A Forest Ecosystem on a Glacier in Alaska

Abstract

The ecosystem on the snout of Kushtaka Glacier, a branch of the Martin River Glacier about 60 mi ESE of Cordova has reached the developmental stage when spruce forest has almost eliminated the alder from the site. Mosses carpet the forest floor. A 55 ft spruce was found to be 65 yr old when felled. A profile through the 36-in soil layer on the ice is described. Similar brush and forest growth occurs on many glaciers in coastal Alaska. Superglacial vegetation on stagnant ice of the Wisconsin glaciation may have been the seed sources for much newly deglaciated land.