Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-09T04:25:06.562Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparisons and Interpretations of Charcoal and Organic Matter Radiocarbon Ages from Buried Soils in North-Central Colorado, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

James H Mayer ,
George S Burr  and
Vance T Holliday
James H Mayer*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
George S Burr
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
Vance T Holliday
Affiliation:
Departments of Anthropology and Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
*
Corresponding author. Email: jhmayer@email.arizona.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The reliability of radiocarbon ages based on soil organic matter (SOM) from Holocene buried soils in Middle Park, Colorado, is assessed by comparison with ages of charcoal. On average, 14C ages of SOM from buried surface horizons are 880 ± 230 14C yr younger than charcoal ages from the same horizon. Humic acid (HA) and low-temperature (400 °) combustion residue (LT) fractions are 390 ± 230 and 1290 ± 230 14C yr younger than charcoal ages, respectively, and HA ages are on average 860 ± 140 14C yr older than LT fractions. We interpret the offsets between 14C ages of charcoal and SOM fractions and the consistent offsets between the HA and LT fractions to reflect the duration of pedogenesis and different residence times of the SOM fractions examined here. The stratigraphic coherence of charcoal 14C ages suggests short residence time on the landscape, with little subsequent reworking. 14C ages of HA and LT fractions are complimentary to charcoal, and HA ages are interpreted to represent minimum ages for the onset of pedogenesis and LT ages are considered maximum ages for burial. The 14C chronology from buried soils indicates an episode of hillslope erosion in Middle Park during the early Holocene, followed by a long period of land surface stability and soil formation between 9000–4500 BP. Two episodes of late Holocene hillslope erosion between 3500–2500 and 1000–500 BP correspond with warming recognized in the Colorado Front Range, while surface stability and soil formation between 2500–1000 BP is contemporaneous with evidence for cooling at higher elevations.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , 2008 , pp. 331 - 346
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Abbot, MB, Stafford, TW Jr. 1996. Radiocarbon geochemistry of modern and ancient arctic lake systems, Baffin Island, Canada. Quaternary Research 45(3):300–11.Google Scholar
Benedict, JB. 1973. Chronology of cirque glaciation, Colorado Front Range. Quaternary Research 3(4):584–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benedict, JB. 1981. The Fourth of July Valley: Glacial Geology and Archeology of the Timberline Ecotone. Research Report No. 2. Ward, Colorado: Center for Mountain Archeology. 139 p.Google Scholar
Benedict, JB. 1985. Arapaho Pass, Glacial Geology and Archeology at the Crest of the Colorado Front Range. Research Report No. 3. Ward, Colorado: Center for Mountain Archeology. 197 p.Google Scholar
Benedict, JB. 2005. Rethinking the Fourth of July Valley site: a study in glacial and periglacial geoarchaeology. Geoarchaeology 20(8):797–836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birkeland, PW. 1999. Soils and Geomorphology. 3rd edition. New York: Oxford University Press. 430 p.Google Scholar
Burr, GS, Donahue, DJ, Tang, Y, Beck, JW, McHargue, L, Biddulph, D, Cruz, R, Jull, AJT. 2007. Error analysis at the NSF-Arizona AMS facility. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 259(1):149–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, CA, Paul, EA, Rennie, DA, McCallum, KJ. 1967. Applicability of the carbon-dating method of analysis to soil humus studies. Soil Science 104:217–24.Google Scholar
Catt, JA. 1986. Soils and Quaternary Geology: A Handbook for Field Scientists. Oxford: Oxford Science Publications. 300 p.Google Scholar
Catt, JA. 1990. Field recognition, description and spatial relationships of paleosols. Quaternary International 6:2–95.Google Scholar
Daniels, JM. 2003. Floodplain aggradation and pedogenesis in a semiarid environment. Geomorphology 56(3–4):225–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniels, RB, Hammer, RD. 1992. Soil Geomorphology. New York: Wiley Press. 256 p.Google Scholar
Doerner, JP. 2007. Late Quaternary prehistoric environment of the Colorado Front Range. In: Brunswig, RH, Pitblado, BL, editors. Frontiers in Colorado Paleoindian Archaeology: From the Dent Site to the Rocky Mountains. Boulder: University Press of Colorado. p 11–38.Google Scholar
Elias, SA. 1985. Paleoenvironmental interpretations of Holocene insect fossil assemblages from four high-altitude sites in the Front Range, Colorado, U.S.A. Arctic and Alpine Research 17(1):31–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elias, SA. 1996. Late Pleistocene and Holocene seasonal temperatures reconstructed from fossil beetle assemblages in the Rocky Mountains. Quaternary Research 46(3):311–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, LJ. 1995. The use of paleosols in dating Quaternary deposits. In: Rutter, NW, Catto, NR, editors. Dating Methods for Quaternary Deposits. St. Johns, Newfoundland: Geological Association of Canada, p 269–81.Google Scholar
Feiler, EJ, Anderson, RS, Koehler, PA. 1997. Late Quaternary paleoenvironments of the White River Plateau, Colorado, U.S.A. Arctic and Alpine Research 29(1):53–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, I, Carrara, P, Gleason, J. 1988. Isotopic evidence of Holocene climatic change in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado. Quaternary Research 30(3):350–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerrard, J. 1992. Soils and Geomorphology: An Integration of Pedology and Geomorphology. London: Chapman and Hall. 269 p.Google Scholar
Geyh, MA, Roeschmann, G, Wijmstra, TA, Middeldorp, AA. 1983. The unreliability of 14C dates obtained from buried sandy Podzols. Radiocarbon 25(2):409–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilet-Blein, N, Marien, G, Evin, J. 1980. Unreliability of 14C dates from organic matter of soils. Radiocarbon 22(3):919–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goh, KM. 1980. Dynamics and stability of soil organic matter. In: Theng, BKG, editor. Soil with Variable Change. Christchurch: New Zealand Society of Soil Science. p 373–93.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P, Macphail, RI. 2006. Practical and Theoretical Geoarchaeology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 487 p.Google Scholar
Haas, H, Holliday, VT, Stuckenrath, R. 1986. Dating of Holocene stratigraphy with soluble and insoluble organic fractions at the Lubbock Lake archaeological site, Texas: an ideal case study. Radiocarbon 28(2A):473–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, CV Jr. 1992. Contributions of radiocarbon dating to the geochronology of the peopling of the New World. In: Taylor, RA, Long, A, Kra, RS, editors. Radiocarbon After Four Decades. New York: Springer-Verlag; Tucson: Radiocarbon. p 355–74.Google Scholar
Holliday, VT. 1994. The “State Factor” approach in geoarchaeology. In: Amundson, R, editor. Factors of Soil Formation: A Fiftieth Anniversary Retrospective. Madison, Wisconsin, USA: Soil Science Society of America. p 65–86.Google Scholar
Holliday, VT. 2000. The evolution of Paleoindian geochronology and typology on the Great Plains. Geoarchaeology 15(3):227–90.Google Scholar
Holliday, VT. 2004. Soils in Archaeological Research. New York: Oxford University Press. 448 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holliday, VT. 2006. A history of soil-geomorphology in the United States. In: Warkenton, BP, editor. Footprints in the Soil: People and Ideas in Soil History. Amsterdam: Elsevier Press. p 187–254.Google Scholar
Holliday, VT, Haynes, CV Jr, Hofman, JL, Meltzer, DJ. 1994. Geoarchaeology and geochronology of the Miami (Clovis) site, southern High Plains of Texas. Quaternary Research 41(2):234–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Izett, GA, Barclay, CSV. 1973. Geologic map of the Kremmling 15-minute quadrangle, Grand County, Colorado. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Izett, GA, Obradovich, JD. 2001. 40Ar/39Ar ages of Miocene tuffs in basin-fill deposits (Santa Fe Group, New Mexico, and Troublesome Formation, Colorado) of the Rio Grande Rift System. The Mountain Geologist 38:77–86.Google Scholar
