Late Pleistocene and Holocene glaciation of the Fish Lake valley, northeastern Alaska Range, Alaska

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 677-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolás E. Young ◽  
Jason P. Briner ◽  
Darrell S. Kaufman
1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Powers ◽  
John F. Hoffecker

Ongoing research in the Nenana Valley is uncovering a complex record of Late Glacial settlement in the foothills of the Alaska Range. A local eolian sequence provides relatively precise stratigraphic and chronological control, permitting integration with regional paleoclimatic history. Initial occupation seems to have occurred approximately 12,000 years ago, and is represented by several assemblages containing bifacial points. Microblade technology did not appear until ca. 10,500 B.P. The valley probably was exploited on a seasonal basis for large mammal procurement.


2010 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Matmon ◽  
J.P. Briner ◽  
G. Carver ◽  
P. Bierman ◽  
R.C. Finkel

AbstractWe present 10Be exposure ages from moraines in the Delta River Valley, a reference locality for Pleistocene glaciation in the northern Alaska Range. The ages are from material deposited during the Delta and Donnelly glaciations, which have been correlated with MIS 6 and 2, respectively. 10Be chronology indicates that at least part of the Delta moraine stabilized during MIS 4/3, and that the Donnelly moraine stabilized ∼ 17 ka. These ages correlate with other dates from the Alaska Range and other regions in Alaska, suggesting synchronicity across Beringia during pulses of late Pleistocene glaciation. Several sample types were collected: boulders, single clasts, and gravel samples (amalgamated small clasts) from around boulders as well as from surfaces devoid of boulders. Comparing 10Be ages of these sample types reveals the influence of pre/post-depositional processes, including boulder erosion, boulder exhumation, and moraine surface lowering. These processes occur continuously but seem to accelerate during and immediately after successive glacial episodes. The result is a multi-peak age distribution indicating that once a moraine persists through subsequent glaciations the chronological significance of cosmogenic ages derived from samples collected on that moraine diminishes significantly. The absence of Holocene ages implies relatively minor exhumation and/or weathering since 12 ka.


1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Thorson ◽  
Thomas D. Hamilton

The Dry Creek archeologic site contains a stratified record of late Pleistocene human occupation in central Alaska. Four archeologic components occur within a sequence of multiple loess and sand layers which together form a 2-m cap above weathered glacial outwash. The two oldest components appear to be of late Pleistocene age and occur with the bones of extinct game animals. Geologic mapping, stratigraphic correlations, radiocarbon dating, and sediment analyses indicate that the basal loess units formed part of a widespread blanket that was associated with an arctic steppe environment and with stream aggradation during waning phases of the last major glaciation of the Alaska Range. These basal loess beds contain artifacts for which radiocarbon dates and typologic correlations suggest a time range of perhaps 12,000–9000 yr ago. A long subsequent episode of cultural sterility was associated with waning loess deposition and development of a cryoturbated tundra soil above shallow permafrost. Sand deposition from local source areas predominated during the middle and late Holocene, and buried Subarctic Brown Soils indicate that a forest fringe developed on bluff-edge sand sheets along Dry Creek. The youngest archeologic component, which is associated with the deepest forest soil, indicates intermittent human occupation of the site between about 4700 and 3400 14C yr BP.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan D. Taylor ◽  
Garth E. Graham ◽  
Eric D. Anderson ◽  
David Selby

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