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Contrasting Climatic Histories for the Snake River Plain, Idaho, Resulting from Multiple Thermal Maxima

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Owen K. Davis ,
John C. Sheppard  and
Susan Robertson
Owen K. Davis
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
John C. Sheppard
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99163
Susan Robertson
Affiliation:
Physical Sciences Division, Geology, University of Toronto, West Hill, Ontario M1C 1A4
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Abstract

Ten sites near the Snake River Plain have consistent differences in their climatic histories. Sites at low elevation reflect the “early Holocene xerothermic” of the Pacific Northwest, whereas most climatic chronologies at high elevation indicate maximum warmth or aridity somewhat later, ca. 6000 yr ago. This elevational contrast in climatic histories is duplicated at three sites from the central Snake River Plain. For sites in such close proximity, the different chronologies cannot be explained by changes in atmospheric circulation during the late Quaternary. Rather, the differences are best explained by the autecology of the plants involved and the changing seasonal climate. The seasonal climatic sequence predicted by multiple thermal maxima explains the high- and low-elevation chronologies. During the early Holocene, maximum insolation and intensified summer drought in July forced low-elevation vegetation upward. However, moisture was not a limiting factor at high elevation, where vegetation moved upward in response to increased length of growing season coincident with maximum September insolation 6000 yr ago.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , November 1986 , pp. 321 - 339
Copyright
University of Washington

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