Jenny, H. 1941. Factors of Soil Formation: A System of Quantitative Pedology. New York: McGraw-Hill. 324 p.Google Scholar
Johnson, WC, Willey, KL. 2000. Isotopic and rock magnetic expression of environmental change at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the central Great Plains. Quaternary International 67(1):89–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kornfeld, M, Frison, GC. 2000. Paleoindian occupation of the High Country: the case of Middle Park, Colorado. Plains Anthropologist 45(172):129–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kornfeld, M, Frison, GC, Larson, ML, Miller, JC, Saysette, J. 1999. Paleoindian bison procurement and paleoenvironments in Middle Park of Colorado. Geoarchaeology 14(7):655–74.3.0.CO;2-L>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leavitt, SW, Follett, RF, Paul, EA. 1996. Estimation of slow- and fast-cycling organic carbon pools from 6N HCl hydrolysis. Radiocarbon 38(2):231–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machette, MN. 1985. Calcic soils and calcretes of the southwestern United States. In: Weide, DL, editor. Soils and Quaternary Geology of the Southwestern United States. Boulder, Colorado, USA: Geological Society of America. p 1–21.Google Scholar
Mandel, RD. 1992. Soils and Holocene landscape evolution in central and southwestern Kansas: implications for archaeological research. In: Holliday, VT, editor. Soils and Archaeology: Landscape Evolution and Human Occupation. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 41–100.Google Scholar
Mandel, RD. 1995. Geomorphic controls of the Archaic record in the Central Plains of the United States. In: Bettis, EA III, editor. Archaeological Geology of the Archaic Period in North America. Boulder, Colorado, USA: Geological Society of America. p 37–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markgraf, V, Scott, L. 1981. Lower timberline in central Colorado during the past 15,000 years. Geology 9(5):231–4.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, CW, Johnson, WC. 1995. Variation in radiocarbon ages of soil organic matter fractions from late Quaternary buried soils. Quaternary Research 43(2):232–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, JA. 1980. Some problems and implications of 14C dates from a podzol buried beneath an end moraine at Haugabreen, southern Norway. Geografiska Annaler 62:185–208.Google Scholar
Matthews, JA. 1985. Radiocarbon dating of surface and buried soils: principles, problems, and prospects. In: Richards, KS, Arnett, RR, Ellis, S, editors. Geomorphology and Soils. London: George Allen and Unwin. p 269–88.Google Scholar
Mayer, JH, Surovell, TA, Waguespack, NM, Kornfeld, M, Reider, RG, Frison, GC. 2005. Paleoindian environmental change and landscape response in Barger Gulch, Middle Park, Colorado. Geoarchaeology 20(6):599–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer, JH, Waguespack, NM, Surovell, TA, Daniels, JM. 2007. Paleoindian geoarchaeology of the Barger Gulch area, Middle Park, Colorado. In: Raynolds, RG, editor. Roaming the Rocky Mountain Environs: Geological Society of America Field Guide 10. Boulder, Colorado, USA: Geological Society of America. p 79–99.Google Scholar
McGeehin, J, Burr, GS, Jull, AJT, Reines, D, Gosse, J, Davis, PT, Muhs, D, Southon, JR. 2001. Stepped-combustion 14C dating of sediment: a comparison with established techniques. Radiocarbon 43(2A):255–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nordt, L. 2004. Late quaternary alluvial stratigraphy of a low-order tributary in central Texas, USA and its response to climate and sediment supply. Quaternary-Research 62(3):289–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, EA, Collins, HP, Leavitt, SW. 2001. Dynamics of resistant soil carbon of Midwestern agricultural soils measured by naturally occurring 14C abundance. Geoderma 104(3–4):239–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitblado, BL. 2003. Late Paleoindian Occupation of the Southern Rocky Mountains: Early Holocene Projectile Points and Land Use in the High Country. Boulder, Colorado, USA: University Press of Colorado. 292 p.Google Scholar
Polach, HA, Costin, AB. 1971. Validity of soil organic matter radiocarbon dating: buried soils in Snowy Mountains, southeastern Australia as example. In: Yaalon, DH, editor. Paleopedology. Jerusalem: University of Israel Press. p 89–96.Google Scholar
Quade, J, Forester, RM, Pratt, WL, Carter, C. 1998. Black mats, spring-fed streams, and late-glacial-age recharge in the southern Great Basin. Quaternary Research 49(2):129–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quade, J, Rech, JA, Betancourt, JL, Latorre, C, Quade, B, Rylander, KA, Fisher, T. 2008. Paleowetlands and regional climate change in the central Atacama Desert, northern Chile. Quaternary Research 69(3):343–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawling, JE 3rd, Fredlund, GG, Mahan, S. 2003. Aeolian cliff-top deposits and buried soils in the White River Badlands, South Dakota, USA. The Holocene 13(1):121–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaetzl, RJ, Anderson, S. 2005. Soils: Genesis and Morphology. New York: Cambridge University Press. 817 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaetzl, RJ, Sorenson, CJ. 1987. The concept of “buried” vs. “isolated” paleosols: examples from northeastern Kansas. Soil Science 143:426–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scharpenseel, HW. 1971. Radiocarbon dating of soils—problems, troubles, hopes. In: Yaalon, DH, editor. Paleopedology. Jerusalem: University of Israel Press. p 77–88.Google Scholar
Scharpenseel, HW, Schiffman, H. 1977. Radiocarbon dating of soils, a review. Zeitschrift fur Planzenernaehrung und Bodenkunde 140:159–74.Google Scholar
Short, SK. 1985. Palynology of Holocene sediments, Colorado Front Range; vegetation and treeline changes in the subalpine forest. American Association of Strati-graphic Palynologists Contribution Series 16:7–29.Google Scholar
Singer, MJ, Janitsky, J. 1986. Field and Laboratory Procedures Used in a Soil Chronosequence Study, US Geological Survey Bulletin 1648. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 49 p.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ. 1993. Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35(1):215–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Surovell, TA, Waguespack, NM. 2007. Folsom hearth-centered use of space at Barger Gulch, Locality B. In: Brunswig, RH, Pitblado, BL, editors. Frontiers in Colorado Paleoindian Archaeology: From the Dent Site to the Rocky Mountains. Boulder, Colorado, USA: University Press of Colorado. p 219–59.Google Scholar
Surovell, TA, Waguespack, NM, Mayer, JH, Kornfeld, M, Frison, GC. 2005. Shallow site archaeology: artifact dispersal, stratigraphy, and radiocarbon dating at Barger Gulch Locality B Folsom Site, Middle Park, Colorado. Geoarchaeology 20(6):627–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tamm, CO, Östlund, HG. 1960. Radiocarbon dating of soil humus. Nature 185(4714):706–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trumbore, SE. 2000. Radiocarbon geochronology. In: Noller, JS, Sowers, JM, Lettis, WR, editors. Quaternary Geochronology: Methods and Applications. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union. p 41–59.Google Scholar
Trumbore, SE, Zheng, S. 1996. Comparison of fractionation methods for soil organic matter 14C analysis. Radiocarbon 38(2):219–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vierling, LA. 1998. Palynological evidence for late- and postglacial environmental change in central Colorado. Quaternary Research 49(2):222–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, H, Hackley, KC, Panno, SV, Coleman, DD, Chaoli Liu, J, Brown, J. 2003. Pyrolysis-combustion 14C dating of soil organic matter. Quaternary Research 60(3):348–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y, Amundson, R, Trumbore, S. 1996. Radiocarbon dating of soil organic matter. Quaternary Research 45(3):282–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Western Regional Climate Center. 2008. http://www.wrcc.dri.edu. Accessed 20 January 2008.Google Scholar