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Sources and paleoclimatic significance of Holocene Bignell Loess, central Great Plains, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Joseph A. Mason ,
Peter M. Jacobs ,
Paul R. Hanson ,
Xiaodong Miao  and
Ronald J. Goble
Joseph A. Mason
Affiliation:
Conservation and Survey Division and Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, 113 Nebraska Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0517, USA
Peter M. Jacobs
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Geology, 800 W. Main St., University of Wisconsin—Whitewater, WI 53190, USA
Paul R. Hanson
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
Xiaodong Miao
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
Ronald J. Goble
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
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Abstract

This paper reexamines the stratigraphy, sources, and paleoclimatic significance of Holocene Bignell Loess in the central Great Plains. A broadly similar sequence of loess depositional units and paleosols was observed in thick Bignell Loess sections up to 300 km apart, suggesting that these sections record major regional changes in the balance between dust deposition and pedogenesis. New optical ages, together with previously reported radiocarbon ages, indicate Bignell Loess deposition began 9000–11,000 yr ago and continued into the late Holocene; some Bignell Loess is <1000 yr old. There is little evidence that Holocene Loess was derived from flood plain sources, as previously proposed. Instead, thick Bignell Loess occurs mainly near the downwind margins of inactive dune fields, particularly atop escarpments facing the dunes. Thus, the immediate loess source was dust produced when the dunes were active. Previous work indicates that widespread episodes of dune activity are likely to have resulted from drier-than-present climatic conditions. The regionally coherent stratigraphy of Bignell Loess can be interpreted as a near-continuous record of climatically driven variation in dune field activity throughout the Holocene.

Keywords

LoessBignell LoessGreat PlainsHolocenepaleoclimate
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , November 2003 , pp. 330 - 339
Copyright
University of Washington

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