Terrigenous fluxes of pollen, insect scale and land plant palynodebris observed by sediment traps deployed in the subarctic Pacific

Hideto Tsutsui, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, Kozo Takahashi, Hokusei Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan, Kazumi Matsuoka, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan, Richard W Jordan, Yamagata Univ, Yamagata, Japan and Sumito Yamamoto, Japan Maritime Self-defense Forces, Tokyo, Japan
Abstract:
From 1990 to 2009, sediment traps were deployed and recovered in the subarctic Pacific (Station SA; 49°N, 174°W) during each summer, allowing the long-term observation of particle fluxes. As the Pacific Decadal Oscillation index changed in 1999 while air temperatures cooled, this study focused on pollen, land plant debris and insect scale fluxes during 1994 to 2009 at Station SA. The maximum pollen and fern spores flux was 644 grains m2 d-1, with a mean of 74 grains m2 d-1and the following details: 65% of the total pollen counts represented by wind-pollinated trees (e.g., alder, birch and pine), 24% by the herbaceous plants, and 11% by fern spores. Spore, herbaceous and wind-pollinated tree pollen fluxes peaked primarily in May (and sporadically also in April and June) and September-October.

The annual flux peaks of insect scales (of unknown origin) and land-plant debris were in May and September, but over the entire study period the maximum insect scale flux of 161 scales m2 d-1 was in August 2002, with a mean of 16 scales m2 d-1. Furthermore, the maximum (in August 2004) and mean land-plant debris fluxes were 107 and 10 plant fragments m2 d-1, respectively.

The sediment traps were situated at southern side of the Aleutian Islands, where snow and ice occurred for six months from October to May. The ice-snow season accounts for 25% of the total annual particle flux, with 75% throughout the rest of the year. The correlation coefficient among pollen, insect scales and land plant debris are: 1) 0.58 (probability <1%) between wind-pollinated plant pollen and insect scales, and 2) 0.75 (probability <5%) between herbaceous plant pollen and land plant debris.

The production locations, residence time, routes and mode of transport of the particles are important factors. The pollen fluxes observed during April to June appeared to have originated from the Western Alaska, but during the rest of years they appeared to have been from the eastern Russia. That pollen and other organic debris were conveyed by wind over long distance across the ocean.

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