A Reexamination of Late-Pleistocene Boreal Forest Reconstructions for the Southern High Plains

1987 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vance T. Holliday
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
High Plains ◽  
Pollen Data ◽  
Southern High Plains ◽  
Paleontological Data ◽  
Pollen Preservation

AbstractPrevious paleoecological research on the Southern High Plains resulted in development of a late Quaternary chronology of “pollen-analytical episodes” and the proposal that boreal forest existed in the region in the late Pleistocene. These interpretations are now considered untenable because (1) a number of the radiocarbon ages are questionable, (2) there are serious problems of differential pollen preservation and reproducibility of the pollen data, (3) there is an absence of supporting geological or paleontological data, and (4) the soils of the area contain none of the distinctive pedological characteristics produced by a boreal forest. Available data suggest that the region was primarily an open grassland or grassland with some nonconiferous trees through most of the Quaternary.

scholarly journals Late Quaternary Stratigraphy and Geochronology of the Spring Creek Drainage along the Southern High Plains Eastern Escarpment, Northwest Texas

Quaternary ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Eileen Johnson ◽  
Stance Hurst ◽  
John A. Moretti
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
High Plains ◽  
Quaternary Deposits ◽  
Southern High Plains ◽  
Depositional Sequence ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
Quaternary Stratigraphy ◽  
Local Topography ◽  
Large Sections

The eastern escarpment breaks of the Southern High Plains of Texas are both a geomorphic and ecotonal transition zone from the high plains surface to the Rolling Plains below. The geoarchaeological record on the Southern High Plains surface is well documented, but few studies have investigated the sediments, soils, and geochronology of the eastern escarpment. The current investigation has targeted the discontinuous remnants of Late Quaternary deposits within Spring Creek, a tributary within the upper Brazos River basin. A total of 19 profiles, core, and isolated exposure locations placed along a transect from Macy Fork through upper Spring Creek and 40 radiocarbon ages provide a composite sequence and geochronology that also documents the Late Pleistocene to Late Holocene paleoenvironments of this drainage. The resulting record illustrates a series of major changes in sediments and local habitats over the past ~11,550 radiocarbon years (13,469–13,390 calendar years), characterized primarily by reductions in available water and increasing aridity that peaked during the middle Holocene. This sequence provides significant context to an expanding record of Late Pleistocene to middle Holocene biota and cultures. Subsequent downcutting of the drainage post-6000 14C yr B.P. (6988–6744 calendar years) removed large sections of the depositional sequence. Local topography within Spring Creek drainage greatly impacted the preservation of these deposits. The remaining record provides some different insights than those available from the Southern High Plains record.

scholarly journals Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Vertebrates and Paleoenvironments on the Southern High Plains, U.S.A.

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Temperature Fluctuation ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
High Plains ◽  
Moisture Regime ◽  
Local Fauna ◽  
Southern High Plains

ABSTRACT Only a few vertebrate faunas are known for the Southern High Plains from the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. This review focuses on vertebrate local faunas from two major localities on opposite sides of the region but in the same drainage system that provide proxy data for paleoenvironmental reconstructions from ca. 11,600 to 8600 yr BP. Both localities are archaeological sites within deeply stratified, radiocarbon-dated deposits. Four distinct, successive vertebrate local faunas are known for Lubbock Lake covering the period 11,100 to 8600 yr BP. Two distinct, successive vertebrate local faunas come from Blackwater Draw Locality # 1 for the period 11,600 to 10,500 yr BP. All of the local faunas are disharmonious but the extent of disharmony and diversity varies. Faunal elements from the Northern Plains and Southeast are the most notable. The late Pleistocene local faunas indicate mild winters which did not maintain freezing conditions and cool summers with a more effective moisture regime, reduced annual temperature fluctuation, and less seasonality. The beginnings of a warming trend, greater seasonality, and increased annual temperature fluctuation denote the early Holocene. The latest local fauna marks the last of the pluvial-related ones and heralds the end of pluvial conditions beginning around 8500 yr BP. The successive local faunas illustrate the complexity of disharmony occurring in unglaciated regimes during déglaciation of North America.

New Data on the Stratigraphy and Pedology of the Clovis and Plainview Sites, Southern High Plains

1985 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vance T. Holliday
Keyword(s):  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Calcareous Soils ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
High Plains ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Soil Morphology ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Dune System ◽  
Southern High Plains

The well known Clovis and Plainview archaeological sites of New Mexico and Texas have yielded new data on regional late Quaternary geologic, paleoclimatic, and pedologic histories. Eolian sedimentation at the Clovis site from about 10,000 to less than 8500 yr B.P. was followed by the formation of a cumulic soil between 8500 and 5000 yr B.P. Episodic eolian and slope wash deposition then culminated in massive eolian sedimentation about 5000 yr B.P. after which a Haplustalf formed then was subsequently buried by part of a dune system within the last 1000 yr. At the Plainview site, a basal stream gravel contains Plainview cultural material (ca. 10,000 yr B.P.), which is followed by a localized early Holocene lacustrine deposit, two eolian deposits (the younger dating to about 5000 yr B.P.), and a marsh deposit which slowly accreted as an Argiustoll formed in the younger eolian unit. The data indicate that on the Southern High Plains (1) between 12,000 and 8500 yr B.P. sedimentation varied from site to site, (2) there was a regional climate change toward warming and drying in the early Holocene, (3) two episodes of severe drought apparently occurred in the middle Holocene (6500 to 4500 yr B.P.), (4) between 4500 yr B.P. and the present an essentially modern climate existed, but with several shifts toward aridity within the last 1000 yr, (5) argillic horizons have developed in late Holocene soils, (6) clay illuviation can occur in calcareous soils, and (7) long-distance correlation of Holocene stratigraphy in the region is possible, particularly with the aid of soil morphology.

Lake Theo: Late Quaternary Paleoenvironmental Data and New Plainview (Paleoindian) Date

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen Johnson ◽  
Vance T. Holliday ◽  
Raymond W. Neck
Keyword(s):  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Soil Formation ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
High Plains ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Southern High Plains ◽  
The Past ◽  
Aeolian Deposits ◽  
Laboratory Investigations ◽  
Local Extirpation

Lake Theo (Briscoe County, Texas) is a well stratified archaeological site with Paleoindian (Folsom, Plainview) and Archaic occupations. It is located immediately east of the Southern High Plains (Llano Estacado). Preliminary field and laboratory investigations of site stratigraphy, soils, and microbiology were initiated in order to reconstruct late Quaternary paleoenvironments and date the Paleoindian occupations. The site contains a series of ten late Quaternary fluvial, and possible aeolian, deposits; and five soils (ranging from weakly to moderately well developed) formed therein. Radiocarbon ages of 9950 ± 110 years B.P. (SMU-866) and 9420 ± 85 years B.P. (SMU-856) were determined on humates from the bottom and top (respectively) of a thick, slowly aggrading, buried A horizon. The lower date is associated with a Plainview occupation and immediately overlies a Folsom occupation. Comparison of dates and associated stratigraphic and pedologic data with other sediments and soils in the section indicates that during the past 12,000 years, most sedimentation was relatively rapid and sporadic with intervening periods of soil formation of varying lengths. Citrate soluble phosphorous analysis of the soils did not show notable evidence of intense human occupation at any time. Invertebrates recovered indicate a progressive, local extirpation of terrestrial gastropods since Folsom times. The progression is a result of decreased effective precipitation. The most marked stage of extirpation occurred during deposition of Unit 7 (9000 to 8000 B.P.).

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