Four cores taken along a transect from the western basin and four cores from the middle basin of Rice Lake, Ontario, provide evidence for shoreline transgression during the early Holocene, for low water levels during the mid-Holocene, and for abrupt rise of the lake levels due to dam building in AD 1838. The transition from detritus mud to the overlying marl, spanning from ca. 10000 to 8600 BP, indicates flooding of a wetland by a lake; this flooding is supported by plant-macrofossil succession from Larix, Scirpus, and Carex to Najas flexilis. The transgression was due to isostatic tilt after deglaciation, which raised the eastern outlet sill of the lake and caused the lake water to rise and flood westward. A sediment hiatus between the marl and the overlying gyttja (between 6000 and 4000-3000 BP) across the lake basin, supported by the bracketing radiocarbon dates and missing regional pollen zones, indicates low water level caused by a dry/warm climate. Regional palaeoclimatic estimates from pollen-climate transfer functions indicate that the mid-Holocene mean July temperatures were about 1°C higher and annual precipitations about 10% less than before or after. Subsequent rise of the lake level after the hiatus was a combination of cooling climate and continued isostatic tilt.
Aiken, S.G., Lee, P.F., Punter, D. and Stewart, J.M.1988: Wild rice in Canada. Agriculture Canada Publication1830. Toronto: NC Press Limited.
2.
Allison, T.D., Moeller, R.E. and Davis, M.B.1986: Pollen in laminated sediments provides evidence for a mid-Holocene forest pathogen outbreak. Ecology67, 1101∼05.
3.
Anderson, T.W. and Lewis, C.F.M.1985: Postglacial water-level history of the Lake Ontario basin . In Karrow, P.F. and Calkin, P.E., editors, Quaternary evolution of the Great Lakes, Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 30, 231-53.
4.
Baker, R.G., Maher, LJ, Chumbley, C.A. and Van Zant, K.L.1992: Patterns of Holocene environmental changes in the midwestern United States. Quaternary Research37, 379-89.
5.
Bartlein, PJ and Webb, T. III. 1985: Mean July temperature at 6000 yr BP in eastern North America: regression equations for estimates from fossil pollen data . Syllogeus55, 301-42.
6.
Bartlein, PJ and Whitlock, C.1993: Paleoclimatic interpretation of the Elk Lake pollen record . In Bradbury, J.P. and Dean, W.E., editors, Elk Lake, Minnesota: evidence for rapid climate change in the north-central United States, Boulder, Colorado: Geological Society of America, Special Paper 276, 275-93.
7.
Benninghoff, W.S.1962: Calculation of pollen and spore density in sediments by the addition of exotic pollen in known quantities. Pollen et spores4, 332-33.
8.
Birks, H.H.1973: Modem macrofossil assemblages in lake sediment in Minnesota . In Birks, H.J.B. and West, R.G., editors, Quaternary plant ecology . Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications , 173-89.
9.
Bosch, J.M. and Hewlett, J.D.1982: A review of catchment experiments to determine the effect of vegetation changes on water yield and evapotranspiration. Journal ofHydrology55, 3-23.
10.
Campbell, I.D. and McAndrews, J.H.1991: Cluster analysis of late Holocene pollen trends in Ontario . Canadian Journal of Botany69, 1719-30.
11.
Chapman, LJ and Putnam, D.F.1984: The physiography of southern Ontario. Ontario Geological Survey, Special Volume 2, 270.
12.
Coakley, J.P. and Lewis, C.F.M.1985: Postglacial lake levels in the Erie basin. In Karrow, P.F. and Calkin, P.E., editors, Quaternary evolution of the Great Lakes, Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 30, 195-212.
13.
Coleman, A.P.1936: Lake Iroquois, Ontario Department of Mines, Volume 45, Part 7, 1-36.
14.
Cwynar, L.C., Burden, E. and McAndrews, J.H.1979: An inexpensive sieving method for concentrating pollen and spores from fine-grained sediments. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences16, 1115-20.
15.
Davis, M.B., Spear, R.W. and Shane, L.C.K.1980: Holocene climate of New England. Quaternary Research14, 240-50.
16.
Dean, W.E., Jr. 1974: Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: comparison with other methods. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology44, 242-48.
17.
— 1981: Carbonate minerals and organic matter in sediments of modem north temperate hard-water lakes. The Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication No. 31, 213-31.
18.
Dearing, J.A. and Foster, I.D.L.1986: Lake sediments and palaeohydrological studies. In Berglund, B.E., editor, Handbook of Holocene palaeoecology and palaeohydrology, Toronto : John Wiley & Sons, 67-90.
19.
Digerfeldt, G.1986: Studies on past lake-level fluctuations. In Berglund, B.E., editor, Handbook of Holocene palaeoecology and palaeohydrology, Toronto : John Wiley & Sons, 127-43.
20.
Digerfeldt, G., Ahmendinger, J.E. and Björck, S.1992: Reconstruction of past lake levels and their relation to groundwater hydrology in the Parkers Prairie sandplain, west-central Minnesota . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology94, 99-118.
21.
Dyke, A.S. and Prest, V.K.1987: Late Wisconsin and Holocene history of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Geographie physique et Quaternaire41, 237-63.
22.
Edwards, T.W.D. and Fritz, P.1988: Stable-isotope paleoclimate records for southern Ontario, Canada: Comparison of results from marl and wood. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences25, 1397-1406.
23.
Environment Canada.1982: Canadian climate normals: 1951-1980. Ottawa: Environment Canda.
24.
Faegri, K. and Iversen, J.1989: Textbook of pollen analysis, fourth edition. London: John Wiley & Sons.
25.
Gravenor, C.P.1957: Surficial geology of the Lindsay-Peterborough area, Ontario, Victoria, Peterborough, Durham and Northumberland Counties, Ontario . Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 288, 60.
26.
Harrison, S.P.1989: Lake levels and climatic change in eastern North America . Climate Dynamics3,157-67.
27.
Knox, J.C.1993: Large increases in flood magnitude in response to modest changes in climate. Nature361, 430-32.
28.
Kutzbach, J.E. and Guetter, PJ1986: The influence of changing orbital parameters and surface boundary conditions on climate simulations for the past 18,000 years . Journal of Atmospheric Sciences43, 1726-59.
29.
Lewis, C.F.M. and Anderson, T.W.1989: Oscillations of levels and cool phases of the Laurentian Great Lakes caused by inflows from glacial Lakes Agassiz and Barlow-Ojibway . Journal of Paleolimnology2, 99-146.
30.
Martin, A.C. and Barkley, W.D.1961: Seed identification manual. Berkeley : University of California Press.
31.
McAndrews, J.H.1981: Late Quaternary climate of Ontario: temperature trends from the fossil pollen record. In Mahaney, W.C., editor, Quaternary Palaeoclimate. Norwich, England: GeoAbstracts, 319-33.
32.
— 1984: Late Quaternary vegetation history of Rice Lake, Ontario, and the McIntyre archaeological site. In Johnston, R.B., editor, The McIntyre site: archaeology, subsistence and environment. Archaeological Survey of Canada Paper No. 126, 161-89.
33.
McAndrews, J.H. and Boyko-Diakonow, M.1989: Pollen analysis of varved sediment at Crawford Lake, Ontario: Evidence of Indian and European farming . In Fulton, R.J., editor, Quaternary geology of Canada and Greenland. Geological Survey of Canada, Geology of Canada, No. 1 (also Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, Volume K-1), 528-30.
34.
McAndrews, J.H., Berti, A.A. and Norris, G.1973: Key to the Quaternary pollen and spores of the Great Lakes Region. Life Sciences Miscellaneous Publications, Royal Ontario Museum.
35.
Mirynech, E.1962: The Pleistocene geology of the Trent-Campbell-ford map-area, Ontario. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Department of Geology , University of Toronto, Toronto .
36.
Montgomery, F.H.Seeds and fruits of plants of eastern Canada and northeastern United States . Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
37.
Ontario Ministry of the Environment1972: Report of water quality in Rice Lake, 20 p.
38.
Prentice, I.C., Bartlein, PJ and Webb, T. Iii.1991: Vegetation and climate change in eastern North America since the last glacial maximum. Ecology72, 2038-56.
39.
Prest, V.K.1970: Quaternary geology of Canada. In Douglas, R.J.W., editor, Geology and economic minerals of Canada, fifth edition. Geological Survey of Canada, Economic Geology Report 1, 676-764.
40.
Rowe, J.S.1972: Forest regions of Canada. Ottawa : Canada Forestry Services, Publication 1300.
41.
Rowley, J.R. and Dahl, A.O.1956: Modifications in design and use of the Livingstone piston sampler. Ecology37, 849-52.
42.
Theberge, C.B. and Theberge, E.1978: The Trent-Severn waterway. Toronto : Samuel Stevens.
43.
Webb, R.S.1990: Late Quaternary water level fluctuations in the northeastern United States. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Brown University , Providence.
44.
Webb, R.S. and Webb, T. Iii.1988: Rates of sediment accumulation in pollen cores from small lakes and mires of eastern North America. Quaternary Research30, 284-97.
45.
Webb, T. m, Bartlein, PJ and Kutzbach, J.E.1987: Climate change in eastern North America during the past 18000 years; Comparisons of pollen data with model results. In Ruddiman, W.F. and Wright, H.E., Jr., editors, North America and adjacent oceans during the last glaciation, The Geology of North America, Volume K-3. The Geological Society of America , Decade of North American Geology Series, 447-62.
46.
Winkler, M.G., Swain, A.M. and Kutzbach, J.E.1986: Middle Holocene dry period in the northern midwestern United States: lake levels and pollen stratigraphy. Quaternary Research25, 235-50.
47.
Wright, H.E., Jr 1967: A square rod piston sampler for lake sediments . Journal of Sedimentary Petrology37, 975-76.
48.
— 1984: Sensitivity and response time of natural systems to climatic change in the late Quaternary. Quaternary Science Reviews3, 91-131.
49.
Yu, Zicheng.1992: Postglacial water-levels at Rice Lake, Ontario: sediment, pollen, and plant macrofossil evidence. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, Department of Botany, University of Toronto, Toronto.
