Smith Canyon dune field, Washington, U.S.A: relation to glacial outburst floods, the Mazama eruption, and Holocene paleoclimate

• Published in: Journal of arid environments 2001-04, Vol.47 (4), p.403-424
• Main Authors: Gaylord, David R., Foit, Franklin F., Schatz, Jeffrey K., Coleman, Angela J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; glacial outburst flood; Holocene; Marine and continental quaternary; Mazama; palaeoclimate; sand dunes; Surficial geology; USA, Washington, Columbia Basin
• ISSN: 0140-1963; 1095-922X
• DOI: 10.1006/jare.2000.0731

Sedimentary deposits from the Smith Canyon dune field, south-central Columbia Basin, Washington, U.S.A. document climatically-influenced Late Pleistocene and Holocene aeolian and fluvial deposition in a region impacted by glacial outburst floods and tephra falls. The depositional history is summarized by five environmentally distinctive and climatically sensitive sedimentary units (temporal limits estimated): Unit 1 (c. 15·5–8 ka), pedogenically altered glacial outburst flood and minor aeolian silt and clay; Unit 2 (c. 8–6·9 ka), fluvial and minor aeolian sand; Unit 3 (c. 6·9–6·8 ka), flood-induced fluvial sand with gravel-sized tephra clasts; Unit 4 (c. 6·8–3·9 ka), aeolian dune sand; Unit 5 (c. 3·9 ka to present), pedogenically altered, stabilized dune sand. Estimated age ranges are based on stratigraphic position, tephrochronology, and correlation with temporally constrained strata from elsewhere in the region.