Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-9q27g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T07:24:28.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pollen Taphonomy in a Canyon Stream

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Patricia L. Fall
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Surface soil samples from the forested Chuska Mountains to the arid steppe of the Chinle Valley, Northeastern Arizona, show close correlation between modern pollen rain and vegetation. In contrast, modern alluvium is dominated by Pinus pollen throughout the canyon; it reflects neither the surrounding floodplain nor plateau vegetation. Pollen in surface soils is deposited by wind; pollen grains in alluvium are deposited by a stream as sedimentary particles. Clay-size particles correlate significantly with Pinus, Quercus, and Populus pollen. These pollen types settle, as clay does, in slack water. Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthus, Artemisia, other Tubuliflorae, and indeterminate pollen types correlate with sand-size particles, and are deposited by more turbulent water. Fluctuating pollen frequencies in alluvial deposits are related to sedimentology and do not reflect the local or regional vegetation where the sediments were deposited. Alluvial pollen is unreliable for reconstruction of paleoenvironments.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , November 1987 , pp. 393 - 406
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

Adam, D.P. Mehringer, P.J. Jr. Modern pollen surface samples: An analysis of subsamples. Journal of Research of the United States Geological Survey 3 1975 733 736 Google Scholar
Brown, D.E. Lowe, C.H. Biotic Communities of the Southwest 1980 Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station United States Department of Agriculture General Technical Report RM-78 Google Scholar
Brush, G.S. Brush, L.M. Jr. Transport of pollen in a sediment-laden channel: A laboratory study. American Journal of Science 272 1972 359 381 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canfield, R. Application of the line intercept method in sampling range vegetation. Journal of Forestry 39 1941 388 394 Google Scholar
Cross, A.T. Thompson, G.G. Zaitzeff, J.B. Source and distribution of palynomorphs in bottom sediments, south part of the Gulf of California. Marine Geology 4 1966 467 524 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damon, P.E. Ferguson, C.W. Long, A. Wallick, E.I. Dendrochronologic calibration of the radiocarbon time scale. American Antiquity 39 1974 350 366 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faegri, K. Iversen, J. 3rd ed. Textbook of Pollen Analysis 1975 Hafner New York Google Scholar
Folk, R.L. Petrology of Sedimentary Rocks 1974 Hemphill Austin Google Scholar
Hall, S.A. Late Quaternary sedimentation and paleoecologic history of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 88 1977 1593 1618 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, B.S. Cushing, E.J. Identification of pine pollen of late Quaternary age from the Chuska Mountains, New Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 84 1973 1181 1200 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, A. Rippeteau, B. Testing contemporaneity and averaging radiocarbon dates. american Antiquity 39 1974 205 215 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, L.J. Jr. Nomograms for computing 0.95 confidence limits of pollen data. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 13 1972 85 93 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, P.S. The Last 10,000 Years 1963 Univ. of Arizona Press Tucson Google Scholar
Mehringer, P.J. Jr. Pollen analysis of the Tule Springs area, Nevada. Nevada State Museum Anthropological Papers 13 1967 129 200 Google Scholar
Mehringer, P.J. Jr. Martin, P.S. Haynes, C.V. Jr. Murray Springs, a mid-postglacial pollen record from southern Arizona. American Journal of Science 265 1967 786 797 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosimann, J.E. Statistical methods for the pollen analyst: Multinomial and negative multinomial techniques Kummel, B. Raup, D. Handbook of Paleontological Techniques 1965 Freeman San Francisco 636 674 Google Scholar
Sangster, A.G. Dale, H.M. A preliminary study of differential pollen grain preservation. Canadian Journal of Botany 39 1961 35 43 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, P. Pollen analysis as an aid in dating cultural deposits in the United States MacCurdy, G.G. Early Man 1937 Lippincott London 61 66 Google Scholar
Sellers, W.D. Hill, R.H. Arizona Climate 1931–1972 1974 Univ. of Arizona Press Tucson Google Scholar
Siegal, S. Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences 1956 McGraw-Hill New York Google Scholar
Solomon, A.M. Blasing, T.J. Solomon, J.A. Interpretation of floodplain pollen in alluvial sediments from an arid region. Quaternary Research 18 1982 52 71 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tschudy, R.H. Relationship of palynolomorphs to sedimentation Tschudy, R.H. Scott, R.A. Aspects of Palynology 1969 Wiley New York 79 96 Google Scholar
Traverse, A. Ginsburg, R.N. Palynology of the surface sediments of Great Bahama Bank, as related to water movement and sedimentation. Marine Geology 4 1966 417 459 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr. Bent, A.M. Hansen, B.S. Maher, L.J. Jr. Present and past vegetation of the Chuska Mountains, Northwest New Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 1973 1155 1180 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar