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Age and Significance of Fossil White Spruce (Picea glauca), Tunica Hills, Louisiana-Mississippi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Charles R. Givens  and
Florence Montgomery Givens
Charles R. Givens
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Science, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, Louisiana 70310
Florence Montgomery Givens
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
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Abstract

Radiocarbon dates indicate a Farmdalian through Woodfordian age for fossil white spruce (Picea glauca) in the Tunica Hills, a greater time span than previously documented. These dates, furthermore, require revision of the ages of fluvial terrace deposits in the region. Spruce-bearing Terrace 1 sediments, previously regarded as late Woodfordian to Holocene age, are of Farmdalian to late Holocene age. Terrace 2 sediments, previously assigned a Sangamonian or Farmdalian age, are of probable Altonian age. Plant fossils in Terrace 1 sediments represent two climatically and temporally distinct assemblages: a cool-temperate, Farmdalian-Woodfordian assemblage dominated by white spruce but including deciduous hardwoods suggestive of an oak-hickory association; and a warm-temperate Holocene assemblage composed of southern hardwoods and nonarboreal species representative of the modern flora of the Tunica Hills. Locally, fossils of white spruce have been reworked into younger Terrace 1 sediments containing the warm-temperate plant assemblage. The transition from the cool-temperate flora to the modern warm-temperate flora in the Tunica Hills probably occurred around 12,000 yr B.P.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , May 1987 , pp. 283 - 296
Copyright
University of Washington

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