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Late Pleistocene and early Holocene rivers and wetlands in the Bonneville basin of western North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Charles G. Oviatt ,
David B. Madsen  and
Dave N. Schmitt
Charles G. Oviatt*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
David B. Madsen*
Affiliation:
Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV 89512, USA
Dave N. Schmitt*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
*
Email Address:joviatt@ksu.edu (C.G. Oviatt)
1Corresponding author. Email Address:dmadsen@austin.rr.com (D.B. Madsen)
2Corresponding author. Email Address:taphos@gte.net (D.N. Schmitt)
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Abstract

Field investigations at Dugway Proving Ground in western Utah have produced new data on the chronology and human occupation of late Pleistocene and early Holocene lakes, rivers, and wetlands in the Lake Bonneville basin. We have classified paleo-river channels of these ages as “gravel channels” and “sand channels.” Gravel channels are straight to curved, digitate, and have abrupt bulbous ends. They are composed of fine gravel and coarse sand, and are topographically inverted (i.e., they stand higher than the surrounding mudflats). Sand channels are younger and sand filled, with well-developed meander-scroll morphology that is truncated by deflated mudflat surfaces. Gravel channels were formed by a river that originated as overflow from the Sevier basin along the Old River Bed during the late regressive phases of Lake Bonneville (after 12,500 and prior to 11,000 14C yr B.P.). Dated samples from sand channels and associated fluvial overbank and wetland deposits range in age from 11,000 to 8800 14C yr B.P., and are probably related to continued Sevier-basin overflow and to groundwater discharge. Paleoarchaic foragers occupied numerous sites on gravel-channel landforms and adjacent to sand channels in the extensive early Holocene wetland habitats. Reworking of tools and limited toolstone diversity is consistent with theoretical models suggesting Paleoarchaic foragers in the Old River Bed delta were less mobile than elsewhere in the Great Basin.

Keywords

Lake BonnevillePaleoclimateGreat Salt LakePaleoarchaic foragers
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 60 , Issue 2 , September 2003 , pp. 200 - 210
Copyright
University of Washington

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