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50,000 years of vegetation and climate history on the Colorado Plateau, Utah and Arizona, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Larry L. Coats ,
Kenneth L. Cole  and
Jim I. Mead
Larry L. Coats*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA
Kenneth L. Cole
Affiliation:
USGS Southwest Biological Science Center, Colorado Plateau Research Station, P.O. Box 5614, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011, USA
Jim I. Mead
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Quaternary Paleontology, Center for Environmental Sciences and Education, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011, USA Department of Geology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Fax +1 801 581 8219. E-mail address:larry.coats@geog.utah.edu (L.L. Coats).
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Abstract

Sixty packrat middens were collected in Canyonlands and Grand Canyon National Parks, and these series include sites north of areas that produced previous detailed series from the Colorado Plateau. The exceptionally long time series obtained from each of three sites (> 48,000 14C yr BP to present) include some of the oldest middens yet discovered. Most middens contain a typical late-Wisconsinan glaciation mixture of mesic and xeric taxa, evidence that plant species responded to climate change by range adjustments of elevational distribution based on individual criteria. Differences in elevational range from today for trees and shrubs ranged from no apparent change to as much as 1200 m difference. The oldest middens from Canyonlands NP, however, differ in containing strictly xeric assemblages, including middens incorporating needles of Arizona single-leaf pinyon, far north of its current distribution. Similar-aged middens from the eastern end of Grand Canyon NP contain plants more typical of glacial climates, but also contain fossils of one-seed juniper near its current northern limit in Arizona. Holocene middens reveal the development of modern vegetation assemblages on the Colorado Plateau, recording departures of mesic taxa from low elevation sites, and the arrival of modern dominant components much later.

Keywords

Packrat middensColorado PlateauPaleoecologyPaleoclimateMonsoonMiddle WisconsinanPleistoceneHoloceneCanyonlands National ParkGrand Canyon National Park
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 70 , Issue 2 , September 2008 , pp. 322 - 338
Copyright
University of Washington

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