Book reviews

The Settlement of the American Continents: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Human Biogeography. C. Michael Barton, Geoffrey A. Clark, David R. Yesner, and Georges A. Pearson (Editors), 2004. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, $75 (hardcover).     

The california poppy (eschscholtzia mexicana) as a copper indicator plant — a new example

The abundance and distribution of the California poppy (Eschscholtzia mexicana) correlates closely with the copper-rich outcrop of a small porphyry-type deposit in Arizona. Chemical factors are probably more important than physical factors in determining why this species is sometimes found as a copper indicator plant.     

Facies and sequence stratigraphic architecture of the Mural Limestone (Albian), Arizona: Carbonate response to global and local factors and implications for reservoir characterization

This study documents the detailed facies and sequence stratigraphic architecture of a multi-cyclic patch-reef and its associated ramp interior facies that formed during Oceanic Anoxic Event 1b in the Mural Limestone, Arizona, USA. Ramp interior facies are comprised of bedded wackestone/packstone, rudist build-up and coral–algal patch-reef facies located north of Bisbee, Arizona, at the Grassy Hill locality. The larger multi-cyclic patch-reef that developed coevally ca 5 km to the south of Grassy Hill consists of a high-angle windward margin with a narrow ca 70 m long reef frame containing vertically zonated Microsolena, Actinastrea, diverse branching coral and rudist assemblages, and an 870 m long low-angle leeward margin comprised of reef debris rudstone and grainstone shoal facies. Similar reef geomorphology and orientation is documented across the Gulf of Mexico and reflects the shelf-wide north to north-east-trending prevailing wind and current energies. Controls affecting reef formation and growth patterns include changes in accommodation space associated with low-amplitude global sea-level rise and regional thermotectonic subsidence, local accommodation space and nutrient fluctuations associated with the inner shelf depositional setting within a humid and siliciclastic-rich environment. Four aggradational to retrogradational high-frequency sequences are documented in Arizona: High-frequency sequences 1 and 2 represent the first pulse of patch-reef development in an overall second-order marine transgression over the Sonora/Bisbee Shelf. These sequences correlate to δ¹³C signatures associated with Oceanic Anoxic Event 1b across the Gulf of Mexico and suggest that carbonate reefs persisted on the ramp interior during this time. High-frequency sequences 3 and 4 record a second brief transgression and backstepping of reef facies followed by the final regression of shallow shelf carbonates that correlates to more robust patch-reef development in Sonora, Mexico. The patch-reef at Paul Spur is an excellent outcrop analogue for productive patch-reefs in the Maverick Basin (Comanche Shelf) of Texas. Detailed facies mapping of this outcrop analogue shows that the greatest reservoir potential is contained within the backreef grainstone shoals where primary porosity of up to 15% is observed.     

Land subsidence and earth fissures in south-central and southern Arizona,USA

Land subsidence due to groundwater overdraft has been an ongoing problem in south-central and southern Arizona (USA) since the 1940s. The first earth fissure attributed to excessive groundwater withdrawal was discovered in the early 1950s near Picacho. In some areas of the state, groundwater-level declines of more than 150 m have resulted in extensive land subsidence and earth fissuring. Land subsidence in excess of 5.7 m has been documented in both western metropolitan Phoenix and Eloy. The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has been monitoring land subsidence since 2002 using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and since 1998 using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). The ADWR InSAR program has identified more than 25 individual land subsidence features that cover an area of more than 7,300 km². Using InSAR data in conjunction with groundwater-level datasets, ADWR is able to monitor land subsidence areas as well as identify areas that may require additional monitoring. One area of particular concern is the Willcox groundwater basin in southeastern Arizona, which is the focus of this paper. The area is experiencing rapid groundwater declines, as much as 32.1 m during 2005–2014 (the largest land subsidence rate in Arizona State—up to 12 cm/year), and a large number of earth fissures. The declining groundwater levels in Arizona are a challenge for both future groundwater availability and mitigating land subsidence associated with these declines. ADWR’s InSAR program will continue to be a critical tool for monitoring land subsidence due to excessive groundwater withdrawal.     

