Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-14T19:30:57.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Palynologic and Geomorphic Evidence for Environmental Change During the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition at Point Reyes Peninsula, Central Coastal California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Steven Rypins ,
Steven L. Reneau ,
Roger Byrne  and
David R. Montgomery
Steven Rypins
Affiliation:
Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
Steven L. Reneau
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
Roger Byrne
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
David R. Montgomery
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Three sites on the Point Reyes Peninsula, California, provide evidence of major environmental change during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. A 12,300-yr-long pollen record from Coast Trail Pond reveals a change from closed canopy Pseudotsuga-Abies forest to coastal scrub and grassland about 10,000 yr B.P. The same change is also evident in pollen records from two sea cliff exposures that contain a series of buried soils interstratified with fluvial and debris-flow deposits. Eight radiocarbon dates from these exposures indicate that aggradation at both sites began ca. 12,000 yr B.P. and that the change from forest to scrub and grassland occurred between 10,300 and 9400 yr B.P. High percentages of alder pollen and bracken fern spores reflect repeated geomorphic disturbance at ca. 10,400 yr B.P. The occurrence of major aggradation accompanied by recurrent debris flows between ca. 12,000 and 10,000 yr B.P. suggests that this was a period of more frequent high-intensity storms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , July 1989 , pp. 72 - 87
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

Adam, D.P., (1967). Late Pleistocene and Recent palynology in the central Sierra Nevada, California Cushing, E.J. Wright, H.E. Quaternary Paleoecology Yale Univ. Press New Haven 275–301 Google Scholar
Adam, D.P., (1985). Quaternary pollen records from California Bryant, V.M. Jr. Holloway, R.G. Pollen Records of Late Quaternary North American Sediments American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation Dallas 125–140 Google Scholar
Adam, D.P., (1988). Pollen Zonation and Proposed Informal Climatic Units for Clear Lake, California, Cores CL-73-4 and CL-73-7 63–80 Geologic Society of America Special Paper 214 Google Scholar
Adam, D.P. Byrne, R. Luther, E., (1981). A late Pleistocene and Holocene pollen record from Laguna de las Trancas, northern coastal Santa Cruz County, California Madroño 28, 255–272 Google Scholar
Adam, D.P. Sims, J.D. Throckmorton, C.K., (1981). 130,000-yr continuous pollen record from Clear Lake, Lake County, California Geology 9, 373–377 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atwater, B.F. Hedel, C.W. Helley, E.J., (1977). Late Quaternary Depositional History, Holocene Sea-Level Changes, and Vertical Crustal Movement, Southern San Francisco Bay, California U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1014 Google Scholar
Berger, R. Libby, W., (1966). UCLA radiocarbon dates V Radiocarbon 8, 467–497 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergquist, J.R., (1977). Depositional History and Fault Related Studies, Bolinas Lagoon, California Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation Stanford University Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B. Gordon, A.D., (1985). Numerical Methods in Quaternary Pollen Analysis Academic Press London Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., (1969). Landslides of the southern Point Reyes National Seashore California Geology 22, 107–118 Google Scholar
Dunwiddie, P.W., (1987). Macrofossil and pollen representation of coniferous trees in modern sediments from Washington Ecology 68, 1–11 Google Scholar
Ellen, S. Wieczorek, G.F., (1988). Landslides, Floods, and Marine Effects of the Storm of January 3–5, 1982, in the San Francisco Bay region, California U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1434 Google Scholar
Erdtman, G., (1969). Handbook of Palynology Hafner New York Google Scholar
Faegri, K. Iversen, J., (1975). Textbook of Pollen Analysis Hafner New York Google Scholar
Gardner, J.V. Heusser, L.E. Quintero, P.J. Stone, S.M. Barron, J.A. Poore, R.Z., (1988). Clear Lake Record vs. the Adjacent Marine Record; A Correlation of Their Past 20,000 Years of Paleoclimatic and Paleoceanographic Responses 171–182 Geologic Society of America Special Paper 214 Google Scholar
Griffin, J.R. Critchfield, W.B., (1972). The Distribution of Forest Trees in California USDA Forest Service Research Paper PSW-82. Washington Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1985). Quaternary pollen records from the Pacific Northwest Coast: Aleutians to the Oregon-California border Bryant, V.M. Holloway, R.G. Pollen Records of Late Quaternary North American Sediments American Society of Stratigraphic Palynologists Dallas 141–165 Google Scholar
Heusser, L.E., (1982). Quaternary paleoecology of northwest California and southwest Oregon American Quaternary Association, Seventh Biennial Conference, Program and Abstracts University of Washington Seattle 103 Google Scholar
Howell, J.T., (1970). Marin Flora Univ. of California Press Berkeley Google Scholar
Johnson, D.L., (1977). The late Quaternary climate of coastal California: Evidence for an Ice Age refugium Quaternary Research 8, 154–179 Google Scholar
Kapp, R.O., (1969). How to Know Pollen and Spores W. C. Brown Dubuque, IA Google Scholar
McAndrews, J.H. Berti, A.A. Norris, G., (1973). Key to the Quaternary Pollen and Spores of the Great Lakes Region Royal Ontario Museum Life Sciences Miscellaneous Publication Toronto Google Scholar
Newton, M. El Hassan, B.A. Zavitkovski, J., (1968). Role of red alder in western Oregon forest succession Trappe, J.M. Franklin, J.F. Tarrant, R.F. Hansen, G.M. Biology of Alder Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Portland 73–84 Google Scholar
Ponti, D.J., (1985). The Quaternary Alluvial Sequence of the Antelope Valley, California 79–96 Geological Society of America Special Paper 203 Google Scholar
Ponti, D.J. Burke, D.B. Marchand, D.E. Atwater, B.F. Helley, E.J., (1980). Evidence for Correlation and Climatic Control of Sequences of Late Quaternary Alluvium in California Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program 12, 501 Google Scholar
Potbury, S., (1982). A Pleistocene Flora from San Bruno, San Mateo County, California Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 415 25–44 Google Scholar
Rantz, S.E., (1971). Mean Annual Precipitation and Precipitation Depth-Duration-Frequency Data for the San Francisco Bay Region, California United States Geological Survey, Water Resources Division Menlo Park Google Scholar
Reneau, S.L. Dietrich, W.E., (1987). Size and Location of Colluvial Landslides in a Steep Forested Landscape International Association of Hydrological Sciences Publication 165 39–48 Google Scholar
Reneau, S.L. Dietrich, W.E. Dorn, R.I. Berger, C.R. Rubin, M., (1986). Geomorphic and paleoclimatic implications of latest Pleistocene radio-carbon dates from colluvium-mantled hollows, California Geology 14, 655–658 Google Scholar
Robinson, S.W. Adam, D.P. Sims, J.D., (1988). Radiocarbon Content, Sedimentation Rates, and a Time Scale for Core CL-73-4 from Clear Lake, California 151–160 Geological Society of America Special Paper 214 Google Scholar
Russell, E.W.B., (1983). Pollen analysis of past vegetation at Point Reyes national Seashore, California Madroño 30, 1–11 Google Scholar
Smith, T.C. Hart, E.W., (1982). Landslides and related storm damage, January 1982, San Francisco Bay region California Geology 35, 139–152 Google Scholar
Stockmarr, J., (1973). Tablets with spores used in absolute pollen analysis Pollen et Spores 8, 615–621 Google Scholar
Stout, M.L., (1977). Radiocarbon dating of landslides in southern California California Geology 30, 99–105 Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce (1987). Climatological Data, California annual Summary 1987 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Data Service Washington Google Scholar
Waring, R.H. Major, J., (1964). Some vegetation of the California coastal redwood region in relation to gradients of moisture, nutrients, light and temperature Ecological Monographs 34, 167–215 Google Scholar
Weldon, R.J., (1983). Climatic Control for the Formation of Terraces in Cajon Creek, Southern California Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program 15, 429 Google Scholar
Weldon, R.J., (1986). The Late Cenozoic Geology of the Cajon Pass: Implications for Tectonics and Sedimentation along the San Andreas Fault Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation California Institute of Technology Google Scholar
West, G.J., (1988). Pollen profile from Cedar Lake, Siskiyou County, California: A > 10,000 year record of a disjunct population of Chamaecyparis lawsoniana American Quaternary Association, Tenth Biennial Meeting, Program and Abstracts University of Massachusetts Amherst 161 Google Scholar