Plant remains, alluvial chronology, and cave speleothem isotopes indicate abrupt Holocene climatic change at 6 ka in midwestern USA

Sediments along 1st–5th-order streams in Midwestern USA contain excellent records of abrupt climatic change in the Holocene. Cutbank exposures provide “snapshots” of areal paleovegetation based on assemblages of well-preserved pollen and plant macrofossils; when these sites are radiocarbon dated and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global and planetary change 2001-02, Vol.28 (1), p.285-291
Main Authors: Baker, Richard G., Bettis, E.A., Denniston, R.F., Gonzalez, L.A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
alluvium
plant macrofossils
pollen
rapid change
speleothems
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Summary:Sediments along 1st–5th-order streams in Midwestern USA contain excellent records of abrupt climatic change in the Holocene. Cutbank exposures provide “snapshots” of areal paleovegetation based on assemblages of well-preserved pollen and plant macrofossils; when these sites are radiocarbon dated and arranged chronologically, a detailed picture of Holocene vegetational change emerges that is consistent with regional patterns. Lithologically distinct alluvial sediments and periods of rapid change from aggradation to entrenchment occur at intervals of rapid vegetational change, and are coeval with changing values of carbon isotopes from both cave speleothems and stream alluvium, indicating that climate is the major forcing function.
ISSN:0921-8181
1872-6364
DOI:10.1016/S0921-8181(00)00079-5