Holocene landscape change at the northern Manitoba tundra-forest border 2003-2009

The purpose of this study was to understand how location within a landscape influences the response of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems to climate change (with particular focus on how lake ecosystems respond to peatland development) at the tundra-forest border of northern Manitoba. In 2008-2009 we sampled water and surface sediment from 44 lakes. We collected sediment cores (3-4 meters in length) from 8 of these lakes. These cores represent 4000 - 8000 years of continuous sediment deposition. The data suggest a strong link between lake water chemistry and peatland in the modern landscape, a relatively stable mix of forest and tundra over the past 7500 years and a heterogeneous expansion of peatland beginning ~4500 years Before Present (BP).
This dataset includes modern lake chemistry, diatom assemblages, and morphometry and land cover data for 44 lakes sampled primarily in 2009. Proxy data are also provided for sediment cores collected from 8 lakes. Data for the cores include Lead 210 and 14-Carbon dates, loss-on-ignition, grain size, carbon and nitrogen (concentrations and isotopes), extractable elements (Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Potassium, Phosphorous), biogenic silica, X- Ray Fluorescence (XRF), magnetics (susceptibility, Anhysteretic Remanent Magnetization (ARM), Isothermal Remanent Magnetization (IRM)), charcoal, pollen and spores, and diatoms.