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Initial Paleoenvironmental Evidence from the Outer Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

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dc.contributor.advisorJulie Brigham-Grette
dc.contributor.advisorRaymond S. Bradley
dc.contributor.advisorTimothy L. Cook
dc.contributor.advisorJonathan D. Woodruff
dc.contributor.authorAllen, Hunter T
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.contributor.departmentGeosciences
dc.date2024-03-28T20:47:59.000
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T18:13:50Z
dc.date.available2024-09-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.submittedSeptember
dc.date.submitted2023
dc.description.abstractSouthwestern Alaska is a critically understudied region of Beringia, highlighted by the lack of paleoenvironmental reconstructions of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YK Delta). This sub-arctic region is a joint deltaic coastal lowland environment, home to 50 Yup’ik and Cup’ik communities. Anthropogenic climate change dramatically impacts the landscape. Increases in the intensity and occurrence of coastal flooding, the thaw of permafrost and tundra wildfire events have directly affected community resilience and their subsistence way of life. The YK Delta also contributes to the global atmospheric carbon budget as the region’s discontinuous permafrost thaws releasing stored carbon. These issues necessitate the filling of the regional paleoenvironmental knowledge to properly inform native populations and predict future changes to the landscape. Working with two communities on the outer YK Delta, namely, Kongiganak and Mekoryuk, this thesis presents initial paleoenvironmental studies which contribute to our understanding of the impacts of climate change on this region. The first effort documents the development of a loess plateau on the YK Delta during the Last Glacial Period (115,000 – 11,700 years ago), specifically during Marine Isotope Stage III (60,000 – 25,000 years ago), described in Chapter 2. This topic was developed from exposures at Kongiganak and Mekoryuk, and helps to refine the relative sea level history and aeolian processes of the YK Delta. Other efforts on Nunivak Island consist of preliminary results from the first late Holocene lacustrine reconstruction and the first attempt to provide context to coastal dune geomorphology, highlighted in Chapter 3. These efforts help to establish regional paleoenvironmental conditions in the late Holocene, methodology for future sampling, and provide important estimates of long-term coastal erosion.
dc.description.degreeMaster of Science (M.S.)
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7275/35741283.0
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5719-4470
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/33048
dc.relation.urlhttps://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2405&context=masters_theses_2&unstamped=1
dc.source.statuspublished
dc.subjectPaleoclimate
dc.subjectGeomorphology
dc.subjectSedimentology
dc.subjectSea level rise
dc.subjectIndigenous communities
dc.subjectClimate
dc.subjectGeomorphology
dc.subjectGlaciology
dc.subjectOceanography
dc.subjectSedimentology
dc.subjectStratigraphy
dc.subjectSustainability
dc.titleInitial Paleoenvironmental Evidence from the Outer Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
dc.typeopenaccess
dc.typearticle
dc.typethesis
digcom.contributor.authorisAuthorOfPublication|email:hta42@nau.edu|institution:University of Massachusetts Amherst|Allen, Hunter T
digcom.date.embargo2024-09-01T00:00:00-07:00
digcom.identifiermasters_theses_2/1356
digcom.identifier.contextkey35741283
digcom.identifier.submissionpathmasters_theses_2/1356
dspace.entity.typePublication
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