Late Quaternary Floodplain History of the Brazos River in East-Central Texas

The floodplain along a 75-km segment of the Brazos River, traversing the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas, has a complex late Quaternary history. From 18,000 to 8500 yr B.P., the Brazos River was a competent meandering stream that migrated from one side of the floodplain to the other, creating a thick layer of coarse-grained lateral accretion deposits. After 8500 yr B.P., the hydrologic regime of the Brazos River changed. The river became an underfit meandering stream that repeatedly became confined within narrow and unstable meander belts that would occasionally avulse. Avulsion occurred four times; first at 8100 yr B.P., then at 2500 yr B.P., again around 500 yr B.P., and finally around 300 yr B.P. The depositional regime on the floodplain also changed after 8500 yr B.P., with floodplain construction dominated by vertical accretion. Most vertical accretion occurred from 8100 to 4200 yr B.P. and from 2500 to 1250 yr B.P. Two major and three minor periods of soil formation are documented in the floodplain sequence. The two most developed soils formed from 4200 to 2500 yr B.P. and from around 1250 to 500 yr B.P. These changes on the floodplain appear to be the result not of a single factor, but of the complex interplay among changes in climate, sediment yield, and intrinsic floodplain variables over time.     

Late Holocene dune migration on the south Texas sand sheet

There are a wide variety of vegetated, eolian depositional landforms associated with the south Texas sand sheet, attesting to the past dominance of eolian processes. Mapping identified two sets of parabolic dunes elongating with winds from the southeast and the northwest. Parabolic dunes elongated by northwesterly winds are older than ca. 200 years and may be associated with eolian depositional events ca. 2700 and/or 2000 years ago. The latest dune migration event, associated with southeasterly winds occurred ca. 200 years ago and at one site is inset into northwesterly-extended parabolic dunes. This period of dune migration may be coincident with particularly severe drought identified in the tree-ring record centered at AD 1790, when the Palmer Drought Severity Index was − 4. A threshold of dune movement may have occurred ca. in the 11th, 15th and 20th centuries when there are two or more consecutive years with a Palmer Drought Severity Index of < − 4, corresponding to 30–50% reduction in precipitation. Dune systems on Coastal Plain of Texas to reactivated repeatedly due to climate variability in the past 3000 years.     

Assessing lithologic discontinuities and parent material uniformity within the Texas sandy mantle and implications for archaeological burial and preservation potential in upland settings

Alfisols within the Texas Gulf Coast Plain commonly exhibit textural contrasts between sandy, artifact-bearing A–E horizons (i.e., sandy mantle), and artifact-sterile clay-rich Bt (argillic) horizons. This has invoked debate about parent material uniformity and pedogenic versus geomorphic sandy mantle origins, which has implications for the scientific value of buried archaeological sites. To improve our understanding of archaeological burial in upland settings, we evaluated parent material uniformity within five pedons to distinguish pedogenically derived textural changes from geomorphologically created lithologic discontinuities. Depth trends in clay-free particle size classes and stable/immobile Ti and Zr constituents failed to reveal lithologic discontinuities between the sandy mantle and Bt horizons, and the observed textural differences are interpreted to have resulted from pedogenic processes. This interpretation is supported by clay skins, fine clay increases in Bt horizons, and micromorphological observations. Consequently, artifacts buried in upland summits have likely moved down the soil profile due to biomantle processes. Deep sandy mantle sites, non-parallel contacts between the sandy mantle and Bt horizons, and paleogullies incised into Eocene bedrock are better explained by colluvial/soil creep processes adjacent to summits, where archaeological materials may exhibit preservation potential. No single explanation can account for sandy mantle origins, and we advocate a case-by-case approach.     

Late quaternary alluvial stratigraphy of a low-order tributary in central Texas, USA and its response to climate and sediment supply

A paleomegafauna site from central Amazonia with exceptional preservation of mastodons and ground sloths allows for the first time a precise age control based on ¹⁴C analysis, which, together with sedimentological and δ¹³C isotope data, provided the basis to discuss habitat evolution within the context of climate change during the past 15,000 yr. The fossil-bearing deposits, trapped within a depression in the Paleozoic basement, record three episodes of sedimentation formed on floodplains, with an intermediate unit recording a catastrophic deposition through debris flows, probably favored during fast floodings. The integrated approach presented herein supports a change in humidity in central Amazonia through the past 15,000 yr, with a shift from drier to arboreal savanna at 11,340 (±50) ¹⁴C yr B.P. and then to a dense forest like we see today at 4620 (±60) ¹⁴C yr B.P.     

Late prehistoric soil fertility,irrigation management,and agricultural production in northwest coastal Peru

The Pampa de Chaparrí (Pampa) in hyperarid northwest coastal Peru is an ideal area to study late prehispanic agricultural technology and production because irrigation canals and furrowed fields have been preserved since abandonment approximately 500 years ago. We collected 55 samples for soil characterization, fertility, and micromorphic analyses and compared these results to a noncultivated control soil previously sampled in an adjacent valley. Natural soil fertility levels for maize, cotton, and bean production were generally high during late prehispanic cultivation in the Pampa. Maintaining adequate nitrogren levels for production, however, would have required external inputs from livestock manure, guano, or leguminous plants. The management of low soil salinity levels was possible because of rapidly permeable soils and irrigation waters low in salt. Based on available water capacity and climate conditions, the Blaney‐Criddle Equation yields evapotranspiration rates indicating that irrigation frequency was necessary in a range of every 10–16 days during the growing season. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.