People and Processes in Quaternary Pacific Northwest

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

People and Processes in Quaternary Pacific Northwest AMQUA 2014 American Quaternary Association 23rd Biennial Meeting, 2014 Program and Abstracts People and Processes in Quaternary Pacific Northwest Hosted by the Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington UW Husky Union Building (HUB), Seattle, Washington August 7-10, 2014 Table of Contents AMQUA Officers ........................................................................... 2 Program Committee ........................................................................ 3 Program ........................................................................................... 4 Venues Map .................................................................................... 7 Abstracts of Invited Plenary Presentations ..................................... 9 Abstracts of Contributed Poster Presentations .............................. 41 Author Index ............................................................................... 129 Notes ........................................................................................... 133 1 AMQUA Officers E. Arthur Bettis, President Alison Smith, President-elect Colin Long, Secretary Brian Carter, Treasurer AMQUA Councilors Steve Holden, Archeology Matthew Hill, Archeology Kim Cobb, Geochronology, Geophysics, Geochemistry Jessica Tierney, Geochronology, Geophysics, Geochemistry Alex Wolfe, Geohistory Mary Savina, Geohistory Jean Lynch-Stieglitz, Marine Geoprocesses Andrea Dutton, Marine Geoprocesses Elizabeth Hadley, Paleobiology Jack Williams, Paleobioloby Sara Hotchkiss, Paloebiology Connie Woodhouse, Paleoclimatology Jeff Dorale, Paleoclimatology Darrell Kaufman, Terrestrial Geoprocesses Peter Jacobs, Terrestrial Geoprocesses 2 AMQUA 2014, 23rd Biennial Meeting Program Committee Alan Gillespie Quaternary Research, Editor (Chair) David Montgomery University of Washington (Program Director) Local Organizing Committee Brian Atwater US Geological Survey Bax R. Barton Quaternary Research Center, Burke Museum Derek Booth Quaternary Research, Editor Ben Fitzhugh Quaternary Research Center, Director Eric Steig IsoLab, University of Washington Field Trips Pre-meeting field trip 1: Glacial history of Whidbey Island and the Ledgewood Beach landslide site Leader: Terry Swanson, University of Washington Post-meeting field trip 1: Mt. St. Helens and Mima Mounds Tour Leader: Ronald Sletten, University of Washington Post-meeting field trip 2: Hazardous Seattle Co-leaders: Brian Atwater, US Geological Survey Kathy Troost, GeoMapNW; University of Washington 3 Program 2014 American Quaternary Association Husky Union Building (HUB), University of Washington Seattle, Washington August 7-10, 2014 People and Processes in Quaternary Pacific Northwest Thursday, August 7 7:00a – 5:00p Pre-meeting Field Trip 1 Whidbey Island Leader: Terry Swanson Meet at the Johnson Circle, a traffic circle besides the Johnson Hall and Gerberding Hall, University of Washington campus. 5:00 – 8:00p Registration / Opening Mixer at the University of Washington Club Friday, August 8 8:30 – 9:00a Welcome and Opening Remarks HUB, South Ballroom 9:00 – 10:30a Plenary Session 1: Ice Sheets, Sea Level, and Landscape Change John Clague, The misuse of radiocarbon ages in late Quaternary chronologies. Nancy Bigelow, Late glacial and Holocene landscape change in eastern Beringia--what people encountered. Pop ups for Poster Session 1 (30 minutes) 10:30 – 11:00a Poster Session 1 / Coffee HUB, South Ballroom 11:00a – 12:00p Plenary Session 2: Sedimentary Records in Coastal Waters Karl Wegmann et al., How important is seismically induced erosion above the Cascadia subduction zone? Insights from the stratigraphy of large lakes on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State. Audrey Dallimore, Tales from Effingham; What we know about the Pacific Northwest coastal ocean, climate, tectonics and ecosystems from the past decades of work in Effingham Inlet, B.C., Canada. 12:00 – 1:30p Lunch 4 Friday, August 8 12:15 – 1:30p AMQUA Council Meeting Johnson Hall, Room 170 12:00 – 1:30p USNC / INQUA Business Meeting Johnson Hall, Room 377A 1:30 – 3:00p Plenary Session 3: Tsunamis and Floods HUB, South Ballroom Lisa Ely et al., Geological and historical records of tsunamis: Examples from south-central Chile. Jim O’Connor, Does the river give a dam? — Quaternary outburst floods, causes, and consequences in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Pop ups for Poster Session 2 (30 minutes) 3:00 – 3:30p Poster Session 2 / Coffee HUB, South Ballroom 3:30 – 4:30p Plenary Session 4: Volcanoes HUB, South Ballroom Richard Waitt, Witnesses tell of Mount St. Helens’ 1980 eruption. Britanny Brand, Pyroclastic density currents from the May 18th, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens – The story retold. 4:30 – 5:30p Posters HUB, South Ballroom 6:00 – 9:00p Reception at the Burke Museum Saturday, August 9 8:30 – 9:00a Welcome Coffee HUB, South Ballroom 9:00 – 10:30a Plenary Session 5: Earliest Peoples of Western North Amercia Dennis Jenkins, Archaeological science at the Paisley Caves in south central Oregon. Charlotte Beck and Tom Jones, What they did after they got there: Life during the terminal Pleistocene in the intermountain west. Pop ups for Poster Session 3 (30 minutes) 10:30 – 11:00a Poster Session 3 / Coffee HUB, South Ballroom 11:00a – 12:00p Plenary Session 6: Quaternary Vertebrates Michael Wilson, Pacific Northwest North American fossil vertebrates, paleoenvironments, and opportunities for human migration with last glacial advance and retreat. Duane Froese et al., Bison dispersal from Beringia into North America via the ice-free corridor. 12:00 – 3:00p Lunch 5 Saturday, August 9 12:30 – 2:00p Mentoring Event for Early Career Johnson Hall, Room 170 Scientists 2:00 – 3:00p AMQUA Awards & Business Meeting HUB, South Ballroom; Johnson Hall, Room 377A 3:00 – 4:30p Plenary Session 7: Paleoecology and Ancient DNA David Meltzer and Eske Willerslev, Genetics, archaeology and the Pleistocene peopling of North America. Elizabeth Alter, Using ancient DNA to infer population responses of Arctic whales to climatic changes in the Holocene. Pop ups for Poster Session 4 (30 minutes) 4:30 – 5:30p Poster Session 4 HUB, South Ballroom 6:00 – 9:00p Closing Banquet at the Hotel Deca Grand Ballroom Sunday, August 10 7:00a – 6:30p Post-meeting Field Trip 1 Mt. St. Helens / Mima Mounds Leader: Ron Sletten Meet at the Johnson Circle, outside of the Johnson Hall, University of Washington Seattle campus. 8:00a – 5:00p Post-meeting Field Trip 2 Hazardous Seattle Co-leaders: Brian Atwater and Kathy Troost Meet at the Johnson Circle, outside of the Johnson Hall, University of Washington Seattle campus. Parking and Bus Getting around the town and UW campus is not hard. Bus routes run through the campus, for example #67, and a map is available at http://metro.kingcounty.gov/schedules/066/map.html Parking may be available at your hotel. Please inquire with your hotel about on-site parking. Daily parking permits can be purchased at the campus gates for $15 (6am-5pm, Monday-Friday), and Night permits for $5. Central Parking Garage charges a non- refundable $10 event rate, but other parking lots near Burke Museum or HUB don’t charge that fee. Please find details at http://www.washington.edu/facilities/transportation/commuterservices/parking 6 Watertown H otel Hotel DecaHotel Lander Lander Hall P P P Burke Museum Johnson Hall Johnson P P Building Husky Union Husky (HUB) 7 8 Abstracts of Invited Plenary Presentations 9 USING ANCIENT DNA TO INFER POPULATION RESPONSES OF ARCTIC WHALES TO CLIMATIC CHANGES IN THE HOLOCENE ALTER, S. Elizabeth, York College & The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 94 - 20 Guy R. Brewer Blvd, Jamaica, NY 11451, [email protected] Changes in sea ice and sea level over the Holocene dramatically impacted both habitat and dispersal routes for many species of marine mammals. We examined ancient DNA from gray whales and bowhead whales, two species of baleen whale that utilize Arctic and sub-Arctic habitats. The Atlantic gray whale represents the only known recent extinction of a great whale species or population from an ocean basin, but very little is known about its demographic history or its relationship to the extant Pacific populations. Our results show that the Pleistocene population in the Atlantic persisted through the last glacial maximum to the Holocene. Migrations between the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean were climate-dependent, and occurred both during the Pleistocene prior to the last glacial period, and during the early Holocene immediately following the opening of the Bering Strait. We observe a decline in genetic diversity in the Atlantic gray whale population over an extended interval beginning in the mid-Holocene, perhaps precipitated by climatic or ecological causes. These results contrast with findings for bowhead whales, which show a high level of gene flow between Atlantic and Pacific stocks in the recent past. Unexpectedly, samples from the central Canadian Arctic show a much closer genetic relationship with modern Pacific stocks than with modern Atlantic stocks, supporting high gene flow between the central Canadian Arctic and the Beaufort Sea over the past millennium despite extremely heavy ice cover over much of this period. These results indicate that gray and bowhead whales responded differently to climatic changes in the Holocene, highlighting how complex ecologies in these species shape their response to climate. 10 WHAT THEY DID AFTER THEY GOT THERE: LIFE DURING THE TERMINAL PLEISTOCENE IN THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST BECK, Charlotte, [email protected],
Recommended publications
  • Vegetation and Fire at the Last Glacial Maximum in Tropical South America
    Past Climate Variability in South America and Surrounding Regions Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research VOLUME 14 Aims and Scope: Paleoenvironmental research continues to enjoy tremendous interest and progress in the scientific community. The overall aims and scope of the Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research book series is to capture this excitement and doc- ument these developments. Volumes related to any aspect of paleoenvironmental research, encompassing any time period, are within the scope of the series. For example, relevant topics include studies focused on terrestrial, peatland, lacustrine, riverine, estuarine, and marine systems, ice cores, cave deposits, palynology, iso- topes, geochemistry, sedimentology, paleontology, etc. Methodological and taxo- nomic volumes relevant to paleoenvironmental research are also encouraged. The series will include edited volumes on a particular subject, geographic region, or time period, conference and workshop proceedings, as well as monographs. Prospective authors and/or editors should consult the series editor for more details. The series editor also welcomes any comments or suggestions for future volumes. EDITOR AND BOARD OF ADVISORS Series Editor: John P. Smol, Queen’s University, Canada Advisory Board: Keith Alverson, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), UNESCO, France H. John B. Birks, University of Bergen and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Norway Raymond S. Bradley, University of Massachusetts, USA Glen M. MacDonald, University of California, USA For futher
    [Show full text]
  • Sea Level and Global Ice Volumes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene
    Sea level and global ice volumes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene Kurt Lambecka,b,1, Hélène Roubya,b, Anthony Purcella, Yiying Sunc, and Malcolm Sambridgea aResearch School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia; bLaboratoire de Géologie de l’École Normale Supérieure, UMR 8538 du CNRS, 75231 Paris, France; and cDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China This contribution is part of the special series of Inaugural Articles by members of the National Academy of Sciences elected in 2009. Contributed by Kurt Lambeck, September 12, 2014 (sent for review July 1, 2014; reviewed by Edouard Bard, Jerry X. Mitrovica, and Peter U. Clark) The major cause of sea-level change during ice ages is the exchange for the Holocene for which the direct measures of past sea level are of water between ice and ocean and the planet’s dynamic response relatively abundant, for example, exhibit differences both in phase to the changing surface load. Inversion of ∼1,000 observations for and in noise characteristics between the two data [compare, for the past 35,000 y from localities far from former ice margins has example, the Holocene parts of oxygen isotope records from the provided new constraints on the fluctuation of ice volume in this Pacific (9) and from two Red Sea cores (10)]. interval. Key results are: (i) a rapid final fall in global sea level of Past sea level is measured with respect to its present position ∼40 m in <2,000 y at the onset of the glacial maximum ∼30,000 y and contains information on both land movement and changes in before present (30 ka BP); (ii) a slow fall to −134 m from 29 to 21 ka ocean volume.
    [Show full text]
  • Stratigraphy and Correlation of Glacial Deposits of the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau and the Ranges of the Great Basin
    STRATIGRAPHY AND CORRELATION OF GLACIAL DEPOSITS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, THE COLORADO PLATEAU AND THE RANGES OF THE GREAT BASIN Gerald M. Richmond u.s. Geological Survey, Box 25046, Federal Center, MS 913, Denver, Colorado 80225, U.S.A. INTRODUCTION glaciations (Charts lA, 1B) see Fullerton and Rich- mond, Comparison of the marine oxygen isotope The Rocky Mountains, Colorado Plateau, and Basin record, the eustatic sea level record, and the chronology and Range Provinces (Fig. 1) together occupy much of of glaciation in the United States of America (this the western interior United States. These regions volume). include approximately 140 mountain ranges that were glaciated during the Pleistocene. Most of the glaciers Historical Perspective were valley glaciers, but ice caps formed on uplands Following early recognition of deposits of two alpine locally. Discussion of the deposits of all of these ranges glaciations (Gilbert, 1890; Ball, 1908; Capps, 1909; would require monographic analysis. To avoid this, Atwood, 1909), deposits of three glaciations gradually representative ranges in each province are reviewed. became widely recognized (Alden, 1912, 1932, 1953; Atwood and Mather, 1912, 1932; Alden and Stebinger, Purpose and Scope 1913; Blackwelder, 1915; Atwood, 1915; Fryxell, 1930; This report summarizes the evidence for correlation Bradley, 1936). Subsequently drift of the intermediate of the Quaternary glacial deposits in 26 broadly glaciation was shown to represent two glacial advances distributed mountain ranges selected on the basis of (Fryxell, 1930; Horberg, 1938; Richmond, 1948, 1962a; availability of detailed information and length of glacial Moss, 1951a; Nelson, 1954; Holmes and Moss, 1955), record. and the older drift was shown to include deposits of Because the glacial deposits rarely are traceable from three glaciations (Richmond, 1957, 1962a, 1964a).
    [Show full text]
  • The History of Ice on Earth by Michael Marshall
    The history of ice on Earth By Michael Marshall Primitive humans, clad in animal skins, trekking across vast expanses of ice in a desperate search to find food. That’s the image that comes to mind when most of us think about an ice age. But in fact there have been many ice ages, most of them long before humans made their first appearance. And the familiar picture of an ice age is of a comparatively mild one: others were so severe that the entire Earth froze over, for tens or even hundreds of millions of years. In fact, the planet seems to have three main settings: “greenhouse”, when tropical temperatures extend to the polesand there are no ice sheets at all; “icehouse”, when there is some permanent ice, although its extent varies greatly; and “snowball”, in which the planet’s entire surface is frozen over. Why the ice periodically advances – and why it retreats again – is a mystery that glaciologists have only just started to unravel. Here’s our recap of all the back and forth they’re trying to explain. Snowball Earth 2.4 to 2.1 billion years ago The Huronian glaciation is the oldest ice age we know about. The Earth was just over 2 billion years old, and home only to unicellular life-forms. The early stages of the Huronian, from 2.4 to 2.3 billion years ago, seem to have been particularly severe, with the entire planet frozen over in the first “snowball Earth”. This may have been triggered by a 250-million-year lull in volcanic activity, which would have meant less carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere, and a reduced greenhouse effect.
    [Show full text]
  • A Proxy System Model for Lacustrine Archives 10.1029/2018PA003413
    Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology RESEARCH ARTICLE PRYSM v2.0: A Proxy System Model for Lacustrine Archives 10.1029/2018PA003413 Sylvia G. Dee1,2,3 , James M. Russell1,2, Carrie Morrill4,5 , Zihan Chen1, and Ashling Neary1 Key Points: • We present a publicly available 1Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, 2Institute at Brown forward model for lake paleoclimate 3 archives, expanding open-source for Environment and Society, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary tools for PRoxY System Modeling Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA, 4Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of (PRYSM) Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA, 5NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Boulder, CO, USA • The model simulates lake energy and water balance, sensors including TEX86,leafwax D, and carbonate 18O, bioturbation, and compaction Abstract Reconstructions of temperature and hydrology from lake sedimentary archives have made • Modeling the full lake system fundamental contributions to our understanding of past, present, and future climate and help evaluate demonstrates importance of mixing, general circulation models (GCMs). However, because paleoclimate observations are an indirect (proxy) nonstationarity, and seasonality in lake paleoclimate archives constraint on climatic variables, confounding effects of proxy processes complicate interpretations of these archives. To circumvent these uncertainties inherent to paleoclimate data-model comparison, proxy system models (PSMs) provide transfer functions between climate variables and the proxy. We here present a Supporting Information: new PSM for lacustrine sedimentary archives. The model simulates lake energy and water balance, sensors • Supporting Information S1 including leaf wax D and carbonate 18O, bioturbation, and compaction of sediment to lend insight toward how these processes affect and potentially obfuscate the original climate signal.
    [Show full text]
  • Radiocarbon Evidence Relating to Northern Great Basin Basketry Chronology
    UC Merced Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Title Radiocarbon Evidence Relating to Northern Great Basin Basketry Chronology Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/52v4n8cf Journal Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 20(1) ISSN 0191-3557 Authors Connolly, Thomas J Fowler, Catherine S Cannon, William J Publication Date 1998-07-01 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California REPORTS Radiocarbon Evidence Relating ity over a span of nearly 10,000 years (cf. to Northern Great Basin Cressman 1942, 1986; Connolly 1994). Stages Basketry Chronology 1 and 2 are divided at 7,000 years ago, the approximate time of the Mt. Mazama eruption THOMAS J. CONNOLLY which deposited a significant tephra chronologi­ Oregon State Museum of Anthropology., Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403. cal marker throughout the region. Stage 3 be­ CATHERINE S. FOWLER gins after 1,000 years ago,' when traits asso­ Dept. of Anthropology, Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV ciated with Northern Paiute basketmaking tradi­ 89557. tions appear (Adovasio 1986a; Fowler and Daw­ WILLIAM J. CANNON son 1986; Adovasio and Pedler 1995; Fowler Bureau of Land Management, Lakeview, OR 97630. 1995). During Stage 1, from 11,000 to 7,000 years Adovasio et al. (1986) described Early ago, Adovasio (1986a: 196) asserted that north­ Holocene basketry from the northern Great ern Great Basin basketry was limited to open Basin as "simple twined and undecorated. " Cressman (1986) reported the presence of and close simple twining with z-twist (slanting decorated basketry during the Early Holo­ down to the right) wefts. Fort Rock and Spiral cene, which he characterized as a "climax Weft sandals were made (see Cressman [1942] of cultural development'' in the Fort Rock for technical details of sandal types).
    [Show full text]
  • Fort Rock Cave: Assessing the Site’S Potential to Contribute to Ongoing Debates About How and When Humans Colonized the Great Basin
    RETURN TO FORT ROCK CAVE: ASSESSING THE SITE’S POTENTIAL TO CONTRIBUTE TO ONGOING DEBATES ABOUT HOW AND WHEN HUMANS COLONIZED THE GREAT BASIN Thomas J. Connolly, Judson Byrd Finley, Geoffrey M. Smith, Dennis L. Jenkins, Pamela E. Endzweig, Brian L. O’Neill, and Paul W. Baxter Oregon’s Fort Rock Cave is iconic in respect to both the archaeology of the northern Great Basin and the history of debate about when the Great Basin was colonized. In 1938, Luther Cressman recovered dozens of sagebrush bark sandals from beneath Mt. Mazama ash that were later radiocarbon dated to between 10,500 and 9350 cal B.P. In 1970, Stephen Bedwell reported finding lithic tools associated with a date of more than 15,000 cal B.P., a date dismissed as unreasonably old by most researchers. Now, with evidence of a nearly 15,000-year-old occupation at the nearby Paisley Five Mile Point Caves, we returned to Fort Rock Cave to evaluate the validity of Bedwell’s claim, assess the stratigraphic integrity of remaining deposits, and determine the potential for future work at the site. Here, we report the results of additional fieldwork at Fort Rock Cave undertaken in 2015 and 2016, which supports the early Holocene occupation, but does not confirm a pre–10,500 cal B.P. human presence. La cueva de Fort Rock en Oregón es icónica por lo que representa para la arqueología de la parte norte de la Gran Cuenca y para la historia del debate sobre la primera ocupación de la Gran Cuenca. En 1938, Luther Cressman recuperó docenas de sandalias de corteza de artemisa debajo de una capa de cenizas del monte Mazama que fueron posteriormente fechadas por radiocarbono entre 10,500 y 9200 cal a.P.
    [Show full text]
  • Characterisation and Prediction of Large-Scale, Long-Term Change of Coastal Geomorphological Behaviours: Final Science Report
    Characterisation and prediction of large-scale, long-term change of coastal geomorphological behaviours: Final science report Science Report: SC060074/SR1 Product code: SCHO0809BQVL-E-P The Environment Agency is the leading public body protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales. It’s our job to make sure that air, land and water are looked after by everyone in today’s society, so that tomorrow’s generations inherit a cleaner, healthier world. Our work includes tackling flooding and pollution incidents, reducing industry’s impacts on the environment, cleaning up rivers, coastal waters and contaminated land, and improving wildlife habitats. This report is the result of research commissioned by the Environment Agency’s Science Department and funded by the joint Environment Agency/Defra Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research and Development Programme. Published by: Author(s): Environment Agency, Rio House, Waterside Drive, Richard Whitehouse, Peter Balson, Noel Beech, Alan Aztec West, Almondsbury, Bristol, BS32 4UD Brampton, Simon Blott, Helene Burningham, Nick Tel: 01454 624400 Fax: 01454 624409 Cooper, Jon French, Gregor Guthrie, Susan Hanson, www.environment-agency.gov.uk Robert Nicholls, Stephen Pearson, Kenneth Pye, Kate Rossington, James Sutherland, Mike Walkden ISBN: 978-1-84911-090-7 Dissemination Status: © Environment Agency – August 2009 Publicly available Released to all regions All rights reserved. This document may be reproduced with prior permission of the Environment Agency. Keywords: Coastal geomorphology, processes, systems, The views and statements expressed in this report are management, consultation those of the author alone. The views or statements expressed in this publication do not necessarily Research Contractor: represent the views of the Environment Agency and the HR Wallingford Ltd, Howbery Park, Wallingford, Oxon, Environment Agency cannot accept any responsibility for OX10 8BA, 01491 835381 such views or statements.
    [Show full text]
  • 0205683290.Pdf
    Hominin footprints preserved at Laetoli, Tanzania, are about 3.6 million years old. These individuals were between 3 and 4 feet tall when standing upright. For a close-up view of one of the footprints and further information, go to the human origins section of the website of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/ humanorigins/ha/laetoli.htm. THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANITY AND CULTURE 2 the BIG questions v What do living nonhuman primates tell us about OUTLINE human culture? Nonhuman Primates and the Roots of Human Culture v Hominin Evolution to Modern What role did culture play Humans during hominin evolution? Critical Thinking: What Is Really in the Toolbox? v How has modern human Eye on the Environment: Clothing as a Thermal culture changed in the past Adaptation to Cold and Wind 12,000 years? The Neolithic Revolution and the Emergence of Cities and States Lessons Applied: Archaeology Findings Increase Food Production in Bolivia 33 Substantial scientific evidence indicates that modern hu- closest to humans and describes how they provide insights into mans have evolved from a shared lineage with primate ances- what the lives of the earliest human ancestors might have been tors between 4 and 8 million years ago. The mid-nineteenth like. It then turns to a description of the main stages in evolu- century was a turning point in European thinking about tion to modern humans. The last section covers the develop- human origins as scientific thinking challenged the biblical ment of settled life, agriculture, and cities and states.
    [Show full text]
  • A Possible Late Pleistocene Impact Crater in Central North America and Its Relation to the Younger Dryas Stadial
    A POSSIBLE LATE PLEISTOCENE IMPACT CRATER IN CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA AND ITS RELATION TO THE YOUNGER DRYAS STADIAL SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY David Tovar Rodriguez IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE Howard Mooers, Advisor August 2020 2020 David Tovar All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Howard Mooers for his permanent support, my family, and my friends. i Abstract The causes that started the Younger Dryas (YD) event remain hotly debated. Studies indicate that the drainage of Lake Agassiz into the North Atlantic Ocean and south through the Mississippi River caused a considerable change in oceanic thermal currents, thus producing a decrease in global temperature. Other studies indicate that perhaps the impact of an extraterrestrial body (asteroid fragment) could have impacted the Earth 12.9 ky BP ago, triggering a series of events that caused global temperature drop. The presence of high concentrations of iridium, charcoal, fullerenes, and molten glass, considered by-products of extraterrestrial impacts, have been reported in sediments of the same age; however, there is no impact structure identified so far. In this work, the Roseau structure's geomorphological features are analyzed in detail to determine if impacted layers with plastic deformation located between hard rocks and a thin layer of water might explain the particular shape of the studied structure. Geophysical data of the study area do not show gravimetric anomalies related to a possible impact structure. One hypothesis developed on this works is related to the structure's shape might be explained by atmospheric explosions dynamics due to the disintegration of material when it comes into contact with the atmosphere.