The Topaz Basin archaeological obsidian source in the transition zone of central Arizona

The Classic Period Migration Project involves the analysis of archaeological sites at Perry Mesa in central Arizona and resulted in the discovery of several small marekanite1 obsidian artifacts that signaled a previously unlocated source. The source was eventually located in the Topaz Basin area of the upper Cienega Creek stream basin, southwest of Camp Verde, Arizona.² While this locality solves the “unknown” sources in the Perry Mesa archaeological assemblage, it has not appeared in the archaeological record of Arizona with any frequency. The glass itself is an excellent medium for tool production, so its near absence in the archaeological record is likely attributable to social/territorial causes as well as limited secondary deposition, and along with other “minor” sources points to the archaeological utility of understanding these smaller sources. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Pollen taphonomy in a canyon stream

Surface soil samples from the forested Chuska Mountains to the arid steppe of the Chinle Valley, Northeastern Arizona, show close correlation between modern pollen rain and vegetation. In contrast, modern alluvium is dominated by Pinus pollen throughout the canyon; it reflects neither the surrounding floodplain nor plateau vegetation. Pollen in surface soils is deposited by wind; pollen grains in alluvium are deposited by a stream as sedimentary particles. Clay-size particles correlate significantly with Pinus, Quercus, and Populus pollen. These pollen types settle, as clay does, in slack water. Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthus, Artemisia, other Tubuliflorae, and indeterminate pollen types correlate with sand-size particles, and are deposited by more turbulent water. Fluctuating pollen frequencies in alluvial deposits are related to sedimentology and do not reflect the local or regional vegetation where the sediments were deposited. Alluvial pollen is unreliable for reconstruction of paleoenvironments.     

Facies architecture of a Lower Cretaceous coral-rudist patch reef, Arizona

The Lower Cretaceous Mural Limestone marks the maximum marine incursion into southeast Arizona during Aptian-Albian time and records the middle Cretaceous transition from coral-dominated to rudist-bivalve dominated reefs. Upper Mural Limestone facies are most often dominated by corals. However, rudists form significant frameworks at some localities, one of which is described in this paper. The paleoenvironmental distribution of three potential reef-builders (corals, rudists, and ‘oysters’) were studied at this patch reef locality. Corals built the framework of the inner reef core. The rudist Petalodontia initially gained a foothold in sheltered areas among corals and subsequently built a framework in the outer reef core. Caprinid rudists formed mounds in the outer reef to back reef areas. The rudists Toucasia and Monopleura and the oyster-like bivalve Chondrodonta formed beds or were scattered in the reef-flank and shelf lagoon sediments and did not contribute to the reef framework.Upper Mural Limestone reefs are important examples of the coexistence of corals and rudists during this middle Cretaceous faunal transition period. This study supports the idea that rudist-bivalves initially colonized protected back-reef areas early in the Cretaceous and only later in the Cretaceous did rudists dominate reef frameworks.     

Extinct mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni) in Southeastern Utah

The extinct Harrington's mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni Stock) is predominantly known from dry cave localities in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, in addition to two sites in the Great Basin, Nevada, and from San Josecito Cave, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. A dry shelter in Natural Bridges National Monument, on the central Colorado Plateau, southeastern Utah, preserves numerous remains of the extinct mountain goat in addition to pack rat middens. Remains from a 100-cm stratigraphic profile indicate that O. harringtoni lived on the plateau >39,800 yr B.P., the oldest directly dated find of extinct mountain goat. Plant macrofossils indicate that Engelmann's spruce (Picea engelmannii), limber pine (Pinus flexilis), rose (Rosa cf. woodsii), and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) grew during the late Pleistocene where a riparian and a pinyon-juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus osteosperma) community now predominates; Douglas fir are found only in mesic, protected, north-facing areas. Limber pine, Douglas fir, bark, and grasses were the major dietary components in the dung. A springtime diet of birch (Betula) is determined from pollen clumps in dung pellets.     

The model minority stereotype in Arizona’s anti-immigrant climate: SB 1070 and discordant reactions from Asian Indian migrant organizations

This research explores the discordant reactions of local Asian Indian migrant organizations to the passage of Arizona Senate Bill 1070. The objective is to illustrate how migrants from India to Arizona negotiate their identities in the context of this anti-immigrant climate. The research draws insight largely from local records and publications of Asian Indian migrant organizations, including monthly newsletters, board meeting minutes, and other materials found on organizational websites. The analysis chronicles how various Asian Indian migrant organizations shape public discourse about migrant identity, belonging, and citizenship through their reactions to Arizona Senate Bill 1070. The place-based approach provides a way to re-think traditional migration theories and explore the role of racialization in better understanding the consequences of migration from India to the U.S.     

A physical basis for Pauling's definition of bond strength

 The average strength, s, of the bonded interactions comprising a cation containing oxide anion coordination polyhedron and the value of the electron density, ρ(r _c ), at the bond-critical points are inversely correlated with bond length. In each case, the observed bond lengths, R, were modeled with power-law expressions defined in terms of s/r and ρ(r _c )/r, respectively, where r is the Periodic Table row number of the cation involved in the bonded interaction. On the basis of the close connection between bond strength and the value of the electron density at the bond-critical point, we conclude that bond strength is a direct measure of bond type; the greater its value, the greater the localization of electron density in the binding region and the greater the shared–electron covalent character of the bonded interaction. Received: 15 October 2002 / Accepted: 17 February 2003 Present address:G. V. Gibbs in care of M. Spackman Department of Chemistry, University of New England, Armidale 2351, Australia Acknowledgements The NSF is thanked for supporting this study with grant EAR–9627458. The paper was written while GVG was a Visiting NSF Scholar at The University of Arizona. The faculty and graduate students of the Department of Geosciences and Bob Downs and Marelina Stimpf in particular are thanked for making the visit great fun.     

Vegetation history along the eastern, desert escarpment of the Sierra San Pedro Mártir, Baja California, Mexico

Plant macrofossils from 38 packrat middens spanning the last ~ 33,000 cal yr BP record vegetation between ~ 650 and 900 m elevation along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra San Pedro Mártir, northern Baja California. The middens span most of the Holocene, with a gap between ~ 4600 and 1800 cal yr BP, but coverage in the Pleistocene is uneven with a larger hiatus between 23,100 and 14,400 cal yr BP. The midden flora is relatively stable from the Pleistocene to Holocene. Exceptions include Pinus californiarum, Juniperus californica and other chaparral elements that were most abundant > 23,100 cal yr BP and declined after 14,400 cal yr BP. Despite being near the chaparral/woodland-desertscrub ecotone during glacial times, the midden assemblages reflect none of the climatic reversals evident in the glacial or marine record, and this is corroborated by a nearby semi-continuous pollen stratigraphy from lake sediments. Regular appearance of C₄ grasses and summer-flowering annuals since 13,600 cal yr BP indicates occurrence of summer rainfall equivalent to modern (JAS average of ~ 80–90 mm). This casts doubt on the claim, based on temperature proxies from marine sediments in the Guaymas Basin, that monsoonal development in the northern Gulf and Arizona was delayed until after 6200 cal yr BP.     

Relations between climatic variability and hydrologic time series from four alluvial basins across the southwestern United States

Hydrologic time series of groundwater levels, streamflow, precipitation, and tree-ring indices from four alluvial basins in the southwestern United States were spectrally analyzed, and then frequency components were reconstructed to isolate variability due to climatic variations on four time scales. Reconstructed components (RCs), from each time series, were compared to climatic indices like the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), North American Monsoon (NAM), and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), to reveal that as much as 80% of RC variation can be correlated with climate variations on corresponding time scales. In most cases, the hydrologic RCs lag behind the climate indices by 1–36 months. In all four basins, PDO-like components were the largest contributors to cyclic hydrologic variability. Generally, California time series have more variation associated with PDO and ENSO than the Arizona series, and Arizona basins have more variation associated with NAM. ENSO cycles were present in all four basins but were the largest relative contributors in southeastern Arizona. Groundwater levels show a wide range of climate responses that can be correlated from well to well in the various basins, with climate responses found in unconfined and confined aquifers from pumping centers to mountain fronts.     

Nothrotheriops sp. (Mammalia,Xenarthra) from the Late Pleistocene of Argentina: implications for the dispersion of ground sloths during the Great American Biotic Interchange

The aim of this contribution is to describe a femur (MCRS 199) assigned to Nothrotheriops sp. from the Late Pleistocene of Santa Fe Province (Argentina), and discuss the implications of this find in the context of the dispersal of ground sloths during the Great American Biotic Interchange. The specimen MCRS 199 is smaller than the femora referred to the North American species Nothrotheriops texanus and Nothrotheriops shastensis but shares several features with these species: (i) shape and position of the greater trochanter, (ii) development of the lesser trochanter, (iii) presence of connection between the third trochanter and the ectepicondyle, (iv) distal third of the femur wider, with ML/DW index of 1.93, and (v) location and relationship of the distal condyles. These similarities allow us to assign MCRS 199 to Nothrotheriops sp. The record of Nothrotheriops sp. from Santa Fe Province chronologically coincides with the earliest records of Nothrotheriops shastensis suggesting a broad geographical distribution of Nothrotheriops during the Late Pleistocene, ranging from 33–36°N (e.g. states of California and Arizona, USA) to 31°S (northern Salado River, Santa Fe Province, Argentina). Thus, Nothrotheriops have dispersed from North America (where Nothrotheriops has early records, Calabrian–Middle Pleistocene) to South America where localities bearing Nothrotheriops are Late Pleistocene in age. In addition, once in South America and probably during the Middle Pleistocene, Nothrotheriops probably gave rise to its sister taxon, Nothrotherium, with records from the Middle Pleistocene (e.g. 223 ka BP, northeastern Brazil) to the Late Pleistocene (e.g. 15 ka BP).     

