Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T04:18:10.527Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prospects for interregional correlations using Wisconsin and Holocene aridity episodes, northern Gulf of Mexico coastal plain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ervin G. Otvos
Ervin G. Otvos*
Affiliation:
Department of Coastal Sciences and Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, USM, Ocean Springs, MS 39566-7000, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Luminescence dating of extensive dune fields and associated eolian sandsheets provided a chronology of recently recognized Pleistocene and early Holocene dry climate episodes in the currently humid warm temperate northern–northeastern Gulf of Mexico region. Scattered parabolic dunes and clusters of intersecting parabolic dunes, along with elongated shore-transverse and shore-parallel dunes, developed. These landforms occur in a 390-km-long and 2- to 3-km-wide, semicontinuous belt in southeast Alabama and northwestern Florida. Dune elevations reach ± 22 m. Sangamon coastal barrier sectors were the primary source of the eolian sand. Deflation was coeval with early Wisconsin to mid-Holocene marine low sea-levels and associated distant shorelines. Early Holocene dune dates were synchronous, with indications of a hypsithermal dry interval in southeast Louisiana, the Yucatan, and the south Atlantic seaboard. Overlapping with dry episodes in Yucatan and the High Plains, Texas dunes and Louisiana and Texas prairie mounds, especially in the southwest Texas coast still dominated by dry climate, suggests intervals of early to late Holocene drought. The dates provide the basis for identifying and correlating Wisconsin, early, and late Holocene climate phases between currently semiarid and humid, coastal and interior areas. They contribute to future studies, including interregional paleoclimate modeling. Although Pleistocene coastal eolian deposition coincided with glaciation in the northern interior and with cooler temperatures of a reduced Gulf of Mexico, Holocene aridity phases may have been related to major variations in the position of high-pressure cells, storm tracks, and branches of the jet stream, and even to prolonged La Niña conditions.

Keywords

Late QuaternaryClimate changeEolian sedimentation cyclesCoastal dunesPrairie mounds
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , January 2004 , pp. 105 - 118
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

Aitken, M.J., (1985). Thermoluminescence Dating. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Arbogast, A.F., Wintle, A.G., Packman, S.C., (2002). Widespread middle Holocene dune formation in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the relationship to climate and outlet-controlled lake level. Geology. 30, 55–58.Google Scholar
Arnold, J.J., (1960). Prairie Mounds and Their Climatic Implications. M.S. Thesis, University of Arkansas, .Google Scholar
Aten, L.E., Bollich, C.N., (1981). Archeological evidence for pimple (prairie) mound genesis. Science. 213, 1375–1376.Google Scholar
Barnes, G.W., (1879). The hillocks or mound-formations of San Diego, California. American Naturalist. 13, 565–571.Google Scholar
Booth, R.K., Jackson, S.T., Thompson, T.A., (2002). Paleoecology of a northern Michigan lake and the relationship among climate, vegetation, and Great Lakes water levels. Quaternary Research. 57, 120–130.Google Scholar
Bretz, J.H., (1913). Glaciation of the Puget Sound Region. Washington Geological Survey Bulletin. 8, .Google Scholar
Brown, L.F. Jr., McGowen, J.H., Evans, T.J., Groat, C.G., Fisher, W.L., (1977). Environmental Geologic Atlas of the Texas Coastal Zone–Kingsville Area. Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, .Google Scholar
Campbell, M.R., (1906). Natural mounds. Journal of Geology. 14, 708–717.Google Scholar
Carter, A., (2000). Late Quaternary Coastal Evolution and Sea-Level Change, Central Texas Coast. M.S. Thesis, University of Nebraska, Lincoln.Google Scholar
Carty, D.J., Dixon, J.B., Wilding, L.P., Turner, F.T., (1988). Characterization of pimple mound–intermound soil complex on the Gulf Coast Prairie region of Texas. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 52, 1715–1721.Google Scholar
Cox, G.W., (1984). The distribution and origin of mima mound grasslands in San Diego County, California. Ecology. 65, 1397–1405.Google Scholar
Cox, G.W., (1990). Soil mixing by pocket gophers along topographic gradients in a mima moundfield. Ecology. 71, 837–843.Google Scholar
Curtis, J.H., Hodell, D.A., Brenner, M., (1996). Climate variability on the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) during the past 3500 years and implications for Maya cultural evolution. Quaternary Research. 46, 37–47.Google Scholar
Dalquest, W.W., Scheffer, V.B., (1942). The origin of the mima mounds of western Washington. Journal of Geology. 50, 68–84.Google Scholar
Darby, W., (1817). A Geographical Description of the State of Louisiana. James Olmstead Publishers, New York.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E., Ahlbrandt, T.S., Anderson, R.Y., Bradbury, J.P., (1996). Regional aridity in North America during the middle Holocene. The Holocene. 6, 145–155.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E., Forester, R.M., Bradbury, J.P., (2002). Early Holocene change in atmospheric circulation in the northern Great Plains: An upstream view of the 8.32 ka cold event. Quaternary Science Reviews. 21, 1763–1775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delcourt, P.A., (1980). Goshen Springs: Late Quaternary vegetation record for southern Alabama. Ecology. 61, 371–386.Google Scholar
Delcourt, P.A., Delcourt, H.R., (1977). The Tunica Hills, Louisiana–Mississippi: Late glacial locality for spruce and deciduous forest species. Quaternary Research. 7, 218–237.Google Scholar
Delcourt, P.A., Nester, P.L., Delcourt, H.R., Mora, C.I., Orvis, K.H., (2002). Holocene lake-effect precipitation in northern Michigan. Quaternary Research. 57, 225–233.Google Scholar
Gile, L.H., (1966). Coppice dunes and the Rotura soil. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings. 30, 657–660.Google Scholar
Goodarzi, N.K., (1978). Geomorphological and soil analyses of soil mounds in southwest Louisiana. M.S. Thesis, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.Google Scholar
Foreman, S.L., Oglesby, R., Markgraf, V., Stafford, T., (1995). Paleoclimatic significance of Late Quaternary eolian deposition on the Piedmont and High Plains, central United States. Global and Planetary Change. 11, 35–55.Google Scholar
Foreman, S.L., Oglesby, R., Webb, R.S., (2001). Temporal and spatial patterns of Holocene dune activity on the Great Plains of North America: Megadraughts and climate links. Global and Planetary Change. 29, 1–29.Google Scholar
Fritz, S., Ito, E., Yu, Z., Laird, K.R., Angstrom, D.R., (2000). Hydroponic variations in the Northern Great Plains during the last two millennia. Quaternary Research. 53, 173–184.Google Scholar
Hodell, D.A., Curtis, J.H., Brenner, M., (1995). Possible role of climate in the collapse of classic Maya civilization. Nature. 375, 391–394.Google Scholar
Holland, W.C., Hough, L.W., Murray, G.E., (1952). Geology of Beauregard and Allen Parishes. Louisiana Geological Survey Bulletin. 27, .Google Scholar
Holliday, V.T., (1984). Observations on the stratigraphy and origin of the Cinco Branch Mounds. In: The Cinco Ranch Sites, Barker Reservoir, Fort Bend County, Texas, Report of Investigations No. 3. Texas A&M University Archeological Research Laboratory. pp. 275–280.Google Scholar
Holliday, V.T., (2000). Folsom drought and episodic drying on the Southern High Plains from 10,900–10,200 14C yr B.P.. Quaternary Research. 53, 1–12.Google Scholar
Holliday, V.T., (2001). Stratigraphy and geochronology of upper Quaternary eolian sand on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 113, 88–108.Google Scholar
Ivester, A.H., Leigh, D.S., Godfrey-Smith, D.I., (2001). Chronology of inland eolian dunes on the coastal plain of Georgia, USA. Quaternary Research. 55, 293–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivester, A.H., Godfrey-Smith, D.I., Brooks, M.J., Taylor, B.E., (2002). Carolina Bays and inland dunes of the southern Atlantic Coastal Plain yield new evidence for regional paleoclimate. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts. 34, 273–274.Google Scholar
Johnson, D.L., (1999). Pocket gopher origins of some midcontinental mima-type mounds: regional and interregional genetic implications. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts. vol. 37, A-232.Google Scholar
Krinitzsky, E.L., (1949). Origin of pimple mounds. American Journal of Science. 247, 706–714.Google Scholar
McGimsey, C., (2002). The Lyles site. Southwest Region Annual Report for the 2001–2002 Grant Year. On file at the Louisiana Division of Archaeology, Baton Rouge, LA.Google Scholar
Muhs, D.R., Holliday, V.T., (2001). Origin of late Quaternary dune fields on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 112, 75–87.Google Scholar
Muhs, D.R., Stafford, T.W. Jr., Been, J., Mahan, S., Burdett, J., Skipp, G., Rowland, Z.M., (1997). Late Holocene eolian activity in the mineralogically mature Nebraska Sand Hills. Quaternary Research. 48, 162–176.Google Scholar
Murray, A.S., Wintle, A.G., (2000). Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radiation Measurements. 32, 57–73.Google Scholar
Neal, J.T., Motts, W.S., (1967). Recent geomorphic changes in playas of western United States. Journal of Geology. 75, 511–525.Google Scholar
Otvos, E.G., (1991). Northeastern Gulf Coast Quaternary. DuBar, J.R., Ewing, T.E., Lundelius, E.L., Otvos, E.G., Winker, C.D., Quaternary Geology of the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain, The Geology of North America. Quaternary Nonglacial Geology: Conterminous United States. Morrison, R.B., DNAG Series. vol. K-2, Geological Society of America, 588–610.Google Scholar
Otvos, E.G., (1997). Northeastern Gulf Coastal Plain Revisited; Neogene and Quaternary Events—Old and New Concepts. Guidebook. New Orleans Geological Society and Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, .Google Scholar
Otvos, E.G., Price, D.M., (2001). Late Quaterrnary inland dunes of southern Louisiana and arid climate phases in the Gulf Coast region. Quaternary Research. 55, 150–158.Google Scholar
Prescott, J.R., Hutton, J.T., (1994). Cosmic ray contribution to dose rates for luminescence and ESR dating: large depths and long-term time variations. Radiation Measurements. 23, 497–500.Google Scholar
Price, W.A., (1949). Pocket gophers as architects of mima (pimple) mounds of the western United States. Texas Journal of Science. 1, 1–17.Google Scholar
Quinn, J.J., (1968). Prairie mounds. Encyclopedia of Geomorphology. Reinhold, New York., 888–889.Google Scholar
Readhead, M.L., (1988). Thermoluminescence dating study of quartz ands aeolian sediments from southeastern Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews. 7, 257–264.Google Scholar
Rosenmeier, M.F., Hodell, D.A., Brenner, M., Curtis, J.H., Guilderson, T.P., (2002). A 4000-year lacustrine record of environmental change in the Southern Maya Lowlands, Petén, Guatemala. Quaternary Research. 57, 183–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheffer, V.B., (1947). The mystery of the mima mounds. Scientific Monthly. 65, 283–294.Google Scholar
Schnable, J.E., Goodell, H.G., (1968). Pleistocene–Recent Stratigraphy, Evolution and Development of the Apalachicola Coast, Florida. Geological Society of America Special Paper. 112, .Google Scholar
Toomey, R.S., Blum, M.D., Valastro, S. Jr., (1993). Late Quaternary climates and environments of the Edwards Plateau, Texas. Global and Planetary Changes. 7, 299–320.Google Scholar
Vance, R.E., Matthewes, R.W., Clague, J.J., (1992). 7000 year record of lake-level change on the northern Great Plains. A high-resolution proxy of past climate. Geology. 20, 879–882.Google Scholar
Vance, R.E., Beaudoin, A.B., Luckman, B.H., (1995). The paleoecological record of 6 ka BP climate in the Canadian prairie provinces. Geographie Physique Quaternarie. 49, 81–98.Google Scholar
Walters, M.R., (1988). Geomorphic analysis of Sites 41HR530 and 41HR608, Addicks Reservoir, Harris County, Texas. In: Archeological Investigations at 41HR530 and 41HR608, Langham Creek, Addicks Reservoir, Harris County, Texas, Reports of Investigations No. 6. Archeological Research Laboratory Texas A and M University, pp. 115–121.Google Scholar
Yu, Z., McAndrews, J.H., Eicher, E., (1997). Middle Holocene dry climate caused by change in atmospheric circulation patterns: evidence from lake levels and stable isotopes. Geology. 25, 251–254.Google Scholar