    [Show full text]
  • Modelling the Concentration of Atmospheric CO2 During the Younger Dryas Climate Event
    Climate Dynamics (1999) 15:341}354 ( Springer-Verlag 1999 O. Marchal' T. F. Stocker'F. Joos' A. Indermu~hle T. Blunier'J. Tschumi Modelling the concentration of atmospheric CO2 during the Younger Dryas climate event Received: 27 May 1998 / Accepted: 5 November 1998 Abstract The Younger Dryas (YD, dated between 12.7}11.6 ky BP in the GRIP ice core, Central Green- 1 Introduction land) is a distinct cold period in the North Atlantic region during the last deglaciation. A popular, but Pollen continental sequences indicate that the Younger controversial hypothesis to explain the cooling is a re- Dryas cold climate event of the last deglaciation (YD) duction of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC) a!ected mainly northern Europe and eastern Canada and associated northward heat #ux as triggered by (Peteet 1995). This event has been dated by annual layer counting between 12 700$100 y BP and glacial meltwater. Recently, a CH4-based synchroniza- d18 11550$70 y BP in the GRIP ice core (72.6 3N, tion of GRIP O and Byrd CO2 records (West Antarctica) indicated that the concentration of atmo- 37.6 3W; Johnsen et al. 1992) and between 12 940$ 260 !5. y BP and 11 640$ 250 y BP in the GISP2 ice core spheric CO2 (CO2 ) rose steadily during the YD, sug- !5. (72.6 3N, 38.5 3W; Alley et al. 1993), both drilled in gesting a minor in#uence of the THC on CO2 at that !5. Central Greenland. A popular hypothesis for the YD is time. Here we show that the CO2 change in a zonally averaged, circulation-biogeochemistry ocean model a reduction in the formation of North Atlantic Deep when THC is collapsed by freshwater #ux anomaly is Water by the input of low-density glacial meltwater, consistent with the Byrd record.
    [Show full text]
  • Mondo Quake in Pacific Northwest? by Leander Kahney
    Mondo Quake in Pacific Northwest? By Leander Kahney Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61322,00.html 02:00 AM Nov. 24, 2003 PT Geologists have discovered evidence of a massively powerful earthquake zone beneath the Pacific Northwest just offshore from the Seattle area. They made the discovery by piecing together ancient accounts of a giant Japanese tsunami and a computer simulation of a huge temblor in the 17th century. Thought to be inactive, the earthquake zone runs 600 miles up the Pacific Coast from Northern California to southern British Columbia. It appears to be subject to monster quakes every 500 years. Known as the Cascadia subduction zone, the fault could threaten Vancouver, Portland and Seattle, which are full of buildings and high rises not built to withstand massive earthquakes. "This region has the potential for truly enormous earthquakes," said Brian Atwater of the U.S. Geological Survey, one of three authors of a new paper about a giant 17th-century quake along the fault. Published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth, the paper catalogs evidence for a magnitude-9 quake, which sent a tsunami across the Pacific to wreak havoc in Shogun-era Japan. The idea that the Cascadia region caused the tsunami isn't new; Japanese researchers first floated the idea in 1996. But the paper's authors present a solid case that a magnitude-9 quake on Tuesday, January 26, 1700, sent a 15-foot tsunami into Japan about 14 hours later. The paper, authored by Atwater, Kenji Satake of the Geological Survey of Japan and Kelin Wang of the Geological Survey of Canada, also presents a new computer model of the cataclysmic event.
    [Show full text]