Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:14:52.935Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Wet early to middle Holocene conditions on the upper Coastal Plain of North Carolina, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michelle Goman  and
David S Leigh
Michelle Goman*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, 4132 Snee Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
David S Leigh
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2502, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: (607) 254-4780.E-mail address:[email protected] (M. Goman).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A peat core from a cutoff paleochannel of Little River on the upper Coastal Plain of North Carolina provides a continuous pollen record of environmental change for the past 10,500 years and includes a sedimentary record of overbank floods. Palynological and sedimentary data indicate that the early to middle Holocene was wetter than previously suggested from lake sites in the southeastern United States. The period from 9000 to 6100 cal yr B.P. is characterized by high pollen percentages of Nyssa and Quercus, but low percentages of Pinus. Fifteen large overbank flood events are present within this period (5 floods/1000 yr). In contrast, only 6 large overbank flood events occurred since 6100 cal yr B.P. (1 flood/1000 yr). The increases in moisture and flood events probably were controlled by changes in atmospheric circulation related to shifts in the position of the Bermuda High, sea surface temperatures, and El Niño activity that together may have affected the frequency of large floods generated from tropical storms in the region.

Keywords

Southeastern United StatesClimate variabilityPaleofloodWetland sedimentsSandhills
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , May 2004 , pp. 256 - 264
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

