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Holocene beaver damming, fluvial geomorphology, and climate in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lyman Persico  and
Grant Meyer
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Abstract

We use beaver-pond deposits and geomorphic characteristics of small streams to assess long-term effects of beavers and climate change on Holocene fluvial activity in northern Yellowstone National Park. Although beaver damming has been considered a viable mechanism for major aggradation of mountain stream valleys, this has not been previously tested with stratigraphic and geochronologic data. Thirty-nine radiocarbon ages on beaver-pond deposits fall primarily within the last 4000 yr, but gaps in dated beaver occupation from ~ 2200–1800 and 950–750 cal yr BP correspond with severe droughts that likely caused low to ephemeral discharges in smaller streams, as in modern severe drought. Maximum channel gradient for reaches with Holocene beaver-pond deposits decreases with increasing basin area, implying that stream power limits beaver damming and pond sediment preservation. In northern Yellowstone, the patchy distribution and cumulative thickness of mostly < 2 m of beaver-pond deposits indicate that net aggradation forced by beaver damming is small, but beaver-enhanced aggradation in some glacial scour depressions is greater. Although 20th-century beaver loss and dam abandonment caused significant local channel incision, most downcutting along alluvial reaches of the study streams is unrelated to beaver dam abandonment or predates historic beaver extirpation.

Keywords

BeaverBeaver dammingCastor canadensisYellowstone National ParkWyomingGeomorphologyFluvial geomorphologyDroughtClimate changeHoloceneSmall streamsChannel incisionAggradation
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 71 , Issue 3 , May 2009 , pp. 340 - 353
Copyright
University of Washington

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