And Wisconsinan Paleoenvironments in Yellowstone National Park
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Sangamonian(?) and Wisconsinan paleoenvironments in Yellowstone National Park RICHARD G. BAKER Department of Geology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 ABSTRACT This paper summarizes five pollen sequences, three of which con- tained plant macrofossils (see Fig. 1 for locations). The Grassy Lake Res- Pollen and plant macrofossil records from Yellowstone National ervoir pollen sequence was interpreted as a warm interstadial event (Baker Park, if combined with dated glacial events, provide a paleoenviron- and Richmond, 1978). In this paper, the pollen sequence is compared with mental record of much of the last glacial-interglacial cycle. Bull Lake plant macrofossils collected at the same time from the same section. Sec- glaciation has been dated at -140,000 yr B.P. Section EP-6 records a tion EP-6 was interpreted from initial pollen counts as a late-glacial to late-glacial to full interglacial sequence which is correlated with the full-interglacial sequence (Baker, 1981). The complete pollen sequence is Sangamonian interglacial and estimated to be 127,000 yr old at the presented here, along with a pollen concentration diagram. In addition, the peak warm period. A prevailing Pseudotsuga-Pinus flexilis-Pinus section was resampled, and the pollen and plant macrofossils from the ponderosa forest suggests that climate was considerably warmer than interglacial portion of the sequence are examined in detail. A second any in the Holocene. Section EP-5 is somewhat younger, probably section, EP-S, is stratigraphically above EP-6, and pollen and macrofossils late Sangamonian, and shows a forest dominated by Picea, Abies, from it are presented. Reconnaissance palynology of a younger, cold inter- Pseudotsuga, and a haploxylon Pinus. Slightly cooler conditions than stadial section is also briefly discussed. those of the present are indicated. Pollen sequences from Yellowstone National Park have outlined The warmest phase of the Grassy Lake Reservoir section is con- vegetational changes in late glacial and Holocene time (Baker, 1970,1976; sidered to be -82,000 yr old and records a warm interstadial cycle Waddington and Wright, 1974; Gennett, 1977). Plant macrofossil anal- beginning with tundra. The wanning sequence is indicated by change yses have provided more detailed understanding of these changes (Baker, to a Picea-A bies-Pinus albicaulis forest and then to a Pinus contorta 1976). Pollen sequences from southern Montana (Mehringer and others, forest. The cycle ends with forest destruction and a return to open 1977; Brant, 1980) and some plant-macrofossil work (R. C. Bright, 1980, (tundra?) and, presumably, cold conditions. written commun.) from Montana support the general trends for the region. Extremely low values of arboreal pollen indicate that tundra This late Quaternary work provides a basis for understanding the earlier vegetation and cold conditions continued from -70,000 to -50,000 yr pollen sequences. B.P. One cool and, apparently, short interstadial interrupted this ex- tended period of tundra shortly after 68,000 B.P. when a very open Vegetation and Climate parkland of Picea-A bies-Pinus albicaulis appeared. No records of environment are available between -50,000 and The vegetation of the Yellowstone Park region is grassland or steppe 30,000 yr B.P. The Pinedale icecap apparently expanded -30,000 yr at low elevations (below -1,700 m), a series of overlapping forest series at B.P. and lasted until -14,000 yr B.P. Late-glacial Picea-A bies-Pinus middle and upper elevations (1,700 to 3,000 m), and tundra on the high albicaulis parklands gave way to Pinus contorta forests that have mountaintops (>3,000 m) (Steele and others, 1983; Arno, 1979). The prevailed with minor variation for -10,000 yr. forest zones are broadly controlled by elevation and include (base to top) Pinus flexilis, Pseudotsuga, Pinus contorta, Picea engelmannii, Abies lasio- INTRODUCTION carpa, and Pinus albicaulis (Fig. 2). Topographic aspect, soil types, and other factors cause considerable variability in the elevation of each habitat Pollen sequences of pre-late Wisconsin or Sangamon age are known type, although the general pattern is widely established. Pinus ponderosa from few sites in the western United States. Heusser (1977) has developed does not grow locally in the Yellowstone Park area, but in central Mon- a generalized sequence of pollen assemblages back through the last inter- tana, it forms a habitat type below the Pinus flexilis type along the glacial period for western Washington, using a number of different sec- grassland-forest border (Arno, 1979). tions. Based on long cores from Clear Lake, Adam and West (1983) have Climatic stations in Yellowstone Park provide some data on the produced a continuous pollen sequence from Sangamon to present in climate associated with three of the habitat types (Fig. 2). Mean monthly central California. Few Rocky Mountain pollen records, however, are precipitation curves show that precipitation is rather evenly distributed older than Pinedale (late Wisconsin). Yellowstone National Park is per- throughout the year in this region. Mean monthly temperatures are lower haps unique in having many Wisconsin and older sections that contain each month at high-altitude sites as compared to low-altitude sites. Mean pollen and plant macrofossils (Baker and Richmond, 1978; Baker, 1981). annual temperature also varies inversely with altitude. Mean annual pre- The purposes of this paper are (1) to document vegetational sequences cipitation commonly increases with altitude, but Yellowstone National from early Wisconsin and probable Sangamon sites by comparing pollen Park has substantial variation of precipitation geographically (highest and plant macrofossil sequences and (2) to present a first approximation of values in the southwest corner and lowest along the northern border) so the environmental history of Yellowstone National Park during an esti- that the pattern is not uniform with elevation. The cause for this variation mated 140,000 yr. is uncertain, but it is not, apparently, caused by major air-mass boundaries Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 97, p. 717-736,13 figs., 1 table, June 1986. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/97/6/717/3445121/i0016-7606-97-6-717.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 718 R. G. BAKER Figure 1. Map of Yellowstone National Park showing ssunple lo- cations and arias men- tioned in text. Modified from Baker arid Rich- mond (1978). 440J 0 10 20 30 KILOMETERS L- _JI I _J in the region (Miichell, 1976). It may be that the southwest corner of the park has been glaciated several times (Richmond, 1970, 1976), iind the park receives maximum effect from westerly and southwesterly winds last major icecaps apparently occurred -140,000 and 20,000 to 30,000 yr blowing across the relatively low Snake River Plain (Mitchell,1976) and B.P. (Pierce and others, 1976; Pierce, 1979). suddenly cooling adiabatically as a result of the orographic effect of the Yellowstone Plateau. Methods The geology of Yellowstone National Park is fairly well known (Christiansen and Blank, 1972; Smedes and Prostka, 1972; Ruppel, 1972; The large sections exposed along stream cuts were measured using a Love and Keefer, 1975; Pierce, 1979). Volcanic and glacial geologic fea- steel tape, and samples were collected using shovels and knives. The slope tures predominate. Sedimentary rocks are exposed in the northwest and angles were measured with a Brunton compass, and the tape measure- south-central border areas of the park (U.S. Geological Survey, 1972). ments were corrected to vertical. Measurements of dipping units were Eocene volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks compose the Absaroka Range corrected to true thicknesses. Sediments were placed in plastic boxes or along the eastern border. Quaternary rhyolites from early to late Quater- zip-lock plastic bags and stored at room temperature. nary volcanic eruptions and related volcanic events cover central areas in Sediments were processed for pollen using a treatment modified from the park (Christiansen and Blank, 1972). The latest eruptive event took Faegri and Iversen (1975). Samples used for pollen concentration were place -70,000 yr ago and resulted in the Pitchstone Plateau flow. The immersed in water and their volume measured in a graduated centrifuge Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/97/6/717/3445121/i0016-7606-97-6-717.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 SANGAMONIAN(?) AND WISCONSINAN PALEOENVIRONMENTS, YELLOWSTONE PARK 719 tube. A tablet containing 16,180 ± 1,500 gTains oi Eucalyptus pollen was GRASSY LAKE RESERVOIR added to these samples. All sediments were treated with KOH, HCL, HF, and acetolysis solution; rinsed in tertiary butyl alcohol; and mounted in The sample site at Grassy Lake Reservoir (Fig. 1) exposes lake sedi- silicon oil. In the spiked samples, Eucalyptus pollen grains were counted ments underlying Pinedale Till (Richmond, 1973, sec. 2; Baker and Rich- along with a minimum of 300 indigenous grains for calculation of pollen mond, 1978), and, in nearby sections, these lake sediments interfinger with concentration (Maher, 1972). Pollen was identified using the University of Bull Lake Till. Obsidian hydration dates indicate that the Bull Lake Till Iowa Pollen Reference Collection. was deposited before 130,000 yr B.P. near West Yellowstone, Montana About 200 ml of sediment for plant macrofossils analysis were (Pierce and others, 1976). Pieces of the Pitchstone Plateau rhyolite flow, washed through 35- and 105-mesh screens using a gentle stream of water which crops out "up-glacier" from Grassy Lake Reservoir, occur in the from a shower nozzle. The fossils were hand picked and then stored in overlying Pinedale Till but not in the lake sediments nor in Bull Lake Till glycerin. Seeds, fruits, leaves, bracts, and other macrofossils were identified by comparison with the Seed Collection of the Geology Department, University of Iowa. Elevations [-10,000 ft. (2970 m.) •9000 (2743) 8000 (2438) t/> <D N PI NUS CONTORTA PHASE 0C) E 7000 o CT (2133) eTín o X T) PSEUDOTSUGA MENZIESII SERIES <4— •D a>w 3 0.