Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T01:05:46.890Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Holocene Eolian Activity in the Mineralogically Mature Nebraska Sand Hills

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Daniel R. Muhs ,
Thomas W. Stafford Jr. ,
James B. Swinehart ,
Scott D. Cowherd ,
Shannon A. Mahan ,
Charles A. Bush ,
Richard F. Madole  and
Paula B. Maat
Daniel R. Muhs
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 980, Box 25046, Federal Center, Denver, Colorado, 80225
Thomas W. Stafford Jr.
Affiliation:
Center for Geochronological Research, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Campus Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309
James B. Swinehart
Affiliation:
Conservation and Survey Division, 113 Nebraska Hall, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68588
Scott D. Cowherd
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 980, Box 25046, Federal Center, Denver, Colorado, 80225
Shannon A. Mahan
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 980, Box 25046, Federal Center, Denver, Colorado, 80225
Charles A. Bush
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 980, Box 25046, Federal Center, Denver, Colorado, 80225
Richard F. Madole
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 980, Box 25046, Federal Center, Denver, Colorado, 80225
Paula B. Maat
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 980, Box 25046, Federal Center, Denver, Colorado, 80225
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The age of sand dunes in the Nebraska Sand Hills has been controversial, with some investigators suggesting a full-glacial age and others suggesting that they were last active in the late Holocene. New accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon ages of unaltered bison bones and organic-rich sediments suggest that eolian sand deposition occurred at least twice in the past 3000 14C yr B.P. in three widely separated localities and as many as three times in the past 800 14C yr at three other localities. These late Holocene episodes of eolian activity are probably the result of droughts more intense than the 1930s “Dust Bowl” period, based on independent Great Plains climate records from lake sediments and tree rings. However, new geochemical data indicate that the Nebraska Sand Hills are mineralogically mature. Eolian sands in Nebraska have lower K-feldspar (and K2O, Rb, and Ba) contents than most possible source sediments and lower K-feldspar contents than dunes of similar age in Colorado. The most likely explanation for mineralogical maturity is reduction of sand-sized K-feldspar to silt-sized particles via ballistic impacts due to strong winds over many cycles of eolian activity. Therefore, dunes of the Nebraska Sand Hills must have had a long history, probably extending over more than one glacial–interglacial cycle, and the potential for reactivation is high, with or without a future greenhouse warming.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , September 1997 , pp. 162 - 176
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

Abbott, M. B. and Stafford, T. W. Jr.,, (1996). Radiocarbon geochemistry of modern and ancient Arctic lake systems, Baffin Island, Canada. Quaternary Research 45, 300–311.Google Scholar
Ahlbrandt, T. S. and Fryberger, S. G., (1980). “Eolian Deposits in the Nebraska Sand Hills.” U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1120-A.Google Scholar
Ahlbrandt, T. S., Swinehart, J. B. and Maroney, D. G., (1983). The dynamic Holocene dune fields of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain basins U.S.A. In “ Eolian Sediments and Processes” (M. E. Brookfield and T. S. Ahlbrandt, Eds.), pp. 379–406. Elsevier, New York. Google Scholar
Arbogast, A. F., (1996). Stratigraphic evidence for late-Holocene eolian sand mobilization and soil formation in south-central Kansas U.S.A. Journal of Arid Environments 34, 403–414.Google Scholar
Blatt,, H., Middleton,, G. and Murray, R., (1972). “Origin of Sedimentary rocks.” Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.Google Scholar
Colman, S. M., (1982). “Chemical Weathering of Basalts and Andesites: Evidence from Weathering Rinds.” U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1246.Google Scholar
Cooke, R. U. and Warren, A., (1973). “Geomorphology in Deserts.” Univ. of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
David, P., (1971a). The Brookdale road section and its significance in the chronological studies of dune activities in the Brandon Sand Hills of Manitoba. In Special Paper Number 9, pp. 293–299. The Geological Association of Canada. Google Scholar
David, P., (1971b). Harte Road, Carberry, S., and CarberryN. E. series. Geological Survey of Canada radiocarbon dates XI. Radiocarbon 13, 255–324.Google Scholar
Davis, P. T., (1988). Holocene glacier fluctuations in the American Cordillera. Quaternary Science Reviews 7, 129–157.Google Scholar
Dean, W. E., Bradbury, J. P., Anderson, R. Y., Bader, L. R. and Dieterich-Rurup, K., (1994). “A High-Resolution Record of Climatic Change in Elk Lake, Minnesota for the Last 1500 Years.” U. S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 94–578.Google Scholar
