Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-07T03:21:37.870Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Origin and Evolution of Lunettes on the High Plains of Texas and New Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Vance T. Holliday
Vance T. Holliday*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, 550 N. Park St, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lunettes—isolated dunes on the lee side of playa basins—are common landforms on the Southern High Plains of northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico. The dunes contain calcareous (15–40% CaCO3) sandy loam or loamy sand, with minor amounts of sepiolite, deposited 25,000–800014C yr B.P. and derived by deflation of lacustrine carbonate in the basins. The dunes also contain low carbonate (0–15% CaCO3) sand or loamy sand that was deposited 25,000–15,000 yr B.P. and 8000–5000 yr B.P. and was derived by deflation that created the basins or deflated from sand deposited in the basins. Buried soils are common in the lunettes: A-Bk profiles characterize soils formed in the calcareous sandy loam; the sandy low-carbonate sediments contain A-Bt profiles in the oldest sand of some dunes, and A-Bw, A-Bt, or A-Btk in the early and middle Holocene sand. The dune stratigraphy, combined with carbon isotope data (derived from dated A-horizons in lunettes), suggests the following scenario for the Southern High Plains. The lunettes began forming as low-carbonate sand dunes in the late Pleistocene as playa basins were formed or deepened by wind erosion. The erosion repeatedly alternated with stability. The environment probably was cool and dry, but one or more cool and wet intervals 25,000–15,000 yr B.P. resulted in a rise in the water table and deposition of lacustrine carbonate in the deepest basins. There may have been short departures toward warmer (and probably toward drier) conditions throughout this time. Episodically dry conditions 15,000–8,000 yr B.P. resulted in deflation of the carbonate and further dune construction by repeated accretion of calcareous sandy loam or loamy sand. The low carbonate sand was deposited during widespread drought and deflation 8000–5000 yr B.P. The dunes have been largely stable in the late Holocene.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 54 - 69
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashworth, J. B.(1991). Water-Level Changes in the High Plains Aquifer of Texas, 1980–1990. Texas Water Development Board Hydrologic Atlas 1, Austin.Google Scholar
Ashworth, J. B. Christian, P.andWaterreus, T. C.(1991). “Evaluation of Ground-Water Resources in the Southern High Plains of Texas.” Texas Water Development Board Report 330, Austin.Google Scholar
Bigham, J. M. Jaynes, W. F.andAllen, B. L.(1980). Pedogenic degradation of sepiolite and palygorskite on the Texas High Plains. Soil Science Society of America Journal 44, 159–167.Google Scholar
Bowler, J. M.(1973). Clay dunes: Their occurrence, formation and environmental significance. Earth-Science Reviews 9, 315–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowler, J. M.(1983). Lunettes as indices of hydrologic change: A review of Australian evidence. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 95, 147–168.Google Scholar
Chen, X. Y.(1995). Geomorphology, stratigraphy and thermoluminescence dating of the lunette dune at Lake Victoria, western New South Wales. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 113, 69–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronin, J. G.(1964). “A Summary of the Occurrence and Development of Ground Water in the Southern High Plains of Texas.” U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1693.Google Scholar
Gillette, D. A.andWalker, T. R.(1977). Characteristics of airborne particles produced by wind erosion of sandy soil, High Plains of west Texas. Soil Science 123, 97–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillette, D. A. Adams, J. Endo, A. Smith, D.andKihl, R.(1980). Threshold velocities for input of soil particles into the air by desert soils. Journal of Geophysical Research 85, 5621–5630.Google Scholar
Gillette, D. A. Adams, J. Muhs, D.andKihl, R.(1982). Threshold friction velocities and moduli for crushed desert soils for input of soil particles into air. Journal of Geophysical Research 87, 9003–9015.Google Scholar
Goudie, A. S.andWells, G. L.(1995). The nature, distribution and formation of pans in arid zones. Earth-Science Reviews 38, 1–69.Google Scholar
Gustavson, T. C, Holliday, V. T.andHovorka, S. D.(1995). “Origin and Development of Playa Basins, Sources of Recharge to the Ogallala Aquifer, Southern High Plains, Texas and New Mexico.” The University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology Report of Investigation 229.Google Scholar
Haas, H. H. Holliday, V. T.andStuckenrath, R.(1986). Dating of Holo-cene stratigraphy with soluble and insoluble organic fractions at the Lubbock Lake archaeological site, Texas: an ideal case study. Radiocarbon 28, 473–485.Google Scholar
Hall, S. A.(1982). Late Holocene paleoecology of the Southern Plains. Quaternary Research,17,391–407.Google Scholar
Hall, S. A.andValastro, S.(1995). Grassland vegetation in the Southern Great Plains during the last glacial maximum. Quaternary Research 44, 237–245.Google Scholar
Hammond, A. P. Goh, K. M. Tonkin, P. J.andManning, M. R.(1991). Chemical pretreatments for improving the radiocarbon dates of peats and organic silts in a gley podzol environment: Grahams terrace, North Westland. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 34, 191 –194.Google Scholar
Head, M. J. Zhou, W.andZhou, M.(1989). Evaluation of 14C ages on organic fractions of paleosols from loess-paleosol sequences near Xian, China. Radiocarbon 31, 680–696.Google Scholar
Hills, E. S.(1940). The lunette, a new land form of aeolian origin. Australian Geography 3, 15–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holliday, V. T.(1985). Holocene soil-geomorphological relations in a semi-arid environment: the Southern High Plains of Texas. In “Soils and Quaternary Landscape Evolution” ( Boardman, J.Ed.), pp. 325–357. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T.(1987). Eolian processes and sediments of the Great Plains. In “Geomorphic Systems of North America” ( Graf, W.Ed.), pp. 195–202. The Geology of North America Centennial Special Volume 2, Geological Society of America, Boulder.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T.(1989). The Blackwater Draw Formation (Quaternary): a 1.4-plus m.y. record of eolian sedimentation and soil formation on the Southern High Plains. Geological Society of America Bulletin 101, 1598–1607.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holliday, V. T.(1990). Soils and landscape evolution of eolian plains: The Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico. In “Soils and Landscape Evolution” ( Knuepfer, P. L. K.and McFadden, L. D.Eds.), Geomorphol-ogy 3, 489–515.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T.(1991). The geological record of wind erosion, eolian deposition, and aridity on the Southern High Plains. Great Plains Research 1, 1–25.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T.(1995a). Late Quaternary stratigraphy of the Southern High Plains. In “Ancient Peoples and Landscapes” ( Johnson, E.Ed.), pp. 289–313. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T.(1995b). "Stratigraphy and Paleoenvironments of Late Quaternary Valley Fills on the Southern High Plains.” Geological Society of America Memoir 186, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T.(in press). “Paleoindian Geoarchaeology of the Southern High Plains.” University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T. Gustavson, T. C.andHovorka, S. D.(1996). Stratigraphy and Geochronology of Playa Fills on the Southern High Plains. Geological Society of America Bulletin 108, 953–965.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T. Johnson, E. Haas, H.andStuckenrath, R.(1983). Radiocarbon ages from the Lubbock Lake site, 1950–1980: Framework for cultural and ecological change on the Southern High Plains. Plains Anthropologist 28, 165–182.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T. Johnson, E. Haas, H.andStuckenrath, R.(1985). Radiocarbon ages from the Lubbock Lake site, 1981–1984. Plains Anthropologist 30, 277–291.Google Scholar
Johnson, E.(1986). Late Pleistocene and early Holocene paleoenvironments on the Southern High Plains (USA). Geographic Physique et Quaternaire 40, 249–261.Google Scholar
Johnson, E.(1987). Paleoenvironmental overview. In “Lubbock Lake: Late Quaternary Studies on the Southern High Plains” ( cJohnson, E.Ed.), pp. 90–99. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.Google Scholar
Johnson, E.andHolliday, V. T.(1986). The Archaic record at Lubbock Lake. Plains Anthropologist Memoir 21, 7–54.Google Scholar
Johnson, E.andHolliday, V. T.(1995). Archaeology and late Quaternary environments of the Southern High Plains. Bulletin of the Texas Archeo-logical Society 66, 519–540.Google Scholar
Judson, S.(1950). Depressions of the northern portion of the southern High Plains of eastern New Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 61, 253–274.Google Scholar
Kelly, E. F. Yonker, C.andMarino, B.(1993). Stable carbon isotope composition of paleosols: An application to Holocene. In “Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records” ( Swart, P. K.et al., Eds.), pp. 233–239. Geophysical Monographs 78.Google Scholar
Marker, M. E.andHolmes, P. J.(1995). Lunette dunes in the northeast Cape, South Africa, as geomorphic indicators of palaeoenvironmental change. Catena 24, 259–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, C. W.andJohnson, W. C.(1995). Variation in radiocarbon ages of soil organic matter fractions from Late Quaternary buried soils. Quaternary Research 43, 232–237.Google Scholar
Matthews, J. A.(1980). Some problems and implications of 14C dates from a podzol buried beneath an end moraine at Haugabreen, southern Norway. Geografiska Annaler A 62, 185–208.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D. J.(1991). Altithermal archaeology and paleoecology at Mustang Springs, on the Southern High Plains of Texas. American Antiquity 56, 236–267.Google Scholar
Muhs, D. R.andHolliday, V. T.(1995). Active dune sand on the Great Plains in the 19th century: Evidence from accounts of early explorers. Quaternary Research 43, 198–208.Google Scholar
Nativ, R.(1988). “Hydrogeology and Hydrochemistry of the Ogallala Aquifer, Southern High Plains, Texas Panhandle and New Mexico.” The University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology Report of Investigation 177.Google Scholar
Neck, R. W.(1995). Molluscan remains. In “Stratigraphy and Paleoenvironments of Late Quaternary Valley Fills on the Southern High Plains” ( Holliday, V. T.Ed.), pp. 59–67. Geological Society of America Memoir 186, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Nickling, W. G.(1984). The stabilizing role of bonding agents on the en-trainment of sediment by wind. Sedimentology 31, 111–117.Google Scholar
Nordt, L. C, Boutton, T. W. Hallmark, C. T.andWaters, M. R.(1994). Late Quaternary vegetation and climate changes in Central Texas based on the isotopic composition of organic carbon. Quaternary Research 41, 109–120.Google Scholar
Osterkamp, W. R.andWood, W. W.(1987). Playa-lake basins on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico: Part I. Hydrologic, geomorphic, and geologic evidence for their development. Geological Society of America Bulletin 99, 215–223.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parry, W. T.andReeves, C. C Jr.(1968). Clay mineralogy of pluvial lake sediments, Southern High Plains, Texas. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 38, 516–529.Google Scholar
Price, W. A.(1963). Physiochemical and environmental factors in clay dune genesis. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 33, 766–778.Google Scholar
Reeves, C. C Jr.(1965). Chronology of west Texas pluvial lake dunes. Journal of Geology, 73, 504–508.Google Scholar
Reeves, C. C Jr.(1966). Pluvial lake basins of west Texas. Journal of Geology,74, 269–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeves, C. C Jr.(1976). Quaternary stratigraphy and geologic history of Southern High Plains, Texas and New Mexico. “Quaternary Stratigraphy of North America” ( Mahaney, W. C.Ed.), pp. 213–234. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg, PA.Google Scholar
Reeves, C. C Jr.(1990). A proposed sequential development of lake basins, Southern High Plains, Texas and New Mexico. “Geologic Framework and Regional Hydrology: Upper Cenozoic Blackwater Draw and Ogallala Formations, Great Plains” ( Gustavson, T. C.Ed.), pp. 209–232. The University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology.Google Scholar
Reeves, C. C Jr.(1991). Origin and stratigraphy of alkaline lake basins, Southern High Plains. “Quaternary Nonglacial Geology: Conterminous U.S.” ( Morrison, R. B.Ed.), pp. 484–486. Geological Society of America Centennial Volume K-2.Google Scholar
Reeves, C. C Jr.andVincent, J. A.(1991). New evidence for periodicity of late Quaternary aridification across the Southern High Plains. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 23, A355.Google Scholar
Sabin, T. J.andHolliday, V. T.(1995). Morphometric and spatial relationships of playas and lunettes on the Southern High Plains. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 85, 286–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, A.(1989). Palygorskite and sepiolite group minerals. In “Minerals in Soil Environments” ( Dixon, J. B.and Weed, S. B.Eds.), 2nd ed., pp. 829–872. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Singer, M. J.andJanitzky, P. (Eds.) (1986). “Field and Laboratory Procedures Used in a Soil Chronosequence Study.” U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1648.Google Scholar
Stafford, T. W. Hare, P. E. Currie, L. Jull, A. J. T.andDonahue, D.(1991). Accelerator radiocarbon dating at the molecular level. Journal of Archaeological Science 18, 35–72.Google Scholar
Stone, W. J.(1990). Natural recharge of the Ogallala aquifer through playas and other non-stream-channel settings, eastern New Mexico. “Geologic Framework and Regional Hydrology: Upper Cenozoic Blackwater Draw and Ogallala Formations, Great Plains” ( Gustavson, T. C.Ed.), pp. 180–192. The University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology.Google Scholar
Wendorf, F. assembler (1961). “Paleoecology of the Llano Estacado.” Fort Burgwin Research Center Publication 1, The Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Wendorf, F.andHester, J. J.(Eds.) (1975). Late Pleistocene Environments of the Southern High Plains.” Fort Burgwin Research Center Publication 9, Taos.Google Scholar
Winsborough, B. M.(1995). Diatoms. In “Stratigraphy and Paleoenviron-ments of Late Quaternary Valley Fills on the Southern High Plains” ( Holliday, V. T.Ed.), pp. 67–82. Geological Society of America Memoir 186, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar