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Harvard Forest Data Archive

HF433

Early-Holocene Forest at Stonewall Beach on Martha’s Vineyard 10700-9800 BP

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Data

Overview

  • Lead: Wyatt Oswald, David Foster
  • Investigators: Barry Goodell, Bryan Shuman
  • Contact: Information Manager
  • Start date: -10700
  • End date: -9800
  • Status: complete
  • Location: Martha’s Vineyard (MA)
  • Latitude: +41.321025 degrees
  • Longitude: -70.762465 degrees
  • Elevation: 2 meter
  • Datum: WGS84
  • Taxa: Pinus strobus (white pine)
  • Release date: 2023
  • Language: English
  • EML file: knb-lter-hfr.433.2
  • DOI: digital object identifier
  • EDI: data package
  • DataONE: data package
  • Related links:
  • Study type: paleological
  • Research topic: historical and retrospective studies
  • LTER core area: population studies
  • Keywords: forest dynamics, paleoecology, pine, pollen, sediments, trees, wetlands
  • Abstract:

    Coastal erosion at Stonewall Beach on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, U.S.A., has exposed a thick layer of peaty sediments rich in botanical remains, including well-preserved tree trunks. We identified the species of the tree trunks based on wood anatomy, analyzed pollen and macrofossils in the sediments, and determined the ages of the tree trunks and peat with 14C dating. The tree trunks were identified as Pinus strobus (white pine), and pollen assemblages featured high percentages of P. strobus in sediments associated with the trunks. The tree trunks and peat dated to ~10,700–9800 calibrated 14C years before present. These findings confirm that Martha’s Vineyard, like other parts of southern New England, was dominated by P. strobus forest during the early Holocene. At that time, regional climate was drier than today and Martha’s Vineyard was not yet isolated from the mainland by postglacial sea-level rise.

  • Methods:

    Stonewall Beach, named for the persistent thick accumulation of rounded cobbles that distinguishes this ~2 km long stretch of the coast, sits on the southwest shore of the island of Martha’s Vineyard, just south of Stonewall, Nashaquitsa, and Menemsha Ponds in the town of Chilmark. The site is located within a morainal section of the island and the cobbles were produced in glacial streams and eroded further through wave action on the beach. The southern shore of the island experiences some of the highest rates of erosion on the coastline of the northeastern United States, retreating at a pace ranging from 0.5 to 3.0 m annually (Foster 2017; Kaye 1973; Ogden 1974). The current location of Stonewall Beach would have been hundreds of meters from the coast when Martha’s Vineyard was sighted by Bartholomew Gosnold and his crew in 1607 as they explored the area. The eroded shoreline along Stonewall Beach is predominantly heterogeneous morainal deposits that contribute the fabric of the beach, but an exposed layer of peaty material extends for ~50 m along a low stretch in the western half of the beach, ~500 m to the southwest of Stonewall Pond (41.321025° N, 70.762465° W). The low area above the study site supports an extensive (~2.5 ha) sedge and shrub marsh, beyond which the land slopes upward into an area of shrubland, scattered trees, and summer homes.

    The peat deposit extends from near the surface ~1 m down the 3 m erosional face. The heterogeneous composition includes peat layers, considerable amounts of wood and roots, and scattered large and occasionally intact tree branches and trunks (~25–30 cm in diameter). In December 2017, representative samples were removed from the largest two tree trunks, ~50 cm below the surface. In addition, three ~5 cm3 samples were collected from the adjoining peat, just above the tree trunks (sample A), at the level of the trunks (sample B), and just below the trunks (sample C).

    Subsamples of 100–200 mL from peat samples A–C were washed through a 250 μm sieve; the size fraction > 250 μm was inspected at 40× magnification with a dissecting microscope. Subsamples of the two large pieces of wood from the tree trunks (14C samples 1 and 2) and a wood fragment sieved from peat sample A (14C sample 3) were dated with accelerator mass spectrometry 14C analysis at the National Ocean Sciences AMS Facility. 14C dates were calibrated using the IntCal20 calibration curve (Reimer et al. 2020) in CALIB 8.2 (Stuiver and Reimer 1993). To identify the species of the two large pieces of wood, a compound light microscope was used to examine thin sections of the wood along radial and transverse planes. Hand sections of the unmodified wood were taken along those planes from moistened surfaces using a high-carbon surgical steel blade. The sections were then stained using dilute safranin for enhanced lignin contrast in imaging wood cell walls and/or with lactophenol aniline blue stain to enhance contrast in imaging of any fungal hyphae. Wood species determination then followed standard wood-identification protocols (Hoadley 1990; Panshin and de Zeeuw 1980), focusing on features such as the presence of resin canals, the pitting type in the rays, and the arrangement of bordered pits in the tracheids.

    For peat samples A–C, subsamples of 1–2 cm3 were prepared for pollen analysis following standard procedures (Fægri et al. 1989). Pollen residues were mounted in silicone oil and analyzed at 400× magnification using a compound light microscope. Pollen identification was aided by a regional key (McAndrews et al. 1973); Pinus strobus was differentiated from P. banksiana Lam./P. rigida Mill. based on the presence of distal verrucae. Pollen spectra from peat samples A−C were compared with pollen assemblages from Uncle Seth’s Pond, a 13,400-year-long record from the north-central part of Martha’s Vineyard (Oswald et al. 2018), using the squared chord distance dissimilarity index (SCD) (Overpeck et al. 1985). Fourteen taxa were included in this analysis: Picea, Pinus banksiana/Pinus rigida, Pinus strobus, Tsuga (Endl.) Carrière, Betula, Fagus L., Quercus, Carya Nutt., Acer L., Alnus Mill., Ilex L., Myricaceae, Ericaceae, and Poaceae.

  • Organization: Harvard Forest. 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA. Phone (978) 724-3302. Fax (978) 724-3595.

  • Project: The Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program examines ecological dynamics in the New England region resulting from natural disturbances, environmental change, and human impacts. (ROR).

  • Funding: National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210.

  • Use: This dataset is released to the public under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (No Rights Reserved). Please keep the dataset creators informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset should include proper acknowledgement.

  • License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0)

  • Citation: Oswald W, Foster D. 2023. Early-Holocene Forest at Stonewall Beach on Martha’s Vineyard 10700-9800 BP. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF433 (v.2). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/8850b548b57720296ae139aa04e19da0.

Detailed Metadata

hf433-01: age data

  1. Sample: radiocarbon sample
  2. Material: type of material radiocarbon dated
  3. LabCode: sample code from National Ocean Sciences AMS Facility
  4. 14C age: radiocarbon date (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  5. 14C error: analytical error for radiocarbon date (unit: dimensionless )
  6. d13C : value for radiocarbon sample (unit: dimensionless )
  7. Age: median calibrated age for radiocarbon date (2-sigma range in parentheses)

hf433-02: counts

  1. Sample: pollen sample
  2. Picea: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Picea (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  3. Abies: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Abies (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  4. Pinus_undifferentiated: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Pinus undifferentiated (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  5. Pinus_haploxylon: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Pinus haploxylon (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  6. Pinus_diploxylon: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Pinus diploxylon (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  7. Tsuga: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Tsuga (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  8. Betula: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Betula (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  9. Ostrya_Carpinus: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Ostrya-Carpinus (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  10. Fraxinus_nigra: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Fraxinus nigra (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  11. Quercus: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Quercus (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  12. Ulmus: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Ulmus (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  13. Acer_saccharum: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Acer saccharum (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  14. Acer_rubrum: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Acer rubrum (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  15. Carya: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Carya (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  16. Nyssa: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Nyssa (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  17. Ilex: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Ilex (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  18. Alnus: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Alnus (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  19. Myrica_Comptonia: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Myrica-Comptonia (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  20. Ericaceae: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Ericaceae (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  21. Poaceae: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Poaceae (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  22. Tubuliflorae: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Tubuliflorae (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  23. Chenopodiaceae: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Chenopodiaceae (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  24. Cyperaceae: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Cyperaceae (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  25. Brassicaceae: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Brassicaceae (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  26. Pteridium: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Pteridium (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  27. Lycopodium_undifferentiated: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Lycopodium undifferentiated (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  28. Osmunda: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Osmunda (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  29. Monolete_spore: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Monolete spore (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  30. Sphagnum: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Sphagnum (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  31. Sarracenia: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Sarracenia (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  32. Nuphar: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Nuphar (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  33. Nymphaea: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Nymphaea (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  34. Brassenia: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Brassenia (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  35. Pediastrum: number of pollen grains or spores counted for Pediastrum (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  36. Indet_crumpled: number of pollen grains or spores counted for indet. crumpled (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  37. Indet_Coroded: number of pollen grains or spores counted for indet. coroded (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  38. Indet_Obscured: number of pollen grains or spores counted for indet. obscured (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  39. Unknown: number of pollen grains or spores counted for unknown taxa (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  40. Upland_sum: sum of pollen grains and spores of upland plant taxa; used to calculate percentage values (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf433-03: squared chord distance data

  1. Age: age of Uncle Seth's Pond pollen sample compared with Stonewall Beach pollen samples via Squared Chord Distance (SCD) dissimilarity index (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  2. SCD_sample_A: SCD between Stonewall Beach pollen sample A and each pollen sample from Uncle Seth's Pond (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  3. SCD_sample_B: SCD between Stonewall Beach pollen sample B and each pollen sample from Uncle Seth's Pond (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
  4. SCD_sample_C: SCD between Stonewall Beach pollen sample C and each pollen sample from Uncle Seth's Pond (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)