This paper presents the first comprehensive late Quaternary alluvial stratigraphic study of a low-order tributary in central Texas, using Cowhouse Creek as a case study. The late Pleistocene Jackson (JA) alluvium forms the elevated T2 terrace. The entrenched Holocene valley is filled with the buried Georgetown (GT) alluvium (approximately 11,000 to 8000 14C yr B.P.) and associated Royalty paleosol, and the surficially exposed Fort Hood (FH) alluvium (approximately 7000 to 5000 14C yr B.P.) and West Range (WR) alluvium (approximately 4200 to 600 14C yr B.P.) forming the broad T1 terrace. The Ford (FO) alluvium (<600 14C yr B.P.) forms the modern T0 floodplain entrenched into T1. Conditioned by cooler and wetter climates, Cowhouse Creek was characterized by relatively high base flow and low sediment supply during deposition of the JA and GT alluvium. Appreciable upland soil erosion ensued during the middle Holocene in response to warmer climate conditions, resulting in widespread valley filling by the FH alluvium. Deposition of the late Holocene WR and F0 alluvium was characterized by diminished sediment storage during relatively stable climate conditions. The temporal alluvial stratigraphic framework of the bedrock-confined Cowhouse Creek valley is out of phase with the alluvial sequence in the larger Brazos River valley.
