Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2xdlg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-01T21:42:15.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stratigraphy of the Colorado Creek Mammoth Locality, Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert M. Thorson  and
R. Dale Guthrie
Robert M. Thorson
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA
R. Dale Guthrie
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Colorado Creek mammoth locality in west-central Alaska contains the remains of two mammoths that were scavenged by carnivores. Sedimentologic interpretations of the reworked eolian deposits surrounding the bones, supplemented by 10 radiocarbon dates, indicate that the lower and upper mammoths died and were buried within separate, but superimposed, thaw gullies about 23,000 and 16,000 yr ago, respectively. From our results, we propose a polycyclic taphonomic model for thaw gullies governed largely by slope aspect, rather than regional climate, and in which mixing between faunal horizons is more likely than not. Variations in the rate of silt influx and the position of the permafrost table provide a paleoclimatic proxy record that can be correlated to other records in eastern Beringia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , March 1992 , pp. 214 - 228
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

Ager, T.A., (1983). Holocene vegetational history of Alaska Wright, H.E. Jr. Late-Quaternary Environments of the United States Volume 2, Univ. Minnesota Press Minneapolis 128–141 The Holocene Google Scholar
Ager, T.A. Brubaker, L., (1985). Quaternary palynology and vegetational history of Alaska Bryant, V. Holloway, R. Pollen Records of Late Quaternary North American Sediments American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation Dallas 353–384 Google Scholar
Anderson, P.M., (1988). Late Quaternary pollen records from the Kobuk and Noatak River drainages, northwestern Alaska Quaternary Research 29, 263–276 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnosky, C.W. Anderson, P.M. Bartlein, P.J., (1987). The northwestern U.S. during deglaciation: Vegetational history and paleoclimatic implications Ruddiman, W.F. Wright, H.E. Jr. North America and Adjacent Oceans during the Last Deglaciation Volume K3, Geological Society of America DNAG Boulder, CO 289–322 Google Scholar
Béget, J.E. Hawkins, D.B., (1989). Influence of orbital parameters on Pleistocene loess deposition in central Alaska Nature 337, 151–153 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, G.W., (1978). Long-term variations of caloric insolation resulting from the Earth's orbital elements Quaternary Research 9, 139–167 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Betts, R.C., (1985). Excavation of late Pleistocene mammoth remains at Colorado Creek, Alaska University of Alaska Mineral Industry Research Laboratory Report Number 69 46–54 Google Scholar
Black, R.F., (1976). Periglacial features indicative of permafrost: Ice and soil wedges Quaternary Research 6, 3–26 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cady, W.M. Wallace, R.E. Hoare, J.M. Webber, E.J., (1955). The Central Kuskokwim Region, Alaska U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 268 Google Scholar
Calkin, P.E., (1988). Holocene glaciation of Alaska (and adjoining Yukon Territory, Canada) Quaternary Science Reviews 7, 159–184 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlain, E.J., (1981). Frost Susceptibility of Soil Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Monograph 81-2 Google Scholar
Cwynar, L.C. Ritchie, J.C., (1980). Arctic steppe-tundra—A Yukon perspective Science 208, 1375–1377 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guthrie, R.D., (1985). Woolly arguments against the mammoth steppe—A new look at the palynological data Quarterly Review of Archaeology 6, 9–16 Google Scholar
Hamilton, T.D. Ager, T.A. Robinson, S.W., (1983). Late Holocene ice wedges near Fairbanks, Alaska, U.S.A.—Environmental setting and history of growth Arctic and Alpine Research 15, 157–168 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, T.D. Craig, J.L. Sellmann, P.V., (1988). The Fox permafrost tunnel: A late Quaternary geologic record in central Alaska Geological Society of America Bulletin 100, 948–969 2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, T. D. and Fulton, R. J. (in press). Middle and late Wisconsin environments of eastern Beringia. In “Ice-Age Peoples of North America” (Bonnichsen, R. Frison, G. C., and Turnmire, K., Eds.). Texas A&M Univ. Press, College Station, TX.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J. Heusser, L.E. Peteet, D.M., (1985). Late-Quaternary climatic change on the American North Pacific coast Nature 315, 6019 485–487 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, D.M., (1982). Aspects of the paleogeography of Beringia during the late Pleistocene Hopkins, D.M. Matthews, J.V. Jr. Schweger, C.E. Young, S.B. Paleoecology of Beringia Academic Press New York 3–28 Google Scholar
Kline, J.R. Bundtzen, T.K., (1986). Two glacial records from west central Alaska Hamilton, T.D. Reed, K.M. Thorson, R.M. Glaciation in Alaska-The Geologic Record Alaska Geological Society Anchorage 123–150 Google Scholar
Lawson, D.E., (1983). Erosion of Perennially Frozen Streambanks U.S. Army Engineer District, Alaska, CREEL Report 83-29 Google Scholar
Lawson, D.E., (1986). Response of permafrost terrain to disturbance; A synthesis of observations from northern Alaska, U.S.A. Arctic and Alpine Research 18, 1–17 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lea, P.D. Waythomas, C.F., (1990). Late-Pleistocene eolian sand sheets in Alaska Quaternary Research 34, 269–281 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, J.V. Jr. (1974). Wisconsin environment of interior Alaska: Pollen and macrofossil analysis of a 27 meter core from the Isabella Basin (Fairbanks, Alaska) Canadian Journal of Earth Science 11, 828–841 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, J.V. Jr. Schweger, C.E. Hughes, O.L., (1989). Climatic change in eastern Beringia during oxygen isotope stages 2 and 3—Proposed thermal events Carter, L.D. Hamilton, T.D. Galloway, J.P. Late Cenozoic history of the interior basins of Alaska and the Yukon U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1026 27–29 Google Scholar
McCulloch, David Hopkins, D.M., (1966). Evidence for an early Recent warm interval in north-western Alaska Geological Society of America Bulletin 77, 1089–1108 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mucher, H.J. De Ploey, J. Savat, J., (1981). Response of loess materials to simulated translocation by water: Micromorphological observations Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 6, 331–336 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, R.E. Carter, L.D. Robinson, S.W., (1988). Anomalous radiocarbon ages from a Holocene detrital organic lens in Alaska and their implications for radiocarbon dating and paleoenvironmental reconstructions in the Arctic Quaternary Research 29, 66–71 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Péwé, T.L., (1955). Origin of the upland silt near Fairbanks, Alaska Geological Society of America Bulletin 67, 699–724 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Péwé, T.L., (1975). Quaternary Stratigraphic Nomenclature in Unglaciated Central Alaska U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 862 Google Scholar
Rieger, Samuel Shoephorster, D.B. Furbush, C.E., (1979). Exploratory Soil Survey of Alaska U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, DC Google Scholar