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Pollen Analysis of Some Mid-Pleistocene Interglacial Lagoonal Sediments from Southern Delaware1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Rudy J. Nickmann  and
James M. Demarest II
Rudy J. Nickmann
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
James M. Demarest II
Affiliation:
Stratigraphic Exploration Division, Exxon Production Research Company, P.O. Box 2189, Houston, Texas 77001
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Abstract

Results of pollen analysis on lagoonal sediments from southern Delaware, dated at 500,000–1,000,000 yr B.P. by amino acid racemization, are presented. Three pollen zones are identified in sediments that were deposited during the final stage of an interglacial cycle. A closed forest of mixed conifer-deciduous trees dominated by Tsuga, Pinus, Fagus, Liquidambar, and Quercus is recorded in the basal zone (Zone I). The inferred climate at this time was temperate and moist. A probable lowering of sea level during the deposition of Zone II exposed large areas in the surrounding estuaries and tidal flats which were colonized by marsh and bog plant taxa. Zone III is characterized by Pinus, Quercus, and Picea pollen. A scrub oak-pine association may have been favored on the coarse sandy soils of the Delmarva Peninsula at this time because of a drop in the local water table. The inferred climate during this interval was colder and probably drier than in Zone I.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , January 1982 , pp. 93 - 104
Copyright
University of Washington

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Footnotes

1

Contribution No. 82-1 Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195.

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