Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T21:46:15.541Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Implications of Water Supply for Indigenous Americans during Holocene Aridity Phases on the Southern High Plains, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Warren W. Wood ,
Stephen Stokes  and
Julie Rich
Warren W. Wood*
Affiliation:
MS 430, National Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, 20192, E-mail: [email protected]
Stephen Stokes
Affiliation:
School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3TB, United Kingdom
Julie Rich
Affiliation:
School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3TB, United Kingdom
*
1To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Springs in the 40 to 50 large lake basins (>15 km2) on the southern portion of the Southern High Plains (SHP) were active during periods of aridity in the Holocene when there may have been human habitation of the area. Eolian erosion of the lake floors and lunette accretion occurred as groundwater levels declined in response to decreased groundwater recharge. The declining lake floor associated with eolian erosion allowed groundwater evaporative discharge to continue, thus maintaining a groundwater gradient toward the lake. This hydrologic condition was favorable for a relatively continuous spring discharge to the lake, independent of the elevation of the lake floor. To evaluate the postulated dynamic equilibrium critical to this conclusion, 17 optically stimulated ages were determined from a 17.7-m deep core of a lunette adjacent to Double Lakes, Texas (33°13′15″N, 101°54′08″W). The core yielded sediment accumulation dates of 11,500±1100, 6500±700, and 4900±500 yr B.P., corresponding broadly with periods of aridity known from other evidence. Based on analysis of this lunette, it is concluded that springs in Double Lakes basin probably existed throughout the Holocene with discharges similar to those observed historically. We assumed that similar dynamic equilibrium existed in the other large lake basins in the SHP and that these springs could have provided a continuous source of water for indigenous peoples during periods of prolonged aridity. The dynamic equilibrium that is proposed in this study is applicable not only to other arid and semiarid geographic areas with wind-erodible material but also over different geologic times.

Keywords

Southern High PlainsTexasNew Mexicospringsgroundwaterlake basinsgeomorphologyHoloceneariditylunettes
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , September 2002 , pp. 139 - 148
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

Bowler, J.M. Lunettes as indices of hydrologic change: A review of Australian evidence. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 3, (1983). 147 168.Google Scholar
Brand, J. P. 1953, Cretaceous of Llano Estacado of Texas: Report of Investigation No. 20, Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Brune, G. Springs of Texas. (1981). Branch-Smith, Fort Worth.Google Scholar
Cember, H. Introduction to Health Physics. (1969). Pergamon, New York.Google Scholar
Cronin, J.G. A Summary of the Occurrence and Development of Ground Water in the Southern High Plains of Texas: Water Supply Paper 1693. (1964). U.S. Geol. Survey, Reston.Google Scholar
Curtis, D.A., and Beierman, H. Playa Lakes Characterization Study. (1980). Division of Ecological ServicesU.S. Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Ft. Worth.Google Scholar
Forman, S.L., Oglesby, R., and Webb, R.S. Temporal and spatial patterns of Holocene dune activity on the Great Plains of North America: Megadroughts and climate links. Global and Planetary Change 29, (2001). 1 29.Google Scholar
Frye, J. C, and Leonard, A. B. 1957, Studies of Cenozoic Geology along the Eastern Margin of Texas High Plains, Armstrong to Howard County: Texas Bureau of Economic Geology Report 32, University of Texas, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Gustavson, T.C., and Winkler, D.A. Depositional facies of the Miocene-Pliocene Ogallala formation, northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico. Geology 16, (1988). 203 206.Google Scholar
Gustavson, T.C., Baumgardner, R.W., Caran, S.C., Holliday, V.T., Mehnert, H.H., O'Neill, J.M., Reeves, C.C. Jr. Quaternary geology of the Southern Great Plains and adjacent segment of the Rolling Plains. The Geology of North America Quaternary Nonglacial Geology—Conterminous U.S. (1991). Geol. Soc. Am, Boulder. p. 477–501.Google Scholar
Gustavson, T. C, Holliday, V. T, and Hovorka, S. D. 1995, Origin and Development of Playa Basins, Source of Recharge to the Ogallala Aquifer, Southern High Plains, Texas and New Mexico: Report of Investigation 229, Univ. of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology.Google Scholar
Gutentag, E.D., Heimes, F.J., Krothe, N.C., Lucky, R.R., and Weeks, J.B. Geohydrology of the High Plains Aquifer in Parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming: Professional Paper 1500-B. (1984). U.S. Geol. Survey, Reston.Google Scholar
Hawley, J.W., Bachman, G.O., and Manley, K. Quaternary stratigraphy in the Basin and Range and Great Basin Provinces, New Mexico and western Texas. Mahaney, W.C. Quaternary Stratigraphy of North America. (1976). Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross Inc, Stroudsburg. 235 274.Google Scholar
Hofman, J.L. Prehistory culture history—hunters and gatherers in the Southern Great Plains. Hofman, J.L. From Clovis to Comanchero: Archeological Overview of the Southern Great Plains. Archeological Survey Research Series 35 (1989). 25 60.Google Scholar
Holliday, V.T. Stratigraphy and Paleoenvironments of Late Quaternary Valley Fills on the Southern High Plains: Memoir 186. (1995). Geol. Soc. Am, Boulder.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holliday, V.T. Folsom drought and episodic drying on the Southern High Plains from 10,900 to 10,200 14C yr B.P. Quaternary Research 53, (2000). 1 13.Google Scholar
Holliday, V.T. Stratigraphy and geochronology of upper Quaternary eolian sand on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, United States. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 113, (2001). 88 108.Google Scholar
Johnson, E., and Holliday, V.T. The archaic record at Lubbock Lake. Baugh, T.G. Current Trends in Southern Plains Archaeology: Plains Anthropologist Memoir 21. (1986). Plains Anthropological Society, Lincoln. 7 54.Google Scholar
Johnson, E., and Holliday, V.T. Archaeology and late Quaternary environments of the southern high plains. Bulletin of the Texas Archeology Society 66, (1995). 519 540.Google Scholar
Kelly, R.L. The Foraging Spectrum: Diversity in Hunter-Gather Lifeways. (1995). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.Google Scholar
Knowles, T, Nordstrom, P, and Klemt, W. B. 1984, Evaluating the Groundwater Resources of the High Plains of Texas: Report 288, vol, 1, Texas Department of Water Resources, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Larkin, T.J., and Bomar, W.W. Climate Atlas of Texas: LP-192. (1983). Texas Department of Water Resources, Austin.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D.J. Modeling the prehistoric response to Altithermal climates on the Southern High Plains. Johnson, E. Ancient Peoples and Landscapes. (1995). Museum of Texas Tech Univ, Lubbock. 349 368.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D.J. Human responses to Middle Holocene (Altithermal) climates on the North American Great Plains. Quaternary Research 52, (1999). 404 416.Google Scholar
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2002). 〈http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lub/climate/records1.html〉.Google Scholar
Osterkamp, W.R., and Wood, W.W. Development and escarpment retreat of the Southern High Plains. Whetstone, G.A. Proceeding of the Ogallala Aquifer Symposium II: Lubbock, Texas. (1984). Texas Tech Univ.Water Resources Center, Lubbock. 177 193.Google Scholar
Osterkamp, W.R., and Wood, W.W. Playa-lake basins on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico: Part I—Hydrologic, geomorphic, and geologic evidence for their development. Geological Society of America Bulletin 99, (1987). 215 223.Google Scholar
Osterkamp, W.R., Fenton, M.M., Gustavson, T.C., Hadley, R.F., Holliday, V.T., Morrison, R.B., and Toy, T.J. Great Plains, Centennial Special Volume 2. (1987). Geol. Soc. Am, Boulder.Google Scholar
Reeves, C.C. Jr. Pluvial lake basins of West Texas. Journal of Geology 74, (1966). 269 291.Google Scholar
Reeves, C.C. Jr., and Reeves, J.A. The Ogallala Aquifer. (1996). Estacado Books, Lubbock.Google Scholar
Rich, J., Stokes, S., and Wood, W.W. Holocene chronology for lunette dune deposition on the Southern High Plains, USA. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Supplmentband 116, (1999). 165 180.Google Scholar
Sheehan, M. Cultural response to the Altithermal: The role of aquifer-related water resources. Geoarchaeology 9, (1994). 113 137.Google Scholar
Sanford, W.E., and Wood, W.W. A paleohydrologic record from lake brine on the Southern High Plains. Geology 23, (1995). 229 232.Google Scholar
Stokes, S. Optical Dating of Selected Aeolian Sediments from the Southwestern United States. (1994). Univ. of Oxford, Oxford.Google Scholar
Theis, C.V. Amount of ground-water recharge in the Southern High Plains. Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 18, (1937). 564 568.Google Scholar
White, W.N., Broadhurst, W.L., and Lang, J.W. Ground Water in the High Plains of Texas: Water Supply Paper 889-F. (1946). U.S. Geol. Survey, Reston.Google Scholar
Wirojanagud, P., Kreitler, C.K., and Smith, D.A. Numerical Modeling of Regional Ground-Water Flow in the Deep-Basin Brine Aquifer of the Palo Duro Basin, Texas Panhandle: Report of Investigation No. 159. (1986). Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, Austin.Google Scholar
Wood, W.W., and Osterkamp, W.R. Playa-lake basins on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico: Part II—a hydrologic model and mass-balance arguments for their development. Geological Society of America Bulletin 99, (1987). 224 230.Google Scholar
Wood, W.W., and Sanford, W.E. Chemical and isotopic methods for quantifying ground-water recharge in a regional, semi-arid environment. Ground Water 33, (1995). 458 468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, W.W., and Sanford, W.E. Eolian transport, saline lake basins, and ground-water solutes. Water Resources Research 31, (1995). 3121 3129.Google Scholar
Wood, W.W., Sanford, W.E., Reeves, C.C. Jr. Large lake basins of the Southern High Plains: Ground-water control of their origin?. Geology 20, (1992). 535 538.Google Scholar
Wood, W.W., Rainwater, K.A., and Thompson, D.B. Quantifying macropore recharge: Examples from a semi-arid area. Ground Water 35, (1997). 1097 1106.Google Scholar