Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:39:39.119Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Timing and distribution of alluvial fan sedimentation in response to strengthening of late Holocene ENSO variability in the Sonoran Desert, Southwestern Arizona, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Steven N. Bacon ,
Eric V. McDonald ,
Todd G. Caldwell  and
Graham K. Dalldorf
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The integration of geomorphic mapping, soil stratigraphy, and radiocarbon dating of alluvial deposits offers insight to the timing, magnitude, and paleoclimatic context of Holocene fan sedimentation near Yuma, Arizona. Mapping of 3400 km2 indicates about 10% of the area aggraded in the late Holocene and formed regionally extensive alluvial fan and alluvial plain cut-and-fill terraces. Fan deposits have weakly developed gravelly soils and yielded a date of 3200–2950 cal yr BP from carbonized wood. Alluvial plain deposits have weakly developed buried sandy soils and provided a date of 2460–2300 cal yr BP from a terrestrial snail shell. Precipitation records were analyzed to form historical analogues to the late Holocene aggradation and to consider the role of climatic variability and extreme hydrologic events as drivers of the sedimentation. The historical precipitation record indicates numerous above-average events correlated to the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) in the region, but lacks any significant reactivation of alluvial fan surfaces. The timing of aggradation from 3200 to 2300 cal yr BP correlates well with other paleoclimatic proxy records in the southwestern U.S. and eastern Pacific region, which indicate an intensification of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climatic pattern and rapid climate change during this period.

Keywords

Late HoloceneAlluvial fanDesert soilsSonoran DesertGeomorphologyPaleoclimatologyENSO variability
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 73 , Issue 3 , May 2010 , pp. 425 - 438
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

Adams, D.K., Comrie, A.C., (1997). The North American Monsoon. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 78, 2197–2213.Google Scholar
Asmerom, Y., Polyak, V., Burns, S., Rassmussen, J., (2007). Solar forcing of Holocene climate: New insights from a speleothem record, southwestern United States. Geology 35, 1–4.Google Scholar
Bacon, S.N., McDonald, E.V., Baker, S.E., Caldwell, T.G., Stullenbarger, G., (2008). Desert terrain characterization of landforms and surface materials within vehicle test courses at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, USA. Journal of Terramechanics 45, 167–183.Google Scholar
Barron, J.A., Bukry, D., Dean, W.E., (2005). Paleoceanographic history of the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, during the past 15,000 years based on diatoms, silicoflagellates, and biogenic sediments. Marine Micropaleontology 56, 81–102.Google Scholar
Bequaert, J.C., Miller, W.B., (1973). The Mollusks of the Arid Southwest; with an Arizona Check List. University of Arizona Press, Tuscon, Arizona., 271.Google Scholar
Birkeland, P.W., (1999). Soils and Geomorphology. 3rd ed. Oxford Univ. Press, New York., 372.Google Scholar
Brennan, R., Quade, J., (1997). Reliable Late-Pleistocene stratigraphic ages and shorter groundwater travel times from 14C in fossil snail from the southern Great Basin. Quaternary Research 47, 329–336.Google Scholar
Bull, W.B., (1991). Geomorphic Responses to Climate Change. Oxford Univ. Press, New York., 326.Google Scholar
Cayan, D.R., Redmond, K.T., Riddle, L.G., (1999). ENSO and hydrologic extremes in the western United States. Journal of Climate 2, 2881–2893.Google Scholar
Cerling, T.E., Webb, R.H., Poreda, R.J., Rigby, A.D., Melis, T.S., (1999). Cosmogenic 3He and frequency of late Holocene debris flows from Prospect Canyon, Grand Canyon, USA. Geomorphology 27, 93–111.Google Scholar
Clapp, E.M., Bierman, P.R., Caffee, M., (2002). Using 10Be and 26Al to determine sediment generation rates and identify sediment source areas in an arid region drainage basin. Geomorphology 45, 89–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cochran, C., (1991). Soil survey of the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground. Arizona—parts of La Paz and Yuma Counties. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services Soil Survey Report, 164 p, 1:24,000.Google Scholar
Corbosiero, K.L., Dickinson, M.J., Bosart, LF., (2009). The contribution of eastern North Pacific tropical cyclones to the rainfall climatology of the southwest United States. Monthly Weather Review 137, 2415–2435.Google Scholar
Donders, T.H., Wagner-Cremer, F., Visscher, H., (2008). Integration of proxy data and model scenarios for the mid-Holocene onset of modern ENSO variability. Quaternary Science Reviews 27, 571–579.Google Scholar
Dreimanis, A., (1962). Quantitative gasometric determinations of calcite and dolomite by using Chittick apparatus. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 32, 520–529.Google Scholar
Drover, C.E., (1987). The Early Prehistoric Ecology of the Northern Mojave Sink. San Bernardino County, California. Unpubl. PhD dissertation. Univ. of Califonria, Riverside., 255.Google Scholar
Ely, L.L., Enzel, Y., Baker, V.R., Cayan, D.R., (1993). A 5000-year record of extreme floods and climate changein the southwestern United States. Science 262, 410–412.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Cayan, D.R., Anderson, R.Y., Wells, S.G., (1989). Atmospheric circulation during Holocene lake stands in the Mojave Desert: evidence for regional climatic change. Nature 341, 44–47.Google Scholar
Farfn, L.M., Zehnder, J.A., (2001). An analysis of the landfall of Hurricane Nora (1997). Monthly Weather Review 129, 2073–2088.Google Scholar
Friddell, J.E., Thunell, R.C., Guilderson, T.P., Kashgarian, M., (2003). Increased northeast Pacific climatic variability during the warm middle Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters 30, 11, 1560 .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gagan, K, Hendy, J, Haberle, G, Hantoro, S., (2004). Post-glacial evolution of the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool and El Niño-Southern oscillation. Quaternary International 118–119., 127–143.Google Scholar
Gee, G.W., Or, D., (2002). Particle-size analysis. Dane, J.H., Topp, G.C., Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 4. Physical Methods, Soil Science Society of America Book Series 5 255–293.Google Scholar
Griffiths, G, Magirl, S, Webb, H, Pytlak, E, Troch, A, Lyon, W., (2009). Spatial distribution and frequency of precipitation during an extreme event.: July 2006 mesoscale convective complexes and floods in southeastern Arizona.Google Scholar
Hanson, R.T., Newhouse, M.W., Dettinger, M.D., (2004). A methodology to assess relations between climatic variability and variations in hydrologic time series in the southwestern United States. Journal of Hydrology 287, 252–269.Google Scholar
Higgins, R.W., Shi, W., Hain, C., (2004). Relationships between Gulf of California moisture surges and precipitation in the southwestern United States. Journal of Climate 17, 2983–2997.Google Scholar
House, P.K., Pearthree, P.A., Perkins, M.E., (2008). Stratigraphic evidence for the role of lake spillover in the inception of the lower Colorado River in southern Nevada and western Arizona. Reheis, M.C., Hershler, R., Miller, D.M., Late Cenozoic Drainage History of the Southwestern Great Basin and Lower Colorado River Region: Geologic and Biotic Perspectives 439, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 335–353.Google Scholar
Kirby, M.E., Poulsen, C.J., Lund, S.P., Patterson, W.P., Reidy, L., Hammond, D.E., (2004). Late Holocene lake level dynamics inferred from magnetic susceptibility and stable oxygen isotope data: Lake Elsinore, southern California (USA). Journal of Paleolimnology 31, 275–293.Google Scholar
Kirby, M.E., Lund, S.P., Anderson, M.A., Bird, B.W., (2007). Insolation forcing of Holocene climate change in southern California: a sediment study from Lake Elsinore. Journal of Paleolimnology 38, 395–417.Google Scholar
Koehler, P.A., Anderson, R.S., Spaulding, W.G., (2005). Development of vegetation in the central Mojave Desert of California during the late Quaternary. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 215, 297–311.Google Scholar
Larson, J., Zhou, Y., Higgins, R.W., (2005). Characteristics of landfalling tropical cyclones in the United States and Mexico: Climatology and interannual variability. Journal of Climate 18, 1247–1262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lashlee, D., Briuer, F., Murphy, W., McDonald, E.V., (2001). Geomorphic mapping enhances cultural resources management at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, USA. Arid Land Research and Management 16, 213–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Z., Kutzbach, J., Wu, L., (2000). Modeling climate shift of El Niño variability in the Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters 27, 2265–2268.Google Scholar
Machette, M.N., (1985). Calcic soils of the southwestern United States. Weide, D., Soils and Quaternary Geology of Southwestern United States 203, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 1–21.Google Scholar
Mahan, S.A., Miller, D.M., Menges, C.M., Yount, J.C., (2007). Late Quaternary stratigraphy and luminescence geochronology of the northeastern Mojave Desert. Quaternary International 166, 61–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malamud-Roam, F.P., Ingram, B.L., Hughes, M., Florsheim, J.L., (2006). Holocene paleoclimate records from a large California estuarine system and its watershed region: linking watershed climate and bay conditions. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 1570–1598.Google Scholar
Mantua, N.J., Hare, S.R., (2002). The Pacific decadal oscillation. Journal of Oceanography 58, 35–42.Google Scholar
Mayer, L., Pearthree, P.A., (2002). Mapping flood inundation in southwestern Arizona using Landsat TM Data: a method for rapid regional flood assessment following large storms. House, P.K., Webb, R.H., Baker, V.R., Levish, D.R., Ancient Floods, Modern Hazards; Principles and Applications of Paleoflood Hydrology, Water Science and Application No. 5. American Geophysical Union 61–76.Google Scholar
Mayewski, P.A., Rohling, E.E., Stager, J.C., Karlen, W., Maasch, K.A., Meeker, L.D., Meyerson, E.A., Gasse, F., van Kreveld, S., Holmgren, K., Lee-Thorp, J., Rosqvist, G., Rack, F., Staubwasser, M., Schneider, R.R., Steig, E.J., (2004). Holocene climate variability. Quaternary Research 62, 243–255.Google Scholar
McAuliffe, J.R., McDonald, E.V., (2006). Holocene environmental change and vegetation contraction in the Sonoran Desert. Quaternary Research 65, 204–215.Google Scholar
McAuliffe, J.R., Van Devender, T.R., (1998). A 22,000-year record of vegetation change in the north-central Sonoran Desert. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 141, 253–275.Google Scholar
McDonald, E.V., McFadden, L.D., Wells, S.G., (2003). Regional response of alluvial fans to the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition, Mojave Desert, California. Enzel, Y., Wells, S.G., Lancaster, N., Paleoenvironments and Paleohydrology of the Mojave and Southern Great Basin Deserts 368, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 189–205.Google Scholar
McFadden, L.D., Ritter, J.B., Wells, S.G., (1989). Use of multiparameter relative-age methods for age estimation and correlation of alluvial-fan surfaces on a desert piedmont, eastern Mojave Desert. California. Quaternary Research 32, 276–290.Google Scholar
McFadden, L.D., McDonald, E.V., Wells, S.G., Anderson, K., Quade, J., Forman, S.L., (1998). The vesicular layer and carbonate collars of desert soils and pavements: formation, age and relation to climate change. Geomorphology 24, 101–145.Google Scholar
Menking, K.M., Anderson, R.Y., (2003). Contributions of La Niña and El Niño to middle Holocene drought and late Holocene moisture in the American Southwest. Geology 31, 937–940.Google Scholar
Miller, D.M., Schmidt, K.M., Mahan, S.A., McGeehin, J.P., Owen, L.A., Barron, J.A., Lehmkuhl, F., (2010). Holocene landscape response to seasonality of storms in the Mojave Desert. Quaternary International 215, 45–61.Google Scholar
Moy, C.M., Seltzer, G.O., Rodbell, D.T., Anderson, D.M., (2002). Variability of El Niño/southern oscillation activity at millennial timescales during the Holocene epoch. Nature 420, 162–165.Google Scholar
Nederbragt, A.J., Thurow, J., (2005). Amplitude of ENSO cycles in the Santa Barbara Basin, off California, during the past 15000 years. Journal of Quaternary Science 20, 447–456.Google Scholar
Nichols, K.K., Bierman, P.R., Ross Foniri, W., Gillespie, A.R., Caffee, M., Finkel, R., (2006). Dates and rates of arid region geomorphic processes. GSA Today 16, 4–11.Google Scholar
NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration](2007). A history of significant weather events in southern California. Report prepared by the National Weather Service in San Diego 91.Google Scholar
Olmsted, F.H., (1972). Geologic map of the Laguna Dam 7.5-minute quadrangle, Arizona and California. U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle MapGQ-1014, 1:24,000.Google Scholar
Pearthree, A, Klawon, E., and Lehman, W., (2004). Geomorphology and hydrology of an alluvial fan flood on Tiger Wash. Maricopa and La Paz Counties, west-central Arizona, Arizona Geological Survey OFR-04-02, 40 p. 2 sheets on CD-ROM, scale 1:24,000.Google Scholar
Prez-Cruz, L., (2006). Climate and ocean variability during the middle and late Holocene recorded in laminated sediments from Alfonso Basin, Gulf of California, Mexico. Quaternary Research 65, 401–410.Google Scholar
Peterson, F., (1981). Landforms of the Basin and Range province. : defined for soil survey. Nevada agriculture experiment station, University of Nevada, Reno, Technical Bulletin 28, 52 p.Google Scholar
Pigati, J.S., Quade, J., Shahanan, T.M., Haynes, C.V., (2004). Radiocarbon dating of minute gastropods and new constraints on the timing of late Quaternary spring-discharge deposits in southern Arizona, USA. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 204, 33–45.Google Scholar
Redmond, K.T., Koch, R.W., (1991). Surface climate and streamflow variability in the Western United States and their relationship to large-scale circulation indexes. Water Resources Research 27, 2381–2399.Google Scholar
Redmond, K.T., Enzel, Y., House, P.K., Biondi, F., (2002). Climate variability and flood frequency at decadal to millennial time scales. House, P.K., Webb, R.H., Baker, V.R., Levish, D.R., Ancient Floods, Modern Hazards; Principles and Applications of Paleoflood Hydrology, Water Science and Application No. 5 American Geophysical Union, 21–45.Google Scholar
Reheis, M.C., Goodmacher, J.C., Harden, J.W., McFadden, L.D., Rockwell, T.K., Shroba, R.R., Sowers, J.M., Taylor, E.M., (1995). Quaternary soils and dust deposition in southern Nevada and California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 107, 1003–1022.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Bertrand, C.P., Blackwell, G., Buck, C.E., Burr, G., Cutler, K.B., Damon, P.E., Edwards, R.L., Fairbanks, R.G., Friedrich, M., Guilderson, T.P., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B.F., McCormac, G., Manning, S., Bronk Ramsey, C., Reimer, R.W., Remmele, S., Southon, J.R., Stuiver, M., Talamo, S., Taylor, F.W., van der Plicht, J., Weyhenmeyer, C.E., (2004). IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0-26 cal Kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46, 1029–1058.Google Scholar
Rhoades, J.D., (1996). Salinity: electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids. Sparks, D.L., Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 3: Chemical Methods, Monograph No. 5 American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI., 417–435.Google Scholar
Richard, M, Reynolds, J, Spencer, E., and Pearthree, A, comps., (2000). Geologic map of Arizona. : Arizona Geological Survey Map M-35, 1 sheet, scale: 1:1,000,000.Google Scholar
Ritter, J.B., Miller, J.R., Husek-Wulforst, J., (2000). Environmental controls on the evolution of alluvial fans in Buena Vista Valley, North Central Nevada, during late Quaternary time. Geomorphology 36, 63–87.Google 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-drivenalluviation in southwestern Ecuador. Science 283, 516–520.Google Scholar
Sandweiss, D.H., Maasch, K.A., Burger, R.L., Richardson, J.B., Rollins, H.B., Clement, A., (2001). Variation in Holocene El Niño frequencies: climate records and cultural consequences in ancient Peru. Geology 29, 603–606.Google Scholar
Schoeneberger, P.J., Wysocki, D.A., Benham, E.C., Broderson, W.D., (2002). Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, Version 2.0. Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, NE., .Google Scholar
Scuderi, A, Laudadio, K, Fawcett, J., Monitoring playa lake inundation in the western United States: Modern analogues to late-Holocene lake level change. Quaternary Research 73, 48–58.Google Scholar
Soil Survey Staff(1998). Keys to Soil Taxonomy. 8th ed USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.., 326.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P., (1993). Extended 14C databases and revised CALIB radiocarbon calibration program. Radiocarbon 28, 1022–1030.Google Scholar
Waters, M.R., (2008). Alluvial chronologies and archaeology of the Gila River drainage basin. Arizona. Geomorphology 101, 332–341.Google Scholar
Waters, M.R., Haynes, C.V., (2001). Late Quaternary arroyo formation and climate change in the American southwest. Geology 29, 399–402.Google Scholar
Wells, L.E., (1990). Holocene history of the El Niño phenomenon as recorded in flood sediments of northern coastal Peru. Geology 18, 1134–1137.Google Scholar
Wells, S.G., McFadden, L.D., Dohrenwend, J.C., (1987). Influence of late Quaternary climatic changes on geomorphic and pedogenic processes on a desert piedmont, eastern Mojave Desert. California. Quaternary Research 27, 130–146.Google Scholar
Wilshire, H.G., Reneau, S.L., (1992). Geomorphic surfaces and underlying deposits of the Mojave Mountains Piedmont, Lower Colorado River, Arizona. Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie 36, 207–226.Google Scholar
WRRC [Western Regional Climate Center](2009). Historical precipitation information.http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/CLIMATEDATA.html.Google Scholar