Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T04:30:22.621Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Loess of the Upper Mississippi Valley Driftless Area

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David S. Leigh  and
James C. Knox
David S. Leigh
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602
James C. Knox
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Loess of the Driftless Area includes four distinct late Quaternary lithostratigraphic units: the Wyalusing (new), Loveland, Roxana, and Peoria formations. Erosion has removed parts or all of the pre-late Wisconsian loess at many sites. These formations consist largely of loess and retransported loess that typically occurs on uplands, terraces, and valley margins in the region. The oldest widespread formation (probably > 125,000 yr B.P.) is here formally named the Wyalusing Formation. The three younger formations correlate with the Loveland (probably > 125,000 yr B.P.), Roxana (55,000-25,000 yr B.P.), and Peoria (25,000-12,000 yr B.P.) loesses recognized elsewhere in the midcontinental United States. The soil/stratigraphic morphology of the Wyalusing-Loveland and Roxana-Peoria couplets appears to represent two distinct loess sedimentation sequences related to major expansion and contraction of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during oxygen isotope stages 6 and 3-2, respectively. The occurrence-frequency of loess units is inversely related to age, illustrating the erosional nature of the Driftless area landscape. The occurrence of four loess units at some sites in Driftless Area stratigraphic sections corroborates loess stratigraphy along the length of the Mississippi Valley, where typically not more than four or five loess units are found and they represent only the late and middle Pleistocene (<790,000 yr B.P.). Past climatic conditions, which favored erosion of loess, as well as a temporally erratic spatial extent of former continental ice sheets in North America, which provided the dust supply, probably account for the low number of loess units along the Mississippi Valley.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , July 1994 , pp. 30 - 40
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

Alford, J. J., and Holmes, J. C. (1985). Meander scars as evidence of major climate change in southwest Louisiana. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 75, 394–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Busacca, A. J. (1991). Loess deposits of the Palouse and vicinity. In“Quaternary Non-glacial Geology of the Conterminous United States” (Morrison, R., Ed.), Geology of North America Series, Vol. K2. Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Chamberlin, T. C. (1897). Supplementary hypothesis respecting the origin of the loess of the Mississippi Valley. Journal of Geology 5, 795–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, P. U. Nelson, A. R. McCoy, W. D. Miller, B. B., and Barnes, D. B. (1989). Quaternary ami nostratigraphy of Mississippi Valley loess. Geological Society of America Bulletin 101, 918–926.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, B. B., and Follmer, L. R. (1992). The last interglacial-glacial transition in Illinois: 123-125 ka. In “The Last Interglacial Transition in North America” (Clark, P. U. and Lea, P. D., Eds.), pp. 71–88. Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Daniels, R. B., and Handy, R. L. (1959). Suggested new Type Section for the Loveland Loess in western Iowa. Journal of Geology 67, 114–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ding, Z. L. Rutter, N., and Liu, T. S. (1993). Pedostratigraphy of Chinese loess deposits and climatic cycles in the last 2.5 myr. Catena 20, 73–91.Google Scholar
Follmer, L. R. (1983). Sangamon and Wisconsinan pedogenesis in the midwestern United States. In “Quaternary Environments of the United States” (Wright, H. E. Jr., Ed.), Vol. 1, “The Late Pleistocene” (Porter, S. C., Ed.), pp. 138–144. Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Forman, S. L. Bettis, E. A. III Kemmis, T. J., and Miller, B. B. (1992). Chronologic evidence for multiple periods of loess deposition during the late Pleistocene in the Missouri and Mississippi River Valley, United States: Implications for the activity of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 93, 71–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frolking, T. A. (1985). Loess distribution and soil development in relation to hillslope morphology in Grant County, