Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T03:48:57.399Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New optically stimulated luminescence ages provide evidence of MIS3 and MIS2 eolian activity on Black Mesa, northeastern Arizona, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Amy L. Ellwein ,
Shannon A. Mahan  and
Leslie D. McFadden
Amy L. Ellwein*
Affiliation:
Western State College of Colorado, Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Gunnison, CO, USA
Shannon A. Mahan
Affiliation:
US Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, MS 974, Lakewood, CO, USA
Leslie D. McFadden
Affiliation:
The University of New Mexico, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Albuquerque, NM, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author. Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences, 224 Hurst Hall, Western State College of Colorado, Gunnison, CO 81231, USA. Fax: +1 970 943 7120.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Eolian deposition on the semiarid southern Colorado Plateau has been attributed to episodic aridity during the Quaternary Period. However, OSL ages from three topographically controlled (e.g. falling) dunes on Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona indicate that eolian sediments there were deposited in deep tributary valleys as early as 35–30 ka, with most sand deposited before 20 ka. In contrast, the oldest OSL ages for sand sheets fall within the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition (~ 12–8 ka). Thus most eolian sediment accumulated on Black Mesa under climatic conditions that were in general cooler, moister, and more variable than today, not more arid, pointing to a considerable increase in sediment supply.

Keywords

Soil stratigraphyEolian geomorphologyFalling dunesLinear dunesSand rampsBlack MesaOSL geochronology
Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , May 2011 , pp. 395 - 398
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

