Time averaging and late Quaternary ecological replacement in Don’s Gooseberry Pit, South Dakota, USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 307-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa I. Pardi ◽  
Russell W. Graham

AbstractLate Quaternary small mammal faunas document ecological change and biotic responses to past climates but are especially rare in some geographic regions such as the North American Great Plains. Don’s Gooseberry Pit (DGP), a cave in the southeastern Black Hills of South Dakota, USA, contains a fauna documenting small mammal community composition shifts and environmental change over the last 18,000 yr in this data-depauperate region. Although the stratigraphy of the cave appears to be primary, disparate radiocarbon dates indicate that there is mixing of the fauna throughout. A paleoenvironmental signal consistent with regional reconstructions still emerges from an analysis of the stratigraphically ordered fauna. Dated taxa from DGP record the ecological replacement of Dicrostonyx by Myodes and later Microtus in response to late Quaternary warming. Individually dated specimens of Dicrostonyx richardsoni confirm late survival of this cold-adapted taxon in the Black Hills (17,083 cal yr BP). Our results indicate that a coarse paleoecological signal is present in DGP, and that the Black Hills served as a “high-altitude” refugium for cold-adapted species following the end of the last glacial period.

Geology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Nordt ◽  
Joseph von Fischer ◽  
Larry Tieszen

1997 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glen G. Fredlund ◽  
Larry L. Tieszen

Analyses of phytoliths and carbon isotopes document change in late Quaternary grasslands in the Red Valley of the southern Black Hills. Late Pleistocene grassland composition was equivalent to the C3grass parklands of modern central Alberta. The rise of mixed grassland occurred rapidly between 11,000 and 9000 yr B.P. Early Holocene mixed grasslands included both short and tall C4grasses. A mid-Holocene erosional unconformity (ca. 8000 to 4500 yr B.P.) precludes phytolith or isotope analysis, but suggests lack of vegetation and landscape denudation caused by a drier climatic. Basin-wide stability and soil development followed the erosional episode (ca. 4500 to 3600 yr B.P.). Mesic-adapted C4panicoid grasses increased during this period of soil development. Low-magnitude fluctuation in the C4-dominated mixed grassland occurred throughout the late Holocene (3600 yr B.P. to present). Rise in δ13C values during the last 1000 yr without corresponding change in phytoliths may indicate a decrease in woodlands caused by increased fire frequency.


1996 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 22-31
Author(s):  
Karen Luise Knudsen ◽  
Keld Conradsen ◽  
, Susanne Heier Nielsen ◽  
Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz

Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from the Skagen record contribute to the understanding of Late Quatemary climatic changes and variations in the oceanographic circulation pattem in the entire North Atlantic region. The Skagen cores penetrated c. 192 m of Quatemary sediments comprising two marine Late Quaternary records: A 7 m marine unit (185.3-178.3 m) comprised the entire last interglacial, including its lower and upper transitions (Late Saalian-Eemian-Early Weichselian), while the upper 132 m of marine deposits covered the last about 15,000 years from the Late Weichselian through the Holocene, including the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Results from the study of lithology, foraminifera, stable isotope measurements and radiocarbon dates are reviewed while emphasizing the most important contributions to the general understanding of the North Atlantic Quatemary history


Recent coastal erosion has cut into the filling of a former inter-drumlin lake and exposed an excellent sequence of Late-glacial deposits. These have been investigated by pollen analyses, identification of seeds, Mollusca, ostracods, and Algae; by stratigraphic studies and by radiocarbon dating. The coincidence of all this evidence strongly confirms that the greater part of the depositional sequence embraces the north-west European Late-glacial stages of the Older and Younger Dryas or Salix herbacea clays, with the intervening milder Allerod oscillation. This sequence is overlain by a small thickness of Post-glacial peat. The Late- and Post-glacial filling is shown to be sandwiched between deposits laid down during two phases of marine submergence; the earlier transgression is represented by a red marine clay which had a widespread occurrence on the Co. Down coast, and the later transgression is represented by the local development of the Postglacial raised beach. The pollen analyses from the close sampling of the organic Allerød phase muds have yielded unusually detailed data on vegetational conditions in the Late-glacial period. The radiocarbon dates, while fully confirming the age attribution, have not enough precision to give a close measure of the duration of the Allerød phase. The pollen evidence on vegetation and climate is augmented and clarified by identifications of seeds, shells, ostracods and Algae. The ostracods confirm the marine character of the early red clay, and freshwater shells were found in the overlying Allerød mud. The algal species from the Late-glacial layers have been compared with recent algal floras from Ireland, and with those found in Late- and Inter-glacial sediments elsewhere. The most notable feature is the prominence of species representative of a base-rich habitat.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan G Hogg ◽  
David J Lowe ◽  
Chris H Hendy

The radiocarbon dating laboratory at Waikato was established in 1975, primarily as a research tool in the fields of geomorphology, volcanology, tephrostratigraphy, coastal studies, and paleolimnology, to cope with the increasing supply of late Quaternary lake sediment, wood, peat, and shell samples submitted by University staff and postgraduate students undertaking research in the North Island of New Zealand. The method employed is scintillation counting of benzene using the procedures and vacuum systems designed by H A Polach for the Australian National University (ANU) Radiocarbon Dating Research Laboratory (Hogg, 1982). This date list reports on samples submitted by University of Waikato researchers and assayed in the Waikato laboratory mainly between 1979 and 1985. Other dates on material submitted by individuals working in other organizations in New Zealand, and overseas, are to be reported later.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-37
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Bader

The North Owl Creek fault is an E–W-striking, basement-rooted Laramide structure located in the Owl Creek Mountains of north-central Wyoming that likely has Precambrian origins. It is defined by a rectilinear zone of deformation that extends eastward into the subsurface where it is postulated to intersect the Kaycee fault zone of the western Powder River Basin, and perhaps extends into western South Dakota along the Dewey fault zone. Several localized basement-rooted wrench zones have been identified in the foreland of the North American Cordillera; however, identification of more regional zones has been minimal. The presence of larger fault zones that cut nearly the entire Archean basement across the Wyoming Province has implications for Precambrian plate tectonics and structural inheritance in foreland basins such as the Powder River. This paper presents results of a structural analysis that tests this hypothesis.


2009 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Sellet ◽  
James Donohue ◽  
Matthew G. Hill

The Jim Pitts site is a multicomponent Paleoindian locality in the Black Hills of South Dakota, with a rare Goshen residential occupation. All Paleoindian components were comprised in the Leonard paleosol. The deepest component at the site is a Goshen level dated to 10,185 ± 25 B.P. It correlates with a late fall-early winter camp site. Over the course of its use parts of at least five bison were procured and introduced to the site. Above this level an array of point styles, including Goshen, Folsom, Agate Basin, several Fishtail points, James Allen, Cody, and Alberta, have also been found. The following study provides a typological and technological description of the point assemblage and weighs the implications of the chrono-cultural stratigraphy for reconstructing the Paleoindian cultural landscape. It questions the validity of some types, particularly Goshen, as cultural and chronological markers. Ultimately, the evidence presented here reinforces a model in which multiple Paleoindian point types occur simultaneously on the central and northern Great Plains. This in turn challenges a unilineal view of Paleoindian culture history.


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