Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:53:56.492Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pleistocene Glaciation of Volcano Ajusco, Central Mexico, and Comparison with the Standard Mexican Glacial Sequence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sidney E. White  and
Salvatore Valastro Jr.
Sidney E. White
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Mineralogy, The Ohio State University, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Salvatore Valastro Jr.
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Laboratory, Balcones Research Center, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78757
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Three Pleistocene glaciations and two Holocene Neoglacial advances occurred on volcano Ajusco in central Mexico. Lateral moraines of the oldest glaciation, the Marqués, above 3250 m are made of light-gray indurated till and are extensively modified by erosion. Below 3200 m the till is dark red, decomposed, and buried beneath volcanic colluvium and tephra. Very strongly to strongly developed soil profiles (Inceptisols) have formed in the Marqués till and in overlying colluvia and tephra. Large sharp-crested moraines of the second glaciation, the Santo Tomás, above 3300 m are composed of pale-brown firm till and are somewhat eroded by gullies. Below 3250 m the till is light reddish brown, cemented, and weathered. Less-strongly developed soil profiles (Inceptisols) have formed in the Santo Tomás till and in overlying colluvia and tephra. Narrow-crested moraines of yellowish-brown loose till of the third glaciation, the Albergue, are uneroded. Weakly developed soil profiles (Inceptisols) in the Albergue till have black ash in the upper horizon. Two small Neoglacial moraines of yellowish-brown bouldery till on the cirque floor of the largest valley support weakly developed soil profiles with only A and Cox horizons and no ash in the upper soil horizons. Radiocarbon dating of organic matter of the B horizons developed in tills, volcanic ash, and colluvial volcanic sand includes ages for both the soil-organic residue and the humic-acid fraction, with differences from 140 to 660 yr. The dating provides minimum ages of about 27,000 yr for the Marqués glaciation and about 25,000 yr for the Santo Tomás glaciation. Dates for the overlying tephra indicate a complex volcanic history for at least another 15,000 yr. Comparison of the Ajusco glacial sequence with that on Iztaccíhuatl to the east suggests that the Marqués and Santo Tomás glaciations may be equivalent to the Diamantes glaciation First and Second advances, the Albergue to the Alcalican glaciations, and the Neoglacial to the Ayolotepito advances.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 21 - 35
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

Birkeland, P.W. (1967). Correlation of soils of stratigraphic importance in western Nevada and California, and their relative rates of profile development Morrison, R.B., Wright, H.E. Jr., Quaternary Soils Vol. 9, 71–91 International Association Quaternary Research, VII Congress, ProceedingsGoogle Scholar
Birkeland, P.W. (1974). Pedology, Weathering, and Geomorphological Research Oxford Univ. Press New York Google Scholar
Goh, K.M., Molloy, B.P.L., Rafter, T.A. (1977). Radiocarbon dating of Quaternary loess deposits, Banks Peninsula, Canterbury, New Zealand Quaternary Research 7, 177–196 Google Scholar
Scharpenseel, H.W. (1971). Radiocarbon dating of soils — Problems, troubles, hopes Yaalon, D.H., Paleopedology—Origin, Nature, and Dating of Paleosols Israel Univ. Press Jerusalem 77–88 Google Scholar
Schlaepfer, C.J. (1968). Carta Geológica de México Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Serie 1:100,000 Hoja México 14Q-h(5)Google Scholar
White, S.E. (1962a). Late Pleistocene glacial sequence for the west side of Iztaccíhuatl, Mexico Geological Society of America Bulletin 73, 935–958 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, S.E. (1962b). El Iztaccíhuatl: Acontecimientos volcánicos y geomorphológicos en el lado oeste durante el Pleistoceno Superioi Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia Serie Investigaciones 6, 1–80 Google Scholar
White, S.E. (1978). Acontecimientos glaciales y periglaciales en el Ajusco Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia Boletín III, 22 51–56 Google Scholar
White, S.E. (1981a). Neoglacial to recent glacier fluctuations on the volcano Popocatépetl, Mexico Journal of Glaciology 27, 96 359–363 Google Scholar
White, S.E. (1981b). Equilibrium line altitudes of late Pleistocene and recent glaciers in central Mexico Geografiska Annaler 63A, 3–4 241–249 Google Scholar