Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:42:56.950Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Quaternary Geology of the Middle Gila River, Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael R. Waters  and
John C. Ravesloot
Michael R. Waters
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843-4352
John C. Ravesloot
Affiliation:
Cultural Resource Management Program, Department of Land and Water Resources, P.O. Box E, Gila River Indian Community, Sacaton, Arizona, 85247
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Stratigraphy and dating provide an 18,000 yr record of erosion and deposition by the middle Gila River. Prior to 18,000 cal yr B.P., the Gila River cut into its floodplain and created a deep, wide channel. Sand and gravel accumulated within this channel until 4250–4400 cal yr B.P. By this time, the channel of the Gila River was narrow and deep. Around 5000 cal yr B.P., fine-grained sediments began to accumulate on the floodplain. At 800–950 cal yr B.P., there was a major period of channel widening. After this erosional episode, the channel again narrowed as it filled with sand and gravel until around 200 cal yr B.P. On the floodplain, deposition continued from about 5000 cal yr B.P. to 500 cal yr B.P. A period of stability and soil formation occurred on the floodplain between 500 and 200 cal yr B.P., after which overbank deposition resumed and buried the soil. Channel widening again occurred in the late 19th century. The changes observed in the sedimentologic history of the Gila River show that during the late Pleistocene, the Gila River was a competent stream capable of carrying and depositing coarse sediment loads. Later deposition of sand and gravel during the first half of the Holocene implies an increase in sediment yield from upstream watersheds. Changes during the last 4000 years reflect the response of the river to climatic perturbations, the timing of large floods, internal landscape thresholds, and human impacts.

Keywords

Gila RiverArizonaalluvial stratigraphylate Quaternary geology
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , July 2000 , pp. 49 - 57
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bull, W.B. (1991). Geomorphic Responses to Climatic Change. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Bull, W.B. (1997). Discontinuous ephemeral streams. Geomorphology,19, 227–276., Google Scholar
Davis, O.K.. The correlation of summer precipitation in the southwestern U.S.A. with isotopic records of solar activity during the Medieval Warm Period. Hughes, M.K., Diaz, H.F. (1994). The Medieval Warm Period. Kluwer, Dordrecht.271–288., Google Scholar
Doyel, D.E.. Hohokam cultural evolution in the Phoenix Basin. Gumerman, G.J. (1991). Exploring the Hohokam: Prehistoric Desert Peoples of the American Southwest. Univ. of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.231–278., Google Scholar
Ely, L.L. (1997). Response of extreme floods in the Southwestern United States to climatic variations in the Late Holocene. Geomorphology,19, 175–201., Google Scholar
Hall, S.A.. Quaternary pollen analysis and vegetational history of the Southwest. Bryant, V.B., Holloway, R.G. (1985). Pollen Records of Late-Quaternary North American Sediments. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists, 95–123., Google Scholar
Haynes, C.V.. Geochronology of late Quaternary alluvium. Morrison, R.B., Wright, H.E. (1968). Means of Correlation of Quaternary Successions. Univ. of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.591–615., Google Scholar
Haynes, C.V.. Curry Draw, Cochise County, Arizona: A Late Quaternary stratigraphic record of Pleistocene extinction and Paleo-Indian activities. Hill, M.L. (1987). Geological Society of America Centennial Field Guide—Codilleran Section. Geol. Soc. of Amer, Boulder.23–28., Google Scholar
Huckleberry, G.A. (1993). Late Holocene Stream Dynamics on the Middle Gila River, Pinal County, Arizona. Google Scholar
Huckleberry, G. A. (1992). Surficial geology of the eastern Gila River Indian Community area, western Pinal County, Arizona. Open-File Report 92-7,Arizona Geological Survey, Tucson.Google Scholar
Huckleberry, G.A. (1995). Archaeological implications of Late Holocene channel changes on the Middle Gila River, Arizona. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal,10, 159–182., Google Scholar
Johnson, W.C., Arbogast, A.F., Homburg, J.A.. Alluvial geomorphology and geoarchaeology of the Lower Verde River. Whittlesey, S.M., Ciolek-Torrello, R., Altschul, J.H. (1997). Vanishing River: Landscapes and Lives of the Lower Verde Valley. The Lower Verde Archaeological Project: Overview, Synthesis, and Conclusions. SRI Press, Tucson.17–32., Google Scholar
Mehringer, P.J. (1967). Pollen analysis and the alluvial chronology. The Kiva,32, 96–101., Google Scholar
Mehringer, P.J., Martin, P.S., Haynes, C.V. (1967). Murray Springs, a Mid-Postglacial pollen record from southern Arizona. American Journal of Science,265, 786–797., Google Scholar
Rea, A.M. (1983). Once a River: Birdlife and Habitat Changes on the Middle Gila. Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Rea, A.M.. At the Desert's Green Edge: An Ethnobotany of the Gila River Pima. (1997). Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodbell, D.T., Seltzer, G.O., Anderson, D.M., Abbott, M.B., Enfield, D.B., Newman, J.H. (1999). An ∼15,000-year record of El Niño-driven alluviation in southwestern Ecuador. Science,283, 516–520., Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J. (1993). Extended 14C database and revised CALIB radiocarbon calibration program. Radiocarbon,35, 215–230., Google Scholar
Van Devender, T.R., Thompson, R.S., Betancourt, J.L.. Vegetation history of the deserts of southwestern North America; The nature and timing of the Late Wisconsin–Holocene transition. Ruddiman, W.F., Wright, H.E. (1987). North America and Adjacent Oceans During the Last Deglactiation. Geol. Soc. of America, Boulder.323–352., Google Scholar
Waters, M. R. (1986). The Geoarchaeology of Whitewater Draw. Arizona.Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona, No. 45.Google Scholar
Waters, M.R. (1988). Holocene alluvial geology and geoarchaeology of the San Xavier reach of the Santa Cruz River, Arizona. Geological Society of America Bulletin,100, 479–491., Google Scholar
Waters, M. R. (1996). Surficial Geologic Map of the Gila River Indian Community. P-MIP Technical Report No. 96-1. Cultural Resource Management Program, Department of Land and Water Resources, Gila River Indian Community, Sacaton,Arizona.Google Scholar
Waters, M.R. (1999). The effect of landscape and hydrologic variables on the prehistoric Salado: Geoarchaeological investigations in the Tonto Basin, Arizona. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal,13, (1998). 105–160., Google Scholar
Wilson, J. P.. Peoples of the middle Gila: A documentary history of the Pimas and Maricopas, 1500s–1945. Manuscript on file with the Cultural Resource Management Program, Department of Land and Water Resources, Gila River Indian Community,Sacaton, Arizona.Google Scholar