Paleoecological and Sedimentological Data from: “A Classification for Macroscopic Charcoal Morphologies Found in Holocene Lacustrine Sediments”

Abstract

This dataset contains sedimentological and paleoenvironmental measurements from a 351.5 cm sediment core that was collected from Pyatts Lake, south-east British Columbia, Canada. Sedimentological data include: radiocarbon dates and age-depth model, magnetic susceptibility, loss-on-ignition values, and particle size distributions. Palaeoecological data include: macroscopic charcoal (>150 µm), charcoal morphotypes; aquatic macroremains; pollen spectra, conifer stomata, microscopic charcoal and total fungal spores. These data were used to investigate the potential for charcoal morphotype assemblages for paleoenvironmental interpretations in montane mixed conifer forests. These data were collected from analytical laboratory and optical microscopy analyses. Data are presented in a multiple tabbed spreadsheet. These data can be used for direct comparison with other sedimentological, vegetation, and disturbance histories during the Holocene and may be compared to prior geologic time periods in an analogue context. The charcoal data can be applied to syntheses of biomass burning from local to global scales and pollen data can be combined into pollen database analyses.

Keywords

• anthracology, biomass burning, charcoal analysis, disturbance, fire, lake sediments, morphology, morphotypes, paleobotany, paleoecology, paleofire, Quaternary, sedimentology, wildfire