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Postglacial ecosystem development of a hydrothermal landscape in Yellowstone National Park

Cathy Whitlock·Christopher M. Schiller·Steven W. Hostetler·Shaul Hurwitz·Mio Alt·Sabrina R. Brown·Lauren N. Harrison·Jay R. Alder·Kailey Busch·Jake Shelly·David B. McWethy
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Abstract

The Yellowstone geo-ecosystem has been the subject of much research, but the ecological history of the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field and its iconic geyser basins is less known. In this investigation, paleoenvironmental analyses of sediment cores from lakes in Lower Geyser Basin were compared with regional records and paleoclimate model simulations to reconstruct the vegetation, wildfire, limnology, hydrothermal dynamics, and climate drivers since deglaciation, 15,000 to 14,000 years ago. Pollen data from Lower Geyser Basin lakes reveal the strong influence of infertile rhyolitic soils on vegetation history: an initial late-glacial steppe was replaced by lodgepole pine forest from 12.8 to 11.0 ka, with little change in forest composition or cover thereafter despite changing climate. This stability contrasts with the more dynamic vegetation response on nonrhyolite substrates in the Yellowstone region where nutrient and moisture availability is greater. Highest wildfire activity and low lake nutrient levels in Lower Geyser Basin occurred from 12 to 4 ka, when summers were substantially warmer and drier and fire-inducing vapor pressure deficits were 29 to 56% higher. The hydrothermal history, inferred from sedimentary arsenic and cesium abundances, was spatially and temporally variable but lake-forming hydrothermal events align with periods of abundant moisture. Thus, long-term changes in wildfire, limnology, and, to some extent, hydrothermal activity were governed by insolation-driven climate variations, whereas the vegetation response was muted and constrained by geologic processes. These findings suggest that warmer, drier conditions in the future could result in less hydrothermal activity yet little change in forest cover across the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field despite more wildfires.

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Cathy Whitlock, Christopher M. Schiller, Steven W. Hostetler, Shaul Hurwitz, Mio Alt, Sabrina R. Brown, Lauren N. Harrison, Jay R. Alder, Kailey Busch, Jake Shelly, David B. McWethy. 2026-08-17. Postglacial ecosystem development of a hydrothermal landscape in Yellowstone National Park. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2613422123

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Article subjectIdaho, Montana, Wyoming placePNAS subjectUnited STates placeYellowstone National Park place

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