Anderson, R.S., Betancourt, J.L., Mead, J.I., Hevly, R.H., and Adam, D.P. Middle- and late-Wisconsin paleobotanic and paleoclimate records from the southern Colorado Plateau, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 155, (2000). 31–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Billingsley, G.H. Geology and geomorphology of the southwestern Moenkopi Plateau and southern Ward Terrace, Arizona, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1672. (1987). 18 pp.Google Scholar
Birkeland, P.W. Soils and Geomorphology. 3rd Ed (1999). Oxford Press, 430 pp.Google Scholar
Breed, C.S., and Breed, W.J. Dunes and other windforms of Central Australia, and a comparison with linear dunes on the Moenkopi Plateau, Arizona. Apollo-Souyez Test Project Summary Science Report, v. 2, Earth Observations and Photography. El-Baz, F., Warner, D.M. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Special Publication 412, (1979). 319–358.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S. Abrupt climate change: causal constraints provided by the paleoclimate record. Earth Science Reviews 51, (2000). 137–154.Google Scholar
Chase, B. Evaluating the use of dune sediments as a proxy for palaeo-aridity: a southern African case study. Earth Science Reviews 93, (2009). 31–45.Google Scholar
Clarke, M.L., and Rendell, H.M. Climate change impacts on sand supply and the formation of desert sand dunes in the south-west U.S.A. Journal of Arid Environments 39, (1998). 517–531.Google Scholar
COHMAP members Climatic changes of the last 18, 000 years: observations and model simulations. Science 241, (1988). 1043–1052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fryberger, S.G., and Dean, G. Dune Forms and Wind Regimes. A Study of Global Sand Seas. McKee, E.D. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 1052, (1979). 137–169.Google Scholar
Hack, J.T. Dunes of the western Navajo Country:. Geographical Review 31, (1941). 240–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hack, J.T. The Changing Physical Environment of the Hopi Indians of Arizona. Papers of the Peabody Museum 35, no. 1, (1942). Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Karlstrom, E.T. Late Quaternary landscape history and geoarchaeology of two drainages on Black Mesa, northeastern Arizona, USA. Geoarchaeology 20, 1 (2005). 1–28.Google Scholar
Karlstrom, E.T., and Karlstrom, T.N.V. Late Quaternary alluvial stratigraphy and soils of the Black Mesa—Little Colorado River Areas, northern Arizona. Nations, J.D., Conway, C.M., and Swann, G.A. Geology of Central and Northern Arizona. (1986). Geological Society of America, Rocky Mountain Section Guidebook. 71–92.Google Scholar
Kocurek, G., and Lancaster, N. Aeolian system sediment state: theory and Mojave Desert Kelso dune field example. Sedimentology 46, (1999). 505–515.Google Scholar
Lancaster, N., and Tchakerian, V.P. Geomorphology and sediments of sand ramps in the Mojave Desert. Geomorphology 17, (1996). 151–165.Google Scholar
Machette, M.N. Calcic soils of the southwestern United States. Weide, D.L. Soils and Quaternary Geology of the Southwestern United States, Geological Society of America Special Paper 203, (1985). 1–21.Google Scholar
Mahan, S.A., and Brown, D.J. An optical age chronology of late Quaternary extreme flood events recorded in Ugandan dambo soils. Quaternary Geochronology 2, (2006). 174–180.Google Scholar
McFadden, L.D., and McAuliffe, J.R. Lithologically influenced geomorphic responses to Holocene climatic changes in the southern Colorado Plateau, Arizona: a soil-geomorphic and ecologic perspective. Geomorphology 19, (1997). 303–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muhs, D.R., and Holliday, V.T. Evidence of active dune sand on the Great Plains in the 19th century from accounts of early explorers. Quaternary Research 43, (1995). 198–208.Google Scholar
Murray, A.S., and Olley, J.M. Precision and accuracy in the optically stimulated luminescence dating of sedimentary quartz: a status review. Geochronometria 21, (2002). 1–16.Google Scholar
Murray, A.S., and Wintle, A.G. Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radiation Measurements 32, (2000). 57–73.Google Scholar
Overpeck, J.T., and Cole, J.E. Abrupt change in Earth's climate system. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 31, (2006). 1–32.Google Scholar
Pigati, J.S., Bright, J.E., Shanahan, T.M., and Mahan, S.A. Late Pleistocene paleohydrology near the boundary of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts, southeastern Arizona, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, (2009). 286–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reheis, M.C., Reynolds, R.L., Goldstein, H., Roberts, H.M., Yount, J.C., Axford, Y., Cummings, L.S., and Shearin, N. Late Quaternary eolian and alluvial response to paleoclimate, Canyonlands, southeastern Utah. Geological Society of America Bulletin v. 117, n. 7/8, (2005). 1051–1069.Google Scholar
Rendell, H.M., and Sheffer, N.L. Luminescence dating of sand ramps in the Eastern Mojave Desert. Geomorphology 17, (1996). 187–197.Google Scholar
Stokes, S., and Breed, C.S. A chronostratigraphic re-evaluation of the Tusayan Dunes, Moenkopi Plateau and southern Ward Terrace, northeastern Arizona. The dynamics and environmental context of aeolian sedimentary systems. Pye, K. Geological Society Special Publication No. 72, (1993). 75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, J.D.M., Cole, J.E., Beck, J.W., Patchett, P.J., Henderson, G.M., and Barnett, H.R. Moisture variability in the southwestern United States linked to abrupt glacial climate change. Nature Geoscience 3, (2010). 110–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, S.G., McFadden, L.D., and Schultz, J.D. Eolian landscape evolution and soil formation in the Chaco dune field, southern Colorado Plateau, New Mexico. Geomorphology 3, (1990). 517–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weng, C., and Jackson, S.T. Late glacial and Holocene vegetation history and paleoclimate of the Kaibab Plateau, Arizona. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 153, (1999). 179–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC), Western U.S. Historical Summaries for individual stations. accessed September 22, (2009). Available on-line at [http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/CLIMATEDATA.html] from the Desert Research Institute, Reno Nevada, USA.Google Scholar
Wintle, A.G., and Murray, A.S. A review of quartz optically stimulated luminescence characteristics and their relevance in single-aliquot regeneration dating protocols. Radiation Measurements 41, (2006). 369–391.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Ellwein et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download Ellwein et al. Supplementary Material(File)
File 25.1 KB