Credit: Froese et al. 2009. Posted on 10/30/2009 6:35:59 AM PDT by decimon
Credit: Froese et al. 2009.
The Klondike region of the Canadian Arctic isn't often thought of as an oasis for life. Today, the area is best known for its vast frozen wilderness, its goldfields, and as the namesake of a popular chocolate-coated ice cream treat.
However, new research shows that the Klondike goldfields of Canada's Yukon Territory hold key records of a past environment that was much different than the harsh climate experienced by today's explorers, ice truckers and miners.
The Klondike is part of a wider geographic area dubbed "Beringia," which includes parts of Siberia, Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. The term Beringia was coined in the first part of the 1900s to explain the distribution of Arctic plants and coniferous forests of the boreal environment surrounding the Bering Strait.
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Temperatures were still low in Beringia during these epochs, but a lack of moisture due to the rain shadow of the surrounding mountain ranges prevented large-scale formation of ice.
As the authors put it, "The interior of Yukon and Alaska was cold enough to support ice sheets but too dry for extensive glaciation." Because of this, Beringia was a key location for life during the Pleistocene, when the Earth's climate fluctuated between ice ages and glaciers often covered large portions of the globe.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
mmmmmmm, mastodon.
Me too. It was much better than the current one, the Obscene.
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