Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T11:07:41.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Patterns of Holocene Environmental Change in the Midwestern United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Richard G. Baker ,
Louis J. Maher ,
Craig A. Chumbley  and
Kent L. Van Zant
Richard G. Baker
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Botany, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
Louis J. Maher
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Craig A. Chumbley
Affiliation:
New York State Museum, Biological Survey, The State Education Department, Albany, New York 12230
Kent L. Van Zant
Affiliation:
Amoco Production Company, Room 2419 Amoco Building, 1670 Broadway, Denver, Colorado 80202
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Four pollen sequences along a transect from north-central Iowa to southeast Wisconsin reveal the distribution of prairie and forest during the Holocene and test the use of pollen isopolls in locating the Holocene prairie-forest border. Prairie was dominant in central Iowa and climate was drier than present from about 8000 to 3000 yr B.P. During the driest part of this period in central Iowa (6500-5500 yr B.P.), mesic forest prevailed in eastern Iowa and Wisconsin, suggesting conditions wetter than at present. Prairie replaced the mesic forest about 5400 yr B.P. in eastern Iowa but did not extend much farther east; mesic forests were replaced in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois about 5400 yr B.P. by xeric oak forests. This change from mesic to xeric conditions at 5400 yr B.P. was widespread and suggests that the intrusion of drier Pacific air was blocked by maritime tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico until the late Holocene in this area.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , May 1992 , pp. 379 - 389
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

Baker, R.G. Chumbley, C.A. Witinok, P.M. Kim, H.K., (1990). Holocene vegetational changes in eastern Iowa Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science 97, 167–177 Google Scholar
Bartlein, P.J. Webb, T. III Fleri, E., (1984). Holocene climatic change in the northern Midwest: Pollen-derived estimates Quaternary Research 22, 361–374 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernabo, J.C. Webb, T. III (1977). Changing patterns in the Holocene pollen record from northeastern North America: a mapped summary Quaternary Research 8, 64–96 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borchert, J.R., (1950). The climate of the central North American grassland Association of American Geographers Annals 40, 1–29 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, J.A. Vierra, R.K., (1983). What happened in the Middle Archaic? Introduction to an ecological approach to Koster Site Archaeology Phillips, J.L. Brown, J.A. Archaic Hunters and Gatherers in the American Midwest Academic Press New York 165–188 Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A., (1966). Air Masses, streamlines, and the boreal forest Geographical Bulletin 8, 228–269 Google Scholar
Chumbley, C.A., (1988). Late glacial and Holocene vegetation Green, W. Archaeological and Paleoenvironmental Studies in the Turkey River Valley, Northeast Iowa Research Papers 13 Office of the State Archaeologist Iowa City, IA 74–109 Google Scholar
Chumbley, C.A., (1989). Late-glacial and Holocene Vegetation of the Roberts Creek Basin, Northeast Iowa Ph.D. dissertation University of Iowa Google Scholar
Chumbley, C.A. Baker, R.G. Bettis, E.A. III (1990). Midwestern Holocene paleoenvironments revealed by floodplain deposits in northeastern Iowa Science 249, 272–274 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Esarey, D., (1987). The Town Branch Sites: Archaic encampments on the Bushnell Prairie of west central Illinois The Wisconsin Archeologist 68, 109–124 Google Scholar
Faegri, K. Kaland, P.E. Krzywinski, K., (1989). Textbook of Pollen Analysis Wiley New York Google Scholar
Holloway, R.G. Bryant, V.M. Jr. Late-Quaternary pollen records and vegetational history of the Great Lakes Region: United States and Canada Bryant, V.M. Jr. Holloway, R.G., (1985). Pollen Records of Late-Quaternary North American Sediments American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation Dallas, TX 205–245 Google Scholar
Kim, H.K., (1986). Late-Glacial and Holocene Environment in Central Iowa: Comparative Study of Pollen from Four Sites Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation University of Iowa Google Scholar
King, J.E., (1981). Late Quaternary vegetation history of Illinois Ecological Monographs 51, 43–62 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knox, J.C., (1985). Responses of floods to Holocene climatic change in the Upper Mississippi Valley Quaternary Research 23, 287–300 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, L.J., (1982). The palynology of Devils Lake, Sauk County, Wisconsin Quaternary History of the Driftless Area Field Trip Guide Book No. 5 University of Wisconsin Extension, Geological and Natural History Survey Madison, WI 119–135 Google Scholar
McAndrews, J.H., (1966). Postglacial history of prairie, savanna, and forest in northwestern Minnesota Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club 22, 1–72 Google Scholar
Ogden, J.G. III (1966). Forest History of Ohio. I. Radiocarbon dates and pollen stratigraphy of Silver Lake, Logan County, Ohio The Ohio Journal of Science 66, 387–400 Google Scholar
Schweger, C.E., (1969). Pollen analysis of Iola Bog and paleoecology of the Two Creeks Forest Bed, Wisconsin Ecology 50, 859–868 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoltman, J.B. Barreis, D.A., (1983). The Evolution of Human Ecosystems in the Eastern United States Wright, H.E. Jr. Late Quaternary Environments of the United States Vol. 2, University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis, MN 252–268 The Holocene Google Scholar
Transeau, E.N., (1935). The Prairie Peninsula Ecology 16, 423–437 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Zant, K.L., (1979). Late-glacial and postglacial pollen and plant macrofossils from Lake West Okoboji, northwestern Iowa Quaternary Research 12, 358–380 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, W.A. Bright, R.C., (1968). Pollen, seed, and Mollusk analysis of a sediment core from Pickerel Lake, Northeastern South Dakota Geological Society of America Bulletin 79, 355–876 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, W.A. Winter, T.C., (1966). Plant macrofossils from Kirchner Marsh, Minnesota—A paleoecological study Geological Society of America Bulletin 77, 1339–1360 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, S.L., (1987). Beech range extension and vegetation history: Pollen stratigraphy of two Wisconsin bog sites Ecology 68, 1993–2005 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, T. III Cushing, E.J. Wright, H.E. Jr. Holocene changes in vegetation of the Midwest Wright, H.E. Jr. (1983). Late Quaternary Environments of the United States Vol. 2, University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis, MN 142–165 The Holocene Google Scholar
West, R.G., (1961). Late- and postglacial vegetational history in Wisconsin, particularly changes associated with the Valders readvance American Journal of Science 259, 766–783 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, A.S., (1974). Late-Glacial-Postglacial Vegetational History of the Pretty lake Region, Northeastern Indiana U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 686-B Google Scholar
Winkler, M.G., (1988). Effect of climate on development of two Sphagnum bogs in south-central Wisconsin Ecology 69, 1032–1043 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winkler, M.G. Swain, A.M. Kutzbach, J.E., (1986). Middle Holocene dry period in the northern midwestern United States: Lake levels and pollen stratigraphy Quaternary Research 25, 235–250 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, (1965). Early Vegetation of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr. History of the Prairie Peninsula Bergstrom, R.E., (1968). The Quaternary of Illinois University of Illinois, College of Agriculture Special Publication 14 78–88 Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Winter, T.C. Patten, H.L., (1963). Two pollen diagrams from southeastern Minnesota: problems in the regional late-glacial and postglacial vegetational history Geological Society of America Bulletin 74, 1371–1396 CrossRefGoogle Scholar