Dutta, P. K., Zhou,, Z. and dos Santos, P. R., (1993). A theoretical study of mineralogical maturation of eolian sand. Geological Society of America Special Paper 284, 203–209.Google Scholar
Forman, S. L., Oglesby,, R., Markgraf,, V. and Stafford, T., (1995). Paleocli-matic significance of late Quaternary eolian deposition on the Piedmont and High Plains, central United States. Global and Planetary Change 11, 35–55.Google Scholar
Fritz, S. C., Engstrom, D. R. and Haskell, B. J., (1994). “Little Ice Age” aridity in the North American Great Plains: a high-resolution reconstruction of salinity fluctuations from Devils Lake, North Dakota, USA. The Holocene 4, 69–73.Google Scholar
Fryberger, S. G. and Dean, G., (1979). Dune forms and wind regime. In “A Study of Global Sand Seas” (E. D. McKee, Ed.), U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1052, pp. 137–169.Google Scholar
Goudie, A. S. and Watson, A., (1981). The shape of desert sand dune grains. Journal of Arid Environments 4, 185–190 Google Scholar
Greeley,, R. and Iversen, J. D., (1985). “Wind as a Geological Process on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan.” Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hare, P. E., Fogel, M. L., Stafford, T. W. Jr., Mitchell, A. D. and Hoering, T. C., (1991). The isotopic composition of carbon and nitrogen in individual amino acids isolated from modern and fossil proteins. Journal of Archaeological Science 18, 277–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holliday, V. T., (1995). Late Quaternary stratigraphy of the Southern High Plains. In “Ancient Peoples and Landscapes” (E. Johnson, Ed.), pp. 289–313. Museum of Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T., (1996). Origin and evolution of lunettes on the High Plains of Texas and New Mexico. Quaternary Research 47, 54–69.Google Scholar
Kaul, R., (1990). Plants. In “An Atlas of the Sand Hills” (A. Bleed and C. Flowerday, Eds.), Resource Atlas 5a, pp. 127–142. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln.Google Scholar
Kuchler, A. W., (1964). Potential natural vegetation of the conterminous United States. American Geographical Society Special Publication 36 1–38.Google Scholar
Kuenen,, Ph. H., (1960). Experimental abrasion. 4. Eolian action. Journal of Geology 68, 427–449.Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J. E. and Wright, H. E. Jr., (1985). Simulation of the climate of 18,000 years BP: Results for the North American/North Atlantic/European sector and comparison with the geologic record of North America. Quaternary Science Reviews 4, 147–187.Google Scholar
Kuzila, M., (1990). Soil associations and series. In “An Atlas of the Sand Hills” (A. Bleed and C. Flowerday, Eds.), Resource Atlas 5a, pp. 58–66. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln. Google Scholar
Kuzila Laird, K. R., Fritz, S. C., Maasch, K. A. and Cumming, B. F., (1996). Greater drought intensity and frequency before AD 1200 in the Northern Great Plains, USA. Nature 384, 552–554.Google Scholar
Loope, D. B., Swinehart, J. B. and Mason, J. P., (1995). Dune-dammed paleovalleys of the Nebraska Sand Hills: Intrinsic versus climatic controls on the accumulation of lake and marsh sediments. Geological Society of America Bulletin 107, 396–406.Google Scholar
Maat, P. B. and Johnson, W. C., (1996). Thermoluminescence and new 14C age estimates for late Quaternary loesses in southwestern Nebraska. Geomorphology 17, 115–128.Google Scholar
Madole, R. F., (1995). Spatial and temporal patterns of late Quaternary eolian deposition, eastern ColoradoU.S.A. Quaternary Science Reviews 14, 155–177.Google Scholar
Marsland, P. S. and Woodruff, J. G., (1937). A study of the effects of wind transportation on grains of several minerals. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 7, 18–30.Google Scholar
Mason, J. P., Swinehart, J. B. and Loope, D. B., (1997). Holocene history of lacustrine and marsh sediments in a dune-blocked drainage, southwestern Nebraska Sand Hills U.S.A. Journal of Paleolimnology 17, 67–83.Google Scholar
May,, D., Swinehart, J. B., Loope,, D. and Souders, V., (1995). Late Quaternary fluvial and eolian sediments: Loup River Basin and the Sand Hills of Nebraska. In “Geologic Field Trips in Nebraska and Adjacent Parts of Kansas and South Dakota” (C. A. Flowerday, Ed.), Guidebook 10, pp. 13–31. Conservation and Survey Division, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln.Google Scholar
McKee, E. D., (1983). Eolian sand bodies of the world. In “Eolian Sediments and Processes” (M. E. Brookfield and T. S. Ahlbrandt, Eds.), Developments in Sedimentology 38, pp. 1–25. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Muhs, D. R. and Maat, P. B., (1993). The potential response of Great Plains eolian sands to greenhouse warming and precipitation reduction on the Great Plains of the U.S.A. Journal of Arid Environments 25, 351–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muhs, D. R. and Holliday, V. T., (1995). Evidence of active dune sand on the Great Plains in the 19th century from accounts of early explorers. Quaternary Research 43, 198–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muhs, D. R., Bush, C. A., Cowherd, S. D. and Mahan, S., (1995). Geomor-phic and geochemical evidence for the source of sand in the Algodones dunes, Colorado Desert, southeastern California. In “Desert Aeolian Processes” (V. P. Tchakerian, Ed.), pp. 37–74. Chapman and Hall, London.Google Scholar
Muhs, D. R., Stafford, T. W. Jr., Cowherd, S. D., Mahan, S. A., Kihl,, R., Maat, P. B., Bush, C. A. and Nehring, J., (1996a). Origin of the late Quaternary dune fields of northeastern Colorado. Geomorphology 17, 129–149.Google Scholar
Muhs, D. R., Stafford, T. W. Jr., Burdett,, J., Been,, J., Mahan,, S. and Rowland, Z. M., (1996b). Late Holocene aeolian sand deposition in the Minot dune field, North Dakota U.S.A. In “The Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting Program and Abstracts,” pp. 157–158.Google Scholar
O'Leary, M. H., (1988). Carbon isotopes in photosynthesis. BioScience 38, 328–336.Google Scholar
Pearson, G. W. and Stuiver, M., (1993). High-precision bidecadal calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, 500–2500 BC. Radiocarbon 35, 25–33.Google Scholar
Phillips, J. D., Duval, J. S. and Ambroziak, R. A., (1993). National geophysical data grids: Gamma-ray, gravity, magnetic, and topographic data for the conterminous United States. U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-9. Google Scholar
Pye,, K. and Tsoar, H., (1990). “Aeolian Sand and Sand Dunes.” London, Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
Running, G. L. and Boughton, T. W., (1996). Late-Holocene parabolic dunes on the Sheyenne Delta, southeastern North Dakota. In “The Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting Program and Abstracts,” pp. 187–188.Google Scholar
Sarnthein, M., (1978). Sand deserts during glacial maximum and climatic optimum. Nature 272, 43–46.Google Scholar
Sears, P. B., (1961). A pollen profile from the grassland province. Science 134, 2038–2039.Google Scholar
Smith, H. T. U., (1965). Dune morphology and chronology in central and western Nebraska. Journal of Geology 73, 557–578.Google Scholar
Stafford, T. W. Jr., Jull, A. J. T., Brendel,, K., Duhamel, R. C. and Donahue, D., (1987). Study of bone radiocarbon dating accuracy at the University of Arizona NSF accelerator facility for radioisotope analysis. Radiocarbon 29, 24–44.Google Scholar
Stafford, T. W. Jr., Hare, P. E., Currie,, L., Jull, A. J. T. and Donahue, D., (1991). Accelerator radiocarbon dating at the molecular level. Journal of Archaeological Science 18, 35–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steuter, A. A., Jasch,, B., Ihnen,, J. and Tieszen, L. L., (1990). Woodland/ grassland boundary changes in the Middle Niobrara Valley of Nebraska identified by d13C values of soil organic matter. American Midland Naturalist 124, 301–308.Google Scholar
Stokes,, S. and Swinehart, J. B., (1997). Middle and late Holocene dune reactivation in the Nebraska Sand Hills. The Holocene, in press.Google Scholar
Stuiver,, M. and Pearson, G. W., (1993). High-precision calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, AD 1950–500 BC and 2500–6000 BC. Radiocarbon 35, 1–23.Google Scholar
Swinehart, J. B., (1990). Wind-blown Deposits. In “An Atlas of the SandGoogle Scholar
Hills” Bleed, A. and Flowerday, C., Eds., Resource Atlas 5a, pp. 43 Google Scholar
56. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln. Swinehart, J. B. and Diffendal, R. F. Jr.,, (1990). Geology of the pre-duneGoogle Scholar
strata. In “ An Atlas of the Sand Hills” (A. Bleed and C. Flowerday,Eds.), Resource Atlas 5a, pp. 29–42. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln. Swinehart, J. B., Dreeszen, V. H., Richmond, G. M., Tipton, M. J., Bretz, R., Steece, F. V., Hallberg, G. R. and Goebel, J. E., (1994). Quaternary geologic map of the Platte River 4° X 6° quadrangle, United States. U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1420 (NK-14), scale 1:1,000,000.Google Scholar
Teeri, J. A. and Stowe, L. G., (1976). Climatic patterns and the distribution of C4 grasses in North America. Oecologia 23, 1–12.Google Scholar
Warren, A., (1976). Morphology and sediments of the Nebraska Sand Hills in relation to Pleistocene winds and the development of eolian bedforms. Journal of Geology 84, 685–700.Google Scholar
Watts, W. A. and Wright, H. E. Jr.,, (1966). Late-Wisconsin pollen and seed analysis from the Nebraska Sand Hills. Ecology 47, 202–210.Google Scholar
Weakly, H. E., (1962). History of drought in Nebraska. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 17, 271–275.Google Scholar
Wells, G. L., (1983). Late-glacial circulation over central North America revealed by aeolian features. In “ Variations in the Global Water Budget” (A. Street-Perrott A. M. Beran, and R. Ratcliffe, Eds.), pp. 317–330. Reidel, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Wolfe, S. A., Huntley, D. J. and Ollerhead, J., (1995). Recent and late Holocene sand dune activity in southwestern Saskatchewan. In “Current Research 1995B; Geological Survey of Canada,” pp. 131–140.Google Scholar
Wright, H. E. Jr., Almendigner, J. C. and Gruger, J., (1985). Pollen diagram from the Nebraska Sandhills and the age of the dunes. Quaternary Research 24, 115–120.Google Scholar