Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T19:42:29.488Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Glacial and Postglacial Pollen and Plant Macrofossils from Lake West Okoboji, Northwestern Iowa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kent Van Zant
Kent Van Zant*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pollen and plant macrofossils preserved in lake sediment from Lake West Okoboji, Dickinson County, Iowa, indicate how the vegetation of that area changed during the late glacial and postglacial. A closed coniferous forest, dominated by spruce and larch trees, produced the Picea-Larix pollen assemblage zone. Fir trees were a minor constituent of this forest; pine trees were probably absent. Black ash trees increased in abundance at Lake West Okoboji and by 13,500 yr ago were an important constituent of the forest. The sediment accumulation rate and the pollen influx were low throughout this time. Birch and alder pollen peaked in abundance approximately 11,800 yr ago. Pollen influx increased rapidly as birch and alder replaced coniferous trees on the uplands. A deciduous forest, containing abundant oak and elm trees, replaced the birch-alder-coniferous forest. This forest inhabited northwestern Iowa from approximately 11,000 to 9000 yr B.P. Nonarboreal species became prevalent between approximately 9000 and 7700 yr B.P. as prairie began to replace deciduous forest on the uplands. Charred remains of Amorpha canescens and other upland species attest to the presence of prairie fires as an aid in establishing prairie and destroying the forest. The pollen influx declined. The warmest, driest part of the postglacial occurred in northwestern Iowa from approximately 7700 to 3200 yr ago. Lake level fell 9 to 10 m, and prairie extended to the edge of the lake. Wet-ground weeds inhabited areas near lake level which were alternately flooded, then dry. Pollen influx was approximately 100 grains/cm2/yr during the driest time in this dry interval.

Deciduous trees, particularly oaks, returned after approximately 3200 yr B.P. Prairie continued to occupy the uplands but trees were more common in the lowlying wet areas. Settlement by Europeans in northwestern Iowa about 1865 is marked by an increase in weed pollen. Macrofossil deposition changed in 1910 in response to the stabilization of lake level.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , November 1979 , pp. 358 - 380
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

Beijerinck, W., (1947) Zadenatlas Der Nederlandische Flora. H. Veenman and Zonen, Wageningen. Google Scholar
Birks, H.H., (1973). Modern macrofossil assemblages in lake sediments in Minnesota. Birks, H.J.B., West, R.G., Quaternary Plant Ecology. Blackwells, Oxford, 173-189.Google Scholar
Brush, G.S., (1967). Pollen analyses of late-glacial and post-glacial sediments in Iowa. Cushing, E.J., Wright, H.E. Jr., Quaternary Paleoecology. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 99-115.Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A., (1966). Air masses, streamlines and the boreal forest. Geographical Bulletin. 8, 228-269.Google Scholar
Collins, G.B., (1968). Implications of Diatom Succession in Post-Glacial Sediments from Two Sites in Northern Iowa. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis. Iowa State University, Ames. Google Scholar
Dodd, J.D., Webster, R.M., Collins, G.B., Wehr, L., (1968). A consideration of pollen, diatoms and other remains in postglacial sediments. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science. 75, 197-209.Google Scholar
Durkee, L.H., (1971). A pollen profile from Woden Bog in northcentral Iowa. Ecology. 52, 837-844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faegri, K., Iversen, Johs, (1975) 3rd ed. Textbook of Pollen Analysis. Hafner, New York. Google Scholar
Fowells, H.A., (1965) Silvics of Forest Trees of the United States. United States Department of Agriculture Handbook 271.Google Scholar
Grüger, E., üger, 1972. Late Quaternary vegetation development in south-central Illinois. Quaternary Research. 2, 217-231.Google Scholar
Grüger, J., üger, 1973. Studies on the Late Quaternary vegetation history of northeastern Kansas. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 84, 239-250.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, R.A., (1916). On the nature of types in Pediastrum . Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden. 6, 91-104.Google Scholar
Hull, J.A., (1883) Census of Iowa for 1880. State of Iowa, Des Moines. Google Scholar
Jelgersma, S., (1962). A late-glacial pollen diagram from Madelia, south-central Minnesota. American Journal of Science. 260, 522-529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kapp, R.O., (1969) How to Know Pollen and Spores. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa. Google Scholar
Katz, N.Ja., Katz, S.V., Kipiani, M.G., (1965) Atlas and Keys of Fruits and Seeds Occurring in the Quaternary Deposits of the U.S.S.R.. Nauka, Moscow. Google Scholar
King, J.E., (1973). Late Pleistocene palynology and biogeography of the western Missouri Ozarks. Ecological Monographs. 43, 539-565.Google Scholar
Lane, G.H., (1931). A preliminary pollen analysis of the East McCulloch peat bed. Ohio Journal of Science. 31, 165-171.Google Scholar
Maher, L.J. Jr., (1972). Absolute pollen diagram of Redrock Lake, Boulder County, Colorado. Quaternary Research. 2, 531-553.Google Scholar
Martin, A.C., Barkley, W.D., (1961) Seed Identification Manual. University of California Press, Berkeley. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsch, C.L., (1971). Pleistocene Stratigraphy of the New Ulm Region, Southwestern Minnesota. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis. University of Wisconsin, Madison. Google Scholar
McAndrews, J.H., Berti, A.A., Norris, G., (1973) Key to the Quaternary Pollen and Spores of the Great Lakes Region. Royal Ontario Museum Life Science Miscellaneous Publications. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBride, T.H., (1899). Geology of Osceola and Dickinson counties. Iowa Geological Survey Annual Reports. 10, 185-239.Google Scholar
Ogden, J.G. III, (1966). Forest history of Ohio. I. Radiocarbon dates and pollen stratigraphy of Silver Lake, Logan County, Ohio. Ohio Journal of Science. 66, 387-400.Google Scholar
Prescott, G.W., (1931). Iowa algae. University of Iowa Studies In Natural History. 13, 1-235.Google Scholar
Prescott, G.W., (1951). Algae of the western Great Lakes area. Cranbrook Institute of Sciences. 31, 1-946.Google Scholar
Ruhe, R.V., (1969) Quaternary Landscapes In Iowa. Iowa State University Press, Ames. Google Scholar
Sebestyen, O., (1969). Studies on Pediastrum and cladoceran remains in the sediments of Lake Balaton, with reference to lake history. Mitteilungen International Verein. Limnology. 17, 292-300.Google Scholar
Stewart, R.E., Kantrud, H.A., (1972). Vegetation of prairie potholes, North Dakota, in relation to quality of water and other environmental factors. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper. 585-D, D1-D36.Google Scholar
Van Zant, K.L., (1973). Pleistocene Stratigraphy in a Portion of Northwest Iowa. Unpubl. M.S. thesis. University of Iowa, Iowa City. Google Scholar
Van Zant, K.L., Hallberg, G.R., (1976). A late-glacial pollen sequence from northeastern Iowa: Sumner Bog revisited. Iowa Geological Survey Technical Information Series. 3, 1-17.Google Scholar
Waddington, J.C.B., (1969). A stratigraphic record of the pollen influx to a lake in the Big Woods of Minnesota. Geological Society of America Special Paper. 123, 263-282.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., Bright, R.C., (1968). Pollen, seed, and mollusk analysis of a sediment core from Pickerel Lake, northeastern South Dakota. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 79, 855-876.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, W.A., Winter, T.C., (1966). Plant macrofossils from Kirchner Marsh, Minnesota—A paleoecological study. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 77, 1339-1360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, W.A., Wright, H.E. Jr., (1966). Late Wisconsin pollen and seed analysis from the Nebraska sandhills. Ecology. 47, 202-210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, P.V., (1970). Historical factors controlling vegetation patterns and floristic distributions in the central Plains region of North America. Dort, W. Jr., Jones, J.K. Jr., Pleistocene and Recent Environments of the Central Great Plains. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, 211-221.Google Scholar
West, R.G., (1961). Late- and postglacial vegetational history in Wisconsin, particularly changes associated with the Valders readvance. American Journal of Science. 259, 766-783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, A.S., (1974). Late-glacial-postglacial vegetational history of the Pretty Lake region, north-eastern Indiana. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper. 686, D1-D23.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr., (1968). The roles of pine and spruce in the forest history of Minnesota and adjacent areas. Ecology. 49, 937-955.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr., Watts, W.A., (1969). Glacial and vegetational history of northeastern Minnesota. Minnesota Geological Survey Special Publication Series. 11, 1-59.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr., Winter, R.C., Patten, H.L., (1963). Two pollen diagrams from southeastern Minnesota: Problems in the regional late-glacial and postglacial vegetational history. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 74, 1371-1396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar