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Science 20 July 1990:
Vol. 249. no. 4966, pp. 272 - 274
DOI: 10.1126/science.249.4966.272
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Articles

Midwestern Holocene Paleoenvironments Revealed by Floodplain Deposits in Northeastern Iowa

C. A. Chumbley 1, R. G. Baker 2, and E. A. Bettis III 3

1 Department of Botany, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242
2 Departments of Geology and Botany, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242
3 Iowa Department of Natural Resources-Geologial Survey Bureau, Iowa City, IA 52242

Pollen analysis of pond deposits in the upper reaches of a stream from northeastern Iowa, an area beyond the last glacial margin, provides a nearly complete record of vegetational changes during the last 12.5 thousand years. Sixty-one radiocarbon dates provide good chronological control. Spruce forest was replaced by deciduous forest before 9.1 thousand years ago, followed by prairie from 5.4 to 3.5 thousand years ago, and oak savanna from 3.5 thousand years ago until presettlement times. The prairie invasion was nearly 3 thousand years later here than at other sites in Iowa and Minnesota, documenting a late Holocene, rather than an early-middle Holocene, period of maximum warmth and dryness for the southern part of the upper Midwest.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Speleothem evidence for Holocene fluctuations of the prairie-forest ecotone, north-central USA.
R. F. Denniston, R. F. Denniston, L. A. Gonzalez, R. G. Baker, Y. Asmerom, M. K. Reagan, R. L. Edwards, and E. C. Alexander (1999)
The Holocene 9, 671-676
   Abstract »    PDF »
Late Glacial Climate Record of Midwestern United States from the Hydrogen Isotope Ratio of Lake Organic Matter.
R. V. Krishnamurthy, R. V. Krishnamurthy, K. A. Syrup, M. Baskaran, and A. Long (1995)
Science 269, 1565-1567
   Abstract »    PDF »
Impact of Euro-American settlement on a riparian landscape in northeast Iowa, midwestem USA: an integrated approach based on historical evidence, floodplain sediments, fossil pollen, plant macrofossils and insects.
R. G. Baker, R.G. Baker, D.P. Schwert, E.A. Bettis, and C.A. Chumbley (1993)
The Holocene 3, 314-323
   Abstract »    PDF »
A groundwater model to explain past lake levels at Parkers Prairie, Minnesota, USA.
J. E. Almendinger (1993)
The Holocene 3, 105-115
   Abstract »    PDF »
A High-Resolution Record of Holocene Climate Change in Speleothem Calcite from Cold Water Cave, Northeast Iowa.
J. A. Dorale, J. A. Dorale, L. A. Gonzalez, M. K. Reagan, D. A. Pickett, M. T. Murrell, and R. G. Baker (1992)
Science 258, 1626-1630
   Abstract »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)