Bard, E, (2002). Abrupt climate changes over millennial time scales: climate shock. Physics Today. 55, 32–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bard, E, (2003). North-Atlantic sea surface temperature reconstruction. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series No. 2003-026. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P.J, Anderson, K.H, Anderson, P.M, Edwards, M.E, Mock, C.J, Thompson, R.S, Webb, T III, Whitlock, C, (1998). Paleoclimate simulations for North America over the past 21,000 years: features of the simulated climate and comparisons with paleoenvironmental data. Quaternary Science Reviews. 17, 559–585.Google Scholar
Bauer, R.L., Orvis, K.H., Edlund, E.G., (1991). ). CalPalyn Pollen Diagram Program. Unpublished computer program, Pollen Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Berger, A.L, (1978). Long-term variations of caloric insolation resulting from the Earth's orbital elements. Quaternary Research. 9, 139–167.Google Scholar
Berger, A.L, Loutre, M.F, (1991). Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years. Quaternary Science Reviews. 10, 297–317.Google Scholar
Bond, G, Showers, W, Cheseby, M, Lotti, R, Almasi, P, deMenocal, P, Priore, P, Cullen, H, Hajdas, I, Bonani, G, (1997). A pervasive millennial-scale cycle in North Atlantic Holocene and Glacial climates. Science. 5341, 1257–1266.Google Scholar
Brook, F.Z., (1996). ). A Late-Quaternary pollen record from the middle Ogeechee River, Southeastern Coastal Plain, Georgia. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Georgia, Athens.Google Scholar
Buell, M.F, (1945). Late Pleistocene forests of southeast North Carolina. Torreya. 45, 117–118.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E, (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
Dwyer, T.R, Mullins, H.T, Good, S.C, (1996). Paleoclimatic implications of Holocene lake-level fluctuations, Owasco Lake, New York. Geology. 24, 519–522.Google Scholar
Faegri, K, Iversen, J, (1989). Textbook of Pollen Analysis. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Forman, S.L, Oglesby, R, Markgraf, V, Stafford, T, (1995). Paleoclimatic significance of late Quaternary eolian deposition on the Piedmont and High Plains, central United States. Global and Planetary Change. 11, 35–55.Google Scholar
Frey, D.G, (1951). Pollen succession in the sediments of Singletary Lake, North Carolina. Ecology. 32, 518–533.Google Scholar
Frey, D.G, (1953). Regional aspects of the late-glacial and post-glacial pollen succession of southeastern North Carolina. Ecological Monographs. 23, 289–313.Google Scholar
Frey, D.G, (1955). A time revision of the Pleistocene pollen chronology of southeastern North Carolina. Ecology. 36, 762–763.Google Scholar
Gamble, D.W, Meentemeyer, V, (1997). A synoptic climatology of extreme unseasonable floods in the southeastern United States, 1950-1990. Physical Geography. 18, 496–524.Google Scholar
Goman, M., (2003). ). Final report: palynological and paleoenvironmental studies of three sites at Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall, Cumberland, Hoke and Scotland Counties. North Carolina” submitted to TRC Garrow Associates, Inc. Durham, and U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory.Google Scholar
Grimm, W.C, (1983). The Illustrated Book of Trees. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA.Google Scholar
Hansen, B.S, (1995). Conifer stomate analysis as a paleoecological tool: an example from the Hudson Bay Lowlands. Canadian Journal of Botany. 73, 244–252.Google Scholar
Horton, J.W Jr., Zullo, V.A, (1991). An introduction to the geology of the Carolinas. Horton, J.W Jr., Zullo, V.A, The Geology of the Carolinas. Univ. of Tennessee Press, Knoxville., 1–10.Google Scholar
Hussey, T.C., (1993). ). A 20,000 year history of vegetation and climate at Clear Pond, northeastern South Carolina. M.S. Thesis, Univ. of Maine, .Google Scholar
Janssen, C.R, (1984). Modern pollen assemblages and vegetation in the Myrtle Lake Peatland, Minnesota. Ecological Monographs. 54, 213–252.Google Scholar
Kapp, R.O, Davis, O.K, King, J.E, (2000). Pollen and Spores. Am. Assoc. of Stratigraphic Palynologists Found, Dallas, Texas., publication.Google Scholar
Knox, J.C, (1993). Large increases in flood magnitude in response to modest changes in climate. Nature. 361, 430–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knox, J.C, (2000). Sensitivity of Modern and Holocene floods to climate change. Quaternary Science Reviews. 19, 439–457.Google Scholar
Lamoreaux, H.J.K., (1999). ). Human–environmental relationships in the Coastal Plain of Georgia based on high-resolution paleoenvironmental records from three peat deposits. Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ. of Georgia, Athens.Google Scholar
Leigh, D.S, Feeney, T.P, (1995). Paleochannels indicating wet climate and lack of response to lower sea level, southeast Georgia. Geology. 23, 687–690.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, K.-B, Fearn, M, (2000). Reconstruction of prehistoric landfall frequencies of catastrophic hurricanes in Northwestern Florida from lake sediment records. Quaternary Research. 54, 238–245.Google Scholar
McAndrews, J.H, Berti, A.A, Norris, G, (1973). Key to the Quaternary Pollen and Spores of The Great Lakes Region. Royal Ontario Museum Publications in Life Sciences, Ontario.Google Scholar
Moy, C.M, Seltzer, G.O, Rodbell, D.T, Anderson, D.M, (2002a). Variability of El Niño/Southern Oscillation activity at millennial timescales during the Holocene epoch. Nature. 420, 162–165.Google Scholar
Moy, C.M, Seltzer, G.O, Rodbell, D.T, Anderson, D.M, (2002b). Laguna Pallcacocha sediment color intensity data. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series No. 2002-76. NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Noren, A.J, Bierman, P.R, Steig, E.J, Lini, A, Southon, J, (2002). Millennial-scale storminess variability in the northeastern United States during the Holocene Epoch. Nature. 419, 821–824.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Brien, S.R, Mayewski, P.A, Meeker, L.D, Meese, D.A, Twickler, M.S, Whitlow, S.I, (1995). Complexity of Holocene climate as reconstructed from a Greenland ice core. Science. 5244, 1962–1964.Google Scholar
Rodbell, D.T, Selztzer, G.O, Anderson, D.M, Abbott, M.B, (1999). An ∼15,000-year record of El Niño-driven alluviation in southwestern Ecuador. Science. 283, 516–520.Google Scholar
Russo, M.J.B., Sorrie, A., van Eerden, B., and Hippensteel, T.E., (1993). ). Rare and endangered plant survey and natural area inventory for Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall military reservations, North Carolina. The Nature Conservancy, North Carolina Chapter and the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, Division of Parks and Recreation, Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources.Google Scholar
Seielstad, C.A., (1994). ). Holocene environmental history at Chatterton Springs on the southern Coastal Plain of Georgia. M.A. Thesis, Univ. of Georgia, Athens.Google Scholar
Stockmarr, J, (1971). Tablets with spores used in absolute pollen analysis. Pollen et Spores. 8, 615–621.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, P.J, Bard, E, Beck, J.W, Burr, G.S, Hughen, K.A, Dromer, B, McCormac, G, van der Plicht, J, Spurk, M, (1998). INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 cal B.P.. Radiocarbon. 40, 1041–1083.Google Scholar
USDA Soil Survey Staff(1993). Soil Survey Manual. U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook. vol. 18, U.S. GPO, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Vitart, F, Anderson, J.L, (2001). Sensitivity of Atlantic tropical storm frequency to ENSO and interdecadal variability of SSTs in an ensemble of AGCM integrations. Journal of Climate. 14, 533–545.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, W.A, (1980). Late-Quaternary vegetation history at White Pond on the inner Coastal Plain of South Carolina. Quaternary Research. 13, 187–199.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A, Grimm, E.C, Hussey, T.C, (1996). Mid-Holocene forest history of Florida and the Coastal Plain of Georgia and South Carolina. Sassaman, K, Anderson, D.G, The Archaeology of the Mid-Holocene Southeast. Univ. Press of Florida, Gainesville., 28–38.Google Scholar
Webb, T III, Kutzbach, J.E, (1998). An introduction to ‘Late Quaternary Climates: Data Syntheses and Model Experiments’. Quaternary Science Reviews. 17, 465–471.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D.R, (1964). Fossil pine pollen and full-glacial vegetation. Ecology. 45, 767–777.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D.R, (1967). Studies of full-glacial vegetation and climate in southeastern United States. Cushing, E.J, Wright, H.E, Quaternary Paleoecology. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT., 237–248.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D.R, (1972). Developmental and environmental history of the Dismal Swamp. Ecological Monographs. 42, 301–315.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D.R, (1981). Late-Pleistocene vegetation changes in northeastern North Carolina. Ecological Monographs. 51, 451–471.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D.R, Tan, K.W, (1969). Modern vegetation and pollen rain in Bladen County, North Carolina. Ecology. 50, 235–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar