded important Champlain Sea vertebrate fossils, as well as paleoenvironmental information. Many well-preserved vertebrate remains have been found in calcareous nodules from Eardley and Breckenridge in the Gatineau area. Perhaps cave faunas will become increasingly important in sorting out the Quaternary vertebrate faunal sequence in Québec. The finds from caves near Saint-Elzéar and La Rédemption in Gaspésie, as well as Mine and Laflèche caves in the Gatineau region have already yielded fascinating insights. A list of radiocarbon dates on Quaternary vertebrates from Québec is provided.

Paléoenvironnements de la mer de Champlain dans la région de Québec, entre 11 300 et 9750 bp : le site de Saint-Nicolas

À Saint-Nicolas, dans le détroit de Québec, des sables de courants de marée de la transition Pléistocène-Holocène contiennent une faune marine fossile exceptionnelle : 34 types d'invertébrés en plus des microfossiles, 3 de mammifères, 3 d'oiseaux et 5 de poissons, d'âge au 14 C compris entre 10 060 et 9810 BP (δ 13 C = 0 ‰). Ils sont recouverts par des tidalites qui marquent la phase ultime de la Mer de Champlain, jusque vers 9750 BP. L'ensemble des données lithologiques, géochimiques et paléontologiques évoque une sédimentation dans un archipel situé à l'entrée de la Mer de Champlain, soumis à des marées de l'ordre de 5 à 10 m d'amplitude. Les forts courants de marée montante ont favorisé le maintien tardif d'apports d'eaux salées. L'archipel a protégé les unités de l'érosion pendant le reflux des marées ainsi que de l'érosion fluviatile ultérieure liée au relèvement glacio-isostatique. La diversité faunique est associée à une forte productivité marine, liée au mélange des eaux douces et salées. La chaîne alimentaire allait de mollusques abondants à marée basse à des poissons, au morse, à des phoques et à des oiseaux qui nidifiaient sur les îlots rocheux. Le maintien de ce système sédimentaire et écologique implique une stabilisation du niveau marin relatif attribuée à la remontée eustatique du début de l'Holocène. La comparaison des âges au 14 C de coquilles marines et de bois permet d'évaluer l'effet du carbone inorganique dissous dans la Mer de Champlain. Les âges des coquilles marines (δ 13 C = 0 ‰) sont vieillis d'au moins 350 ans par rapport aux âges de matériel terrestre (δ 13 C=-25 ‰) en position stratigraphique équivalente.

Late Wisconsinan deglaciation and glacial lake development in the Appalachians of southeastern Québec

Late Wisconsinan deglaciation in southeastern Québec was preceded by a northward ice-flow reversal that was recorded in the northeastern part of the region. The reversal event was generated by flow convergence toward the St. Lawrence Ice Stream, a northeastward-flowing ice stream which formed in the St. Lawrence estuary prior to 13 000 years BP and lasted until at least 12 400 years BP. In the Bois-Francs uplands, the flow reversal event led to the formation of a semi-detached ice mass that underwent widespread stagnation and downwasting. In the southwestern region, northward retreat of the margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet was marked by the formation of a series of discontinuous recessional moraines and by the development of ice-dammed lakes in the main valleys. The level of these lakes fell as progressively lower outlets became ice-free. The main episodes are (1) the Sherbrooke Phase of Glacial Lake Memphremagog, (2) an unnamed transitional lake and (3) Glacial Lake Candona, a large lake which had expanded northeastward from the deglaciated regions of the Upper St. Lawrence (Lake Iroquois) and Ottawa valleys to the Lake Champlain (Glacial Lake Vermont) basin. As recorded by the Danville Varves, Lake Candona lasted about 100 years following deposition of the Ulverton-Tingwick Moraine. Subsequent ice retreat along the Appalachian piedmont led to final drainage of Lake Candona and allowed Champlain Sea waters to invade much of these glaciolacustrine terrains about 12 000 years BP. On the basis of the Danville Varves record, a regional rate of ice retreat of about 200 m·a -1 is inferred. The age of the earliest moraine, the Frontier Moraine, is thus about 12 550 years BP, while the ages of the subsequent Dixville, Cherry River-East-Angus, Mont Ham and Ulverton-Tingwick moraines are estimated at 12 500, 12 325, 12 200 et 12 100 years BP, respectively.