Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:36:33.790Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Quaternary Vegetation Development in South-Central Illinois

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Eberhard Grüger
Eberhard Grüger*
Affiliation:
Limnological Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and Illinois State Geological Survey, Urbana, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pollen and macrofossil evidence for the nature of the vegetation during glacial and interglacial periods in the regions south of the Wisconsinan ice margin is still very scarce. Modern opinions concerning these problems are therefore predominantly derived from geological evidence only or are extrapolated from pollen studies of late Wisconsinan deposits. Now for the first time pollen and macrofossil analyses are available from south-central Illinois covering the Holocene, the entire Wisconsinan, and most probably also Sangamonian and late Illinoian time. The cores studied came from three lakes, which originated as kettle holes in glacial drift of Illinoian age near Vandalia, Fayette County. The Wisconsinan ice sheet approached the sites from the the north to within about 60 km distance only.

One of the profiles (Pittsburg Basin) probably reaches back to the late Illinoian (zone 1), which was characterized by forests with much Picea. Zone 2, most likely of Sangamonian age, represents a period of species-rich deciduous forests, which must have been similar to the ones that thrive today south and southeast of the prairie peninsula. During the entire Wisconsinan (14C dates ranging from 38,000 to 21,000 BP) thermophilous deciduous trees like Quercus, Carya, and Ulmus occurred in the region, although temporarily accompanied by tree genera with a more northerly modern distribution, such as Picea, which entered and then left south-central Illinois during the Woodfordian. Thus it is evident that arctic climatic conditions did not prevail in the lowlands of south-central Illinois (about 38°30′ lat) during the Wisconsinan, even at the time of the maximum glaciation, the Woodfordian. The Wisconsinan was, however, not a period of continuous forest. The pollen assemblages of zone 3 (Altonian) indicate prairie with stands of trees, and in zone 4 the relatively abundant Artemisia pollen indicates the existence of open vegetation and stands of deciduous trees, Picea, and Pinus. True tundra may have existed north of the sites, but if so its pollen rain apparently is marked by pollen from nearby stands of trees. After the disappearance of Pinus and Picea at about 14,000 BP (estimated!), there developed a mosaic of prairies and stands of Quercus, Carya, and other deciduous tree genera (zone 5). This type of vegetation persisted until it was destroyed by cultivation during the 19th and 20th century. Major vegetational changes are not indicated in the pollen diagram for the late Wisconsinan and the Holocene.

The dating of zones 1 and 2 is problematical because the sediments are beyond the14C range and because of the lack of stratigraphic evidence. The zones dated as Illinoian and Sangamonian could also represent just a Wisconsinan stadial and interstadial. This possibility, however, seems to be contradicted by the late glacial and interglacial character of the forest vegetation of that time.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , September 1972 , pp. 217 - 231
Copyright
Academic Press, Inc.

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.)

Footnotes

1

Contribution No. 101, Limnological Research Center, University of MN.

References

Bassett, I.J. Terasmae, J. 1962 Ragweeds, Ambrosia species, in Canada and their history in postglacial time Canadian Journal of Botany 40 141–150 Google Scholar
Braun, E.L. 1950 Deciduous forests of eastern North America Blakiston Co. Philadelphia 596 Google Scholar
Cushing, E.J. 1963 Late-Wisconsin pollen stratigraphy in east-central Minnesota Ph.D. Thesis University of Minnesota Minneapolis 165 Google Scholar
Engelhardt, D.W. 1962 A palynological study of post-glacial and interglacial deposits in Indiana Ph.D. Thesis Indiana University Bloomington Google Scholar
Fehrenbacher, J.B. Alexander, J.D. 1958 Native vegetation and surface soil color in Illinois University of Illinois College of Agriculture, Agronomy facts, Soil properties 26 2 Google Scholar
Fehrenbacher, J.B. Walker, G.O. Wascher, H.L. 1967 Soils of Illinois University of Illinois College of Agriculture Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 725 47 Google Scholar
Frye, J.C. Willman, H.B. 1972 Climatic history as interpreted from the Lake Michigan lobe Geological Society of America Special Paper Google Scholar
Frye, J.C. Willman, H.B. Black, R.F. 1965 Outline of glacial geology of Illinois and Wisconsin Wright, H.E. Jr. Frey, D.G. The Quaternary of the United States Princeton University Press 43–61 Google Scholar
Grüger, E. 1970 The development of the vegetation of southern Illinois since late Illinoian time (Preliminary report) Revue Géographie Physique et Géologie Dynamique 12 143–148 Google Scholar
Grüger, E. 1972 Pollen and seed studies of Wisconsinan vegetation in Illinois Geological Society of America Bulletin 83 Google Scholar
Grüger, J. 1972 Studies on the late-Quaternary vegetation history of northeastern Kansas Geological Society of America Bulletin 83 Google Scholar
Jacobs, A.M. 1970 Persistence of lake basins in southern Illinois, U.S.A., from late Illinoian time to the present Revue Géographie Physique et Géologie Dynamique 12 137–142 Google Scholar
Jacobs, A.M. Lineback, J.A. 1969 Glacial geology of the Vandalia, Illinois, region Illinois State Geological Survey Urbana Circular 442 1–23 Google Scholar
Jones, R.L. Beavers, A.H. 1964 Aspects of catenary and depth distribution of opal phytoliths in Illinois soils Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 28 413–416 Google Scholar
Kapp, R.O. 1965 Illinoian and Sangamon vegetation in southwestern Kansas and adjacent Oklahoma University of Michigan Contributions to the Museum of Paleontology 19 167–255 Google Scholar
Kapp, R.O. Gooding, A.M. 1964 Pleistocene vegetational studies in the Whitewater Basin, southeastern Indiana Journal of Geology 77 307–326 Google Scholar
Kempton, J.P. Hackett, J.E. 1968 Stratigraphy of the Woodfordian and Altonian drifts of central northern Illinois Bergstrom, R.E. The Quaternary of Illinois. University of Illinois College of Agriculture Special Publication. 14 27–34UrbanaGoogle Scholar
Küchler, A.W. 1964 Potential natural vegetation of the conterminous United States American Geographical Society Special Publication 36New YorkGoogle Scholar
Lane, G.H. 1941 Pollen analysis of interglacial peats of Iowa Iowa Geological Survey Annual Report 37 233–262 Google Scholar
Lindsey, A.A. Petty, R.O. Sterling, D.K. Vanasdall, W. 1961 Vegetation and environment along the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers Ecological Monographs 31 105–156 Google Scholar
Norton, E.A. Smith, R.S. Deturk, E.E. Bauer, F.C. Smith, L.H. 1932 Fayette County soils University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station Soil Report 52 44 Google Scholar
Ross, R.C. Case, H.C.M. 1956 Types of farming in Illinois. An analysis of differences by areas University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 601 88 Google Scholar
Sargent, C.S. 1965 Manual of the trees of North America Vol. 1 Dover Publications, Inc. New York 433 Google Scholar
Terasmae, J. 1960 A palynological study of the Pleistocene interglacial beds at Toronto, Ontario Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 56 23–41 Google Scholar
Voss, J. 1939 Forests of the Yarmouth and Sangamon interglacial periods in Illinois Ecology 20 517–528 Google Scholar
Willman, H.B. Frye, J.C. 1970 Pleistocene stratigraphy of Illinois Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin 94 1–199 Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr. History of the prairie peninsula Bergstrom, R.E. 1968 The Quaternary of Illinois University of Illinois College of Agriculture Special Publication 14 78–88UrbanaGoogle Scholar