Pollen analysis of the Tule Springs site, Nevada Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Mehringer, Peter J. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 25/09/2021 21:06:58 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565175 POLLEN ANALYSIS OF THE TULE SPRINGS SITE, NEVADA by Peter J. Mehringer, Jr. A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF GEOCHRONOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 6 8 ■ THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by P e ter J. Mehrlnger, Jr._______________________ entitled Pollen Analysis of the Tule Springs Site,_____ Nevada_________________________________ ______ be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy_______________________ y -/ o - 6 5- Dissertation Director Date After inspection of the final copy of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:* This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate1s adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allow­ able without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manu­ script in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank Drs. P. S. Martin, C. V. Haynes, Jr., P. E. Damon, W. L. Nutting, and F. G. Werner for critical comment and advice regarding the manuscript. Special appreciation is due Dr. P. S. Martin for directing the research and offering many valuable sug­ gestions throughout the course of the study. It is a sincere pleasure to acknowledge the co­ operation of Dr. C. V. Haynes, Jr. Without his initial geological studies and continued interest in the strati­ graphy, chronology and paleoecology of the Tule Springs site this research would not have been possible. Financial support was provided by National Science Foundation Grants GS 23 to Dr. R. Shutler, Jr., Nevada State Museum, and G 219^4 and GB 1959 to Dr. P. S. Martin, University of Arizona ill TABLE OP CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS........ vi LIST OF TABLES...................................... ix ABSTRACT............................................ x INTRODUCTION................................... 1 Historical Background....................... 1 The Study Area............................ 3 Pollen Analysis and Southwestern Archaeo­ logy ........................................ 6 PALYNOLOGICAL METHODS AND PROCEDURES IN THE ARID SOUTHWEST.............................................. 13 Collection of Pollen Samples..... ....... .. 13 Extraction of Pollen Samples............... 17 Interpreting the Fossil Pollen Record...... 22 VEGETATION AND MODERN POLLEN SAMPLES.................. 43 THE FOSSIL POLLEN RECORD............................ 82 Introduction................................ 82 Cattail Pollen....... 90 The Pine Pollen Problem..................... 9^ Unit B_.............................. 99 2 Unit D ...................... 104 iv V TABLE OF CONTENTS— Continued Page Unit E1..................................... 108 Unit Eg.............................. 118 Unit F and G ................................ 123 DISCUSSION.......................................... 125 A PLEISTOCENE (WISCONSIN) WOODLAND CORRIDOR IN THE EASTERN MOHAVE DESERT....... 133 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS............................. 143 LITERATURE CITED.................................... 147 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Map of study area............................ 4 2. The Tule Springs site area showing Las Vegas Wash and the LasVegas Range..... ............ 5 3. A pollen diagram from the Lehner site, south­ eastern Arizona, illustrating the use of double fixed sums........... 38 4. A pollen diagram of the major pollen types recovered from soil surface samples, in a transect in Kyle Canyon, Charleston Mount­ ains.......................... 44 5 . Soil surface sample locality 25, at 885 meters................................... 71 6. Modern spring sample locality 28, Corn Creek Springs..................... 71 7 . A view from the Tule Springs site area look­ ing toward Kyle Canyon, Charleston Mountains. 71 8. Modern surface sample locality 1, on the Kyle Canyon Fan at 900 meters.................... 71 9. Modern spring sample locality 27 and modern surface sample locality 26, at Corn Creek Springs...................................... 72 10. Modern surface sample locality 5 , on the Kyle Canyon fan at 1090 meters.... ............... 75 11. The vegetation between modern surface sample localities 9 and 10, Kyle Canyon at 1500 meters........................... 75 12. Modern surface sample locality 12, Kyle Canyon at 1710 meters.................. 75 vi vli LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS— Continued Figure Page 13. Modern surface sample locality 15, Kyle Canyon at 2105 meters....................... 75 14. A blackbush-Joshua tree community at 1700 meters. Cold Creek Road, Charleston Mount­ ains............................. 76 15. Modern surface sample locality 11, Kyle Canyon at 1615 meters........................ 77 16. Modern surface sample locality 16, Kyle Canyon at 2165 meters................ 8l 17. Modern surface sample locality 17, Kyle Canyon at 2285 meters........................ 8l 18. Modern surface sample locality 18, Charleston Park, Kyle Canyon at 2410 meters............ 8l 19. Modern surface sample locality 19, in Lee Canyon at 2560 meters............. 8l 20. Photomicrographs of fossil pollen from the Tule Springs site.......... 83 21. Photomicrographs of fossil pollen from the Tule Springs site......... 84 22. Photomicrographs of fossil pollen from the Tule Springs site........................... 85 23. Photomicrographs of fossil pollen from the Tule Springs site.................... 86 24. Photomicrographs of fossil pollen from the Tule Springs site........................... 87 25. Photomicrographs of fossil pollen from the Tule Springs site.................. 88 26. An area-elevation graph for the Spring Range. 96 viii LIST.OF ILLUSTRATIONS--Continued Figure Page 27. Pollen Profile I, a pollen diagram from spring-laid clay and silt of unit Bg........ 100 28. Pollen Profile II, a pollen"diagram from Unit D lake sediments........................ 105 29. Pollen Profile III, a pollen diagram from spring mount deposits................ 109 30. Spring mounds 4 and 4A, and the Charleston Mountains.................................... 110 31. Pollen Profile IV, a pollen diagram from the alluvial sequence of the Fenley Hunter locality......................... Ill 32. Pollen Profile V, miscellaneous fossil pollen counts from various localities in the Tule Springs site area............................ 112 33. The hypothetical position of Late Pleistocene woodland and forest in the eastern Mohave Desert............. 134 34. Present distribution and fossil localities of certain small mammals in the eastern Mohave Desert 141 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Extraction Procedure for Southwestern Alluvial Pollen Samples................. 18 2. Relative Frequency of Pollen Types from Mono Lake, California...................... 33 3 . Modern Pollen Samples from the East Slope of the Spring Range and the Las Vegas Valley, Southern Nevada.................... 45 4 . Approximate Age of the Stratigraphic Units Shown on the Pollen Diagrams................ 90 5 . Typha Pollen Counts in Tetrads, Dyads, and Monads................................ 91 ix ABSTRACT Palynological investigations of the Tule Springs Site, 18 kilometers north of Las Vegas, Nevada, were initiated as part of interdisciplinary studies to estab­ lish the geochronology of the deposits and association of artifacts, radiocarbon dates, and the fossil fauna and flora, and to relate these to the Late Quaternary vegeta­ tion history of the Las Vegas Valley. Fossil pollen spectra were obtained from alluvial, lake and spring deposits. For comparative purposes, modern soil surface pollen samples were collected from the plant communities of the Las Vegas Valley and the east slope of the Charleston Mountains. Pollen analysis has proved an important tool for Southwestern archaeologists in the reconstruction of past environments, in dating archaeological horizons and in providing information on the past utilization of cultivated and wild plants. The scarcity of ideal depositional environments in the Southwestern