Prehistoric Warfare in Central Arizona,USA: Assessing Its Scale with Ceramic Chemistry

The scale of warfare and alliance in the ancient American Southwest is hotly debated for the interval from A.D. 1100 to 1450. Some archaeologists posit conflict persistently waged in central Arizona, which thereby promoted the emergence of region‐sized polities, including the so‐called Verde Confederacy. Relying largely on settlement‐pattern data, these theorists have hypothesized warfare and alliance practiced at a regional scale, apparently larger than anywhere else in the prehistoric American Southwest. Other evidence, however, has challenged the Verde Confederacy model and the level at which hostilities raged in central Arizona. It calls into question the organizational capabilities of hostile tribal groups and their strategic goals. In this paper, we add a new line of complementary information based on the compositional analysis of phyllite‐tempered plain ware ceramics. By reconstructing the pottery's movement and exchange across the region, we outline patterns of interaction useful for evaluating the scale of alliance and warfare in central Arizona. We find, contrary to the expectations of regional scale alliances, that the ceramic exchange networks segregated some populations previously proposed to have been aligned, while integrating groups thought previously to have been enemies. The ceramic data indicate alliances and hostilities at a relatively local scale.     

Peridotite xenoliths in silica-rich,potassic latite from the transition zone of the Colorado Plateau in north-central Arizona

Potassic latite in the transition zone of the Colorado Plateau near Chino Valley, Arizona, contains abundant eclogite and amphibolite xenoliths and minor websterite and pyroxenite xenoliths. One unit contains peridotite xenoliths; analyzed samples have mg-ratios of 68 and 71, 58 and 63 wt% SiO₂, and are enriched in potassium and other large ion lithophile (LIL) elements. Rare earth element (REE) patterns are light REE enriched with La greater than 100 times chondritic abundance. The peridotite xenoliths are partly to totally altered, but contain remnant olivine, orthopyroxene, and clinopyroxene; one harzburgite nodule also contains spinel. Mineral compositions from the xenoliths are relatively refractory and similar to those in other spinel peridotite xenoliths from the Colorado Plateau. Geothermometry on olivine-spinel and two-pyroxene pairs indicates equilibration temperatures of less than 800° C for the peridotite nodules. The relatively low temperatures calculated from mineral equilibria are consistent with temperature estimates for other mantle nodules from under the Colorado Plateau.Peridotite xenoliths, mg-ratios, and Ni contents are evidence that the latite magma was derived from mantle peridotite. The potassic nature of the magma probably accounts for its silica-rich composition. The potassic, silica-rich nature of the latite and its enrichment in LREE and other LIL elements are consistent with a source which was metasomatically enriched in these elements either before or during partial melting. The source could have been either spinel or garnet peridotite.     

US Geological Survey research on the environmental fate of uranium mining and milling wastes

Studies by the US Geological Survey (USGS) of uranium mill tailings (UMT) have focused on characterizing the forms in which radionuclides are retained and identifying factors influencing the release of radionuclides to air and water. Selective extraction studies and studies of radionuclide sorption by and leaching from components of UMT showed alkaline earth sulfate and hydrous ferric oxides to be important hosts of radium-226 (²²⁶Ra) in UMT. Extrapolating from studies of barite dissolution in anerobic lake sediments, the leaching of²²⁶Ra from UMT by sulfate-reducing bacteria was investigated; a marked increase in²²⁶Ra release to aqueous solution as compared to sterile controls was demonstrated. A similar action of iron(III)-reducing bacteria was later shown. Ion exchangers such as clay minerals can also promote the dissolution of host-phase minerals and thereby influence the fate of radionuclides such as²²⁶Ra. Radon release studies examined particle size and ore composition as variables. Aggregation of UMT particles was shown to mask the higher emanating fraction of finer particles. Studies of various ores and ore components showed that UMT cannot be assumed to have the same radon-release characteristics as their precursor ores, nor can²²⁶Ra retained by various substrates be assumed to emanate the same fraction of radon. Over the last decade, USGS research directed at offsite mobility of radionuclides from uranium mining and milling processes has focused on six areas: the Midnite Mine in Washington; Ralston Creek and Reservoir, Colorado; sites near Canon City, Colorado; the Monument Valley District of Arizona and Utah; the Cameron District of Arizona; and the Puerco River basin of Arizona and New Mexico.     

Provenance and microprobe assays of phyllite‐tempered ceramics from the uplands of central Arizona

The ceramics in use across a broad upland zone of central Arizona during the early Classic period (ca. A.D. 1100–1300) were characterized by a lack of mineralogical variability; nearly all of the clay containers were tempered with one rock type, phyllite. Consequently, nearly all of the upland pottery is assigned to a single pottery type, Wingfield Plain. This compositional uniformity has frustrated ceramic provenance studies, and, as a result, little has been learned previously about the organization of ceramic production and exchange in the upland territory. There are, however, considerable and interpretable chemical differences in the phyllite‐tempered wares, as shown with microanalyses of the temper fragments and pottery clay fractions with an electron microprobe. The chemical patterning is useful for investigating issues pertaining to the upland zone, including the organization of ceramic manufacture, community arrangements, and pottery transactions during a time of prevalent hostilities in central Arizona. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A 35,000 Year Vegetation and Climate History from Potato Lake, Mogollon Rim, Arizona

A new record from Potato Lake, central Arizona, details vegetation and climate changes since the mid-Wisconsin for the southern Colorado Plateau. Recovery of a longer record, discrimination of pine pollen to species groups, and identification of macrofossil remains extend Whiteside's (1965) original study. During the mid-Wisconsin (ca. 35,000-21,000 yr B.P.) a mixed forest of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) and other conifers grew at the site, suggesting a minimum elevational vegetation depression of ca. 460 m. Summer temperatures were as much as 5°C cooler than today. During the late Wisconsin (ca. 21,000-10,400 yr B.P.), even-cooler temperatures (7°C colder than today; ca. 800 m depression) allowed Engelmann spruce alone to predominate. Warming by ca. 10,400 yr B.P. led to the establishment of the modern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest. Thus, the mid-Wisconsin was not warm enough to support ponderosa pine forests in regions where the species predominates today. Climatic estimates presented here are consistent with other lines of evidence suggesting a cool and/or wet mid-Wisconsin, and a cold and/or wet late-Wisconsin climate for much of the Southwest. Potato Lake was almost completely dry during the mid-Holocene, but lake levels increased to near modern conditions by ca. 3000 yr B.P.     

Determination of shear strength of conglomerates using a caterpillar D9 ripper and comparison with alternative methods

Summary A method of determining shear strength in Gila Conglomerates at Inspiration Mine (now Cyprus Miami Mine), Arizona, using Caterpillar D9H and D9L rippers is described. The results are compared with data obtained using laboratory direct shear tests — both large and small scale, back analysis and boulder modelling. The significance of scale, particularly relating to boulder size is discussed.     

50,000 years of vegetation and climate history on the Colorado Plateau, Utah and Arizona, USA

Sixty packrat middens were collected in Canyonlands and Grand Canyon National Parks, and these series include sites north of areas that produced previous detailed series from the Colorado Plateau. The exceptionally long time series obtained from each of three sites (> 48,000 ¹⁴C yr BP to present) include some of the oldest middens yet discovered. Most middens contain a typical late-Wisconsinan glaciation mixture of mesic and xeric taxa, evidence that plant species responded to climate change by range adjustments of elevational distribution based on individual criteria. Differences in elevational range from today for trees and shrubs ranged from no apparent change to as much as 1200 m difference. The oldest middens from Canyonlands NP, however, differ in containing strictly xeric assemblages, including middens incorporating needles of Arizona single-leaf pinyon, far north of its current distribution. Similar-aged middens from the eastern end of Grand Canyon NP contain plants more typical of glacial climates, but also contain fossils of one-seed juniper near its current northern limit in Arizona. Holocene middens reveal the development of modern vegetation assemblages on the Colorado Plateau, recording departures of mesic taxa from low elevation sites, and the arrival of modern dominant components much later.