Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T23:48:11.795Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quaternary Vegetation History of the Mississippi Embayment1,2

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Paul A. Delcourt ,
Hazel R. Delcourt ,
Ronald C. Brister  and
Laurence E. Lackey
Paul A. Delcourt
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 Limnological Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Hazel R. Delcourt
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Behavioral Biology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 Limnological Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Ronald C. Brister
Affiliation:
Curator of Collections, Memphis Pink Palace Museum, 3050 Central Avenue, Memphis, Tennesse´e 38111
Laurence E. Lackey
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Memphis State University, Memphis, Tennessee 38152
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Nonconnah Creek, located in the loess-mantled Blufflands along the eastern wall of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley in Tennessee displays a sedimentary sequence representing the Altonian Substage through the Woodfordian Substage of the Wisconsinan Stage. The site has a biostratigraphic record for the Altonian and Farmdalian Substages that documents warm-temperate upland oak-pine forest, prairie, and bottomland forest. At 23,000 yr B.P., white spruce and larch migrated into the Nonconnah Creek watershed and along braided-stream surfaces in the Mississippi Valley as far as southeastern Louisiana. The pollen and plant-macrofossil record from Nonconnah Creek provides the first documentation of a full-glacial locality in eastern North America for beech, yellow poplar, oak, history, black walnut, and other mesic deciduous forest taxa. During the full and late glacial, the Mississippi Valley was a barrier to the migration of pine species, while the adjacent Blufflands provided a refuge for mesic deciduous forest taxa. Regional climatic amelioration, beginning about 16,500 yr B.P., is reflected by increases in pollen percentages of cooltemperate deciduous trees at Nonconnah Creek. The demise of spruce and jack pine occurred 12,500 yr B.P. between 34° and 37° N in eastern North America in response to postglacial warming.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 1980 , pp. 111 - 132
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.)

Footnotes

1

Contribution No. 11, Program for Quaternary Studies of the Southeastern United States, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn. 37916.

2

Contribution No. 196, Limnological Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 55455.

References

Baskin, C.C. Baskin, J.M., (1975). Additions to the herbaceous flora of the Middle Tennessee Cedar Glades. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science. 50 25–26 Google Scholar
Baskin, J.M. Quarterman, E. Caudle, C., (1968). Preliminary check-list of the herbaceous vascular plants of cedar glades. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science. 43 65–71 Google Scholar
Benninghoff, W.S., (1954). Taiga and physical factors of the subarctic environment. VIII. Congress International de Botanique. Paris, 1954 C.R. des Seances et Rapports et Communications: Section 7. 141–142 Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B., (1976). Late-Wisconsinan vegetational history at Wolf Creek, central Minnesota. Ecological Monographs. 46 395–429 Google Scholar
Braun, E.L., (1950). Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America. Hafner Press Macmillan, New York reprinted 1974 Google Scholar
Brown, C.A., (1938). The flora of Pleistocene deposits in the western Florida Parishes, West Feliciana Parish, and East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Louisiana Department of Conservation Geological Survey Bulletin. 12 59–96 Google Scholar
Brown, C.A., (1938). The flora of Pleistocene deposits in the western Florida Parishes, West Feliciana Parish, and East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Louisiana Department of Conservation Geological Survey Bulletin. 12 121–129 Google Scholar
Bryant, V.M. Jr. (1977). A 16,000 year pollen record of vegetational change in Central Texas. Palynology. 1 143–156 Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A., (1966). Airmasses, streamlines, and the Boreal forest. Geographical Bulletin. 8 228–269 Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A. Wendland, W.M., (1967). Tentative climatic patterns for some late-glacial and postglacial episodes in central North America. Oakes, W.J. Life, Land and Water: Proceedings of the 1966 Conference on Environmental Studies of the Glacial Lake Agassiz Region. Univ. of Manitoba Press Winnipeg 271–298 Google Scholar
Buntley, G.J. Daniels, R.B. Gamble, E.E. Brown, W.T., (1977). Fragipan Horizons in Soils of the Memphis-Loring-Grenada Sequence in West Tennessee. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 42 400–407 Google Scholar
Burke, M.J. George, M.F. Bryant, R.G., (1975). Water in plant tissues and frost hardiness. Duckworth, R.B. Water Relations of Foods. Academic Press New York 111–135 Google Scholar
Burke, M.J. Gusta, L.V. Quamme, H.A. Weiser, G.J. Li, P.H., (1976). Freezing and injury in plants. Annual Review of Plant Physiology. 27 506–528 Google Scholar
Currier, P.J. Kapp, R.O., (1974). Local and regional pollen rain components at Davis Lake Montcalm County, Michigan. Michigan Academician. 7 211–225 Google Scholar
Cushing, E.J., (1967). Evidence for differential pollen preservation in late Quaternary sediments in Minnesota. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology. 4 87–101 Google Scholar
Cushing, E.J., (1977). Generalized procedure for preparing sediment for pollen analysis. unpublished manuscript Google Scholar
Daubenmire, R., (1974). Taxonomic and ecologic relationships between Picea glauca and Picea engelmannii . Canadian Journal of Botany. 52 1545–1560 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, W.E. Jr. (1974). Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: Comparison with other methods. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 44 242–248 Google Scholar
Delcourt, H.R. Delcourt, P.A., (1975). The Blufflands: Pleistocene pathway into the Tunica Hills. American Midland Naturalist. 94 385–400 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delcourt, P.A. Delcourt, H.R., (1977). The Tunica Hills, Louisiana-Mississippi: Late glacial locality for spruce and deciduous forest species. Quaternary Research. 7 218–237 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delcourt, H.R., (1978). Late Quaternary Vegetation History of the Eastern Highland Rim and Adjacent Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee. Ph.D. dissertation. Univ. of Minnesota Minneapolis Google Scholar
Delcourt, P.A., (1978). Quaternary Vegetation History of the Gulf Coastal Plain. Ph.D. dissertation. Univ. of Minnesota Minneapolis Google Scholar
Delcourt, H.R., (1979). Late Quarternary vegetation history of the Eastern Highland Rim and adjacent Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee. Ecological Monographs. in press Google Scholar
Delcourt, P.A. Davis, O.K. Bright, R.C., (1979). Bibliography of taxonomic literature for the identification of fruits, seeds, and vegetative plant fragments. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. TM-6818 1–84 (Compilers) Google Scholar
Delcourt, P.A. Delcourt, H.R., (1979). Late Pleistocene and Holocene distributional history of the Deciduous Forest in the Southeastern United States. Vero¨ffentlichungen des Geobotanischen Institutes der ETH. Stiftung Ru¨bel (Zu¨rich). 68 in press Google Scholar
Dickson, R.R., (1960). The Climate of Tennessee. Climates of the States. Volume 1 Water Information Center, Inc. Water Resources Building, Manhasset Island, Port Washington, N.Y. Eastern States plus Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1974 Google Scholar
Dreimanis, A. Karrow, P.F., (1972). Glacial history of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region, the classification of the Wisconsin(an) Stage, and its correlatives. International Geological Congress, Section 12: Quaternary Geology. 5–15 Google Scholar
Dreimanis, A., (1977). Late Wisconsin glacial retreat in the Great Lakes region, North America. Annals of the New York Academy of Science. 288 70–89 Google Scholar
Faegri, K. Iversen, J., (1975). Textbook of Pollen Analysis. Hafner Press MacMillan, New York Google Scholar
Fassett, N.C., (1957). A Manual of Aquatic Plants. Univ. of Wisconsin Press Madison (Revised by E. C. Ogden) Google Scholar
Gleason, H.A. Cronquist, A., (1963). Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Van Nostrand Princeton, New Jersey Google Scholar
Graham, A. Heimsch, C., (1960). Pollen studies of some Texas peat deposits. Ecology. 41 785–790 Google Scholar
Gru¨ger, E., (1972). Late Quaternary vegetation development in south-central Illinois. Quaternary Research. 2 217–231 Google Scholar
Gru¨ger, E., (1972). Pollen and seed studies of Wisconsinan vegetation in Illinois, U.S.A.. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 83 2715–2734 Google Scholar
Gru¨ger, J., (1973). Studies on the late Quaternary vegetation history of northeastern Kansas. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 84 239–250 Google Scholar
Harper, R.M., (1914). Phytogeographical notes on the Coastal Plain of Arkansas. Plant World. 17 36–48 Google Scholar
Harper, R.M., (1917). Some undescribed prairies in northeastern Arkansas. Plant World. 20 58–61 Google Scholar
Hills, L.V. Ogilvie, R.T., (1970). Picea banksii n. sp. Beaufort Formation (Tertiary), northwestern Banks Island, Arctic Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany. 48 457–464 Google Scholar
Kennett, J.P. Shackleton, N.J., (1975). Laurentide Ice Sheet meltwater recorded in Gulf of Mexico deep-sea cores. Science. 188 147–150 Google Scholar
King, J.E., (1973). late Pleistocene palynology and biogeography of the Western Missouri Ozarks. Ecological Monographs. 43 539–565 Google Scholar
King, J.E., (1978). New evidence on the history of the St. Francis Sunk Lands, northeastern Arkansas. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 89 1719–1722 Google Scholar
King, J.E. Allen, W.H. Jr. (1977). A Holocene vegetation record from the Mississippi River Valley southeastern Missouri. Quaternary Research. 8 307–323 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, J.E. Lindsay, E.H., (1976). Late Quaternary biotic records from spring deposits in Western Missouri. Wood, W.R. McMillan, R.B. Prehistoric Man and His Environments, a Case Study in the Ozark Highland. Academic Press New York 63–78 Google Scholar
Larson, D.A. Bryant, V.M. Patty, T.S., (1972). Pollen analysis of a Central Texas bog. American Midland Naturalist. 88 358–367 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, L.J. Jr. (1977). The Confidence Limit Is a Necessary Statistic for Relative and Absolute Pollen Data. Proceedings 4th International Palynological Conference. Lucknow, India Google Scholar
Moran, J.M., (1976). Glacial Maximum Tundra: A Bioclimatic Anomaly. 1–17 Occasional Publications of the Department of Geography, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Paper No. 10 Google Scholar
Muenscher, W.C., (1944). Aquatic Plants of the United States. Comstock Associates, Cornell Univ. Press Ithaca, New York Google Scholar
Oldfield, F. Schoenwetter, J., (1975). Discussions of the pollen analytical evidence. Wendorf, F. Hester, J.J. Late Pleistocene Environments of the Southern High Plains. Fort Burgwin Research Center, Inc. Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico 149–177 Google Scholar
Parks, W.S. Lounsburg, R.W., (1975). Field Trip 2, Environmental Geology of Memphis, Tennessee. 35–63 Tennessee Division of Geology Report Investigations No. 36 Google Scholar
Potzer, J.E. Tharp, B.C., (1954). Pollen study of two bogs in Texas. Ecology. 35 462–466 Google Scholar
Prest, V.K., (1970). Quaternary geology of Canada. Geologic and Economic Minerals of Canada. Fifth ed. Economic Geology Report No. 1. Department of Energy, Mines, and Resources Ottawa, Canada 676–764 Google Scholar
Sargent, C.S., (1884). Report on the Forests of North America, Exclusive of Mexico. Vol. 9 Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Saucier, R.T. Fleetwood, A.R., (1970). Origin and chronologic significance of late Quaternary terraces, Ouachita River, Arkansas and Louisiana. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 81 869–890 Google Scholar
Saucier, R.T., (1974). Quaternary Geology of the Lower Mississippi Valley. Arkansas Archeological Survey 1–26 Publication of the Archeological Research Series No. 6 Google Scholar
Saucier, R.T., (1978). Sand dunes and related eolian features of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Geoscience and Man. 19 23–40 Google Scholar
Shane, L.C.K., (1976). Late-Glacial and Postglacial Palynology and Chronology of Darke County, West-central Ohio. Ph.D. dissertation. Kent State University Kent, Ohio Google Scholar
Snowden, J.O. Jr. Priddy, R.R., (1968). Geology of Mississippi loess. Loess Investigations in Mississippi. Mississippi Geologic, Economic, and Topographic Survey Bulletin. Vol.111 12–203 Google Scholar
Tauber, H., (1977). Investigations of aerial pollen transport in a forested area. Dansk Botanisk Arkiv. 32 1–121 Google Scholar
U.S. Soil Conservation Service (1968). Flood Plain Information Report, Nonconnah Creek, Shelby County, Tennessee. U.S. Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
U.S. Soil Conservation Service (1971). Hatchie River Basin Survey Report, Tennessee and Mississippi. U.S. Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Van Zant, K.L., (1976). Late-and Postglacial Vegetational History of Northern Iowa. Ph. D. dissertation. University of Iowa Iowa City Google Scholar
Watts, W.A. Wright, H.E. Jr. (1966). Late-Wisconsin pollen and seed analysis from the Nebraska sandhills. Ecology. 47 202–210 Google 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. 79 855–876 Google Scholar
Wendorf, F., (1975). Summary and conclusions. Wendorf, F. Hester, J.J. Late Pleistocene Environment of the Southern High Plains. Fort Burgwin Research Center, Inc. Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico 257–277 Google Scholar
Willman, H.G. Frye, J.C., (1970). Pleistocene stratigraphy of Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin. 94 1–204 Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr. Quaternary history of Minnesota. Sims, P.K. Morey, G.B., (1972). Geology of Minnesota: A Centennial Volume in Honor of George M. Schwartz. Minnesota Geological Survey, University of Minnesota St. Paul, Minnesota 515–547 Google Scholar