Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T00:52:31.225Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holocene Paleoecology of an Estuary on Santa Rosa Island, California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kenneth L. Cole  and
Geng-Wu Liu
Kenneth L. Cole
Affiliation:
National Biological Survey, Cooperative Park Study Unit, Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108
Geng-Wu Liu
Affiliation:
Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Academica Sinica, Nanjing, 210008, China
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The middle to late Holocene history and early Anglo-European settlement impacts on Santa Rosa Island, California, were studied through the analysis of sediments in a small estuarine marsh. A 5.4-m-long sediment core produced a stratigraphic and pollen record spanning the last 5200 yr. Three major zones are distinguishable in the core. The lowermost zone (5200 to 3250 yr B.P.) represents a time of arid climate with predominantly marine sediment input and high Chenopodiaceae and Ambrosia pollen values. The intermediate zone (3250 yr B.P. to 1800 A.D.) is characterized by greater fresh water input and high values for Asteraceae and Cyperaceae pollen and charcoal particles. The uppermost zone (1800 A.D. to present) documents the unprecedented erosion, sedimentation, and vegetation change that resulted from the introduction of large exotic herbivores and exotic plants to the island during Anglo-European settlement. The identification of pollen grains of Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana) documents the persistence of this endemic species on the island throughout the middle to late Holocene.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , May 1994 , pp. 326 - 335
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adam, D. P. (1985). Quaternary pollen records from California. In “Pollen Records of Late Quaternary North American Sediments,” pp. 125–140. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation.Google Scholar
Brumbaugh, R. W. (1980). Recent geomorphic and vegetal dynamics on Santa Cruz Island, California. In “The California Islands: A Multidisciplinary Symposium” (Power, and Davis, , Eds.), pp. 139–158. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA.Google Scholar
Cole, K. L., and Webb, R. H. (1985). Late Holocene changes in Green-water Valley, Mojave Desert, California. Quaternary Research 23, 227–235.Google Scholar
Clark, R. A. Halvorson, W. L. Swado, A. A., and Danielson, K. C. (1990). “Plant communities of Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park.” University of California, Davis, Cooperative Park Study Unit, Technical Report 42.Google Scholar
Davis, O. K. (1987). Spores of the dung fungus Sporomiella: Increased abundance in historic sediments and before Pleistocene megafaunal extinction. Quaternary Research 28, 290–294.Google Scholar
Davis, O. K. (1992). Rapid climatic change in coastal southern California inferred from pollen analysis of San Joaquin Marsh. Quaternary Research 37, 89–100.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, R. G. (1989). A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: Influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation. Nature 342 , 637–642.Google Scholar
Glassow, M. A. Wilcoxon, L. R. Johnson, J. R., and King, G. P. (1982). “The Status of Archaeological Research on Santa Rosa Island, California.” Office of Public Archeology Social Process Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA.Google Scholar
Griffin, J. R., and Critchfield, W. B. (1972). “The Distribution of Forest Trees in California.” US DA Forest Service Research Paper PSW-82/1972.Google Scholar
Grimm, E. C. (1987). CONISS: A Fortran 77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by the method of the incremental sum of squares. Pergamon Journals 13, 13–35.Google Scholar
Halvorson, W. L. (1992). Alien plants at Channel Islands National Park. In “Proceedings of the Hawaiian Weed Conference” (Stone, and Stone, , Eds.). University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, HI.Google Scholar
Hevly, R. H., and Hill, J. N. (1970). Pollen from archaeological middens from Santa Cruz Island, California. University of California Archaeological Survey Annual Report 12, 108–118.Google Scholar
Heusser, L. (1978). Pollen in Santa Barbara Basin, California: A 12,000 year record. Geological Society of America Bulletin 89, 673–678.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. L. (1978). The origin of Island mammoths and the Quaternary land bridge history of the northern Channel Islands, California. Quaternary Research 10, 204–225.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. L. (1980). Episodic vegetation stripping, soil erosion, and landscape modification in prehistoric and recent historic time, San Miguel Island, California. In “The California Islands, a Multidisciplinary Symposium” (Power, D. M., Ed.), pp. 103–121, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara, CA.Google Scholar
Karrow, P. F. Warner, B. G., and Fritz, P. (1984). Corry Bog, Pennsylvania: A case Study of the radiocarbon dating of marl. Quaternary Research 21, 326–336.Google Scholar
LaMarche, V. C. Jr., (1978). Tree-ring evidence of past climatic variability. Nature 276, 334–338.Google Scholar
Millar, C. I. (1988). The Californian closed cone pines (Subsection OOCARPAE Little and Critchfield): A taxonomic history and review. Taxon 35, 657–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mudie, P. J., and Byrne, R. (1980). Pollen evidence for historic sedimentation rates in California coastal marshes. Estuarine and Coastal Marsh Science 10, 305–316.Google Scholar
Munz, P. A. (1974). “A Flora of Southern California.” Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA.Google Scholar
Pisias, N. G. (1978). Paleoceanography of the Santa Barbara Basin during the last 8000 years. Quaternary Research 10, 366–384.Google Scholar
Schimmelmann, A. Lange, C. B. Berger, W. H. Simon, A. Burke, S. K., and Dunbar, R. B. (1992). Extreme climatic conditions recorded in the Santa Barbara Basin laminated sediments: The 1835— 1840 Macoma Event. Marine Geology 105, 279–299.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P. J. (1993). Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, 215–230.Google Scholar
Thome, R. F. (1969). The California Islands. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Gardens 56, 391–408.Google Scholar
Wheeler, G. M. (1876). “Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian, in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, and Montana,” pp. 202–204. Appendix JJ of the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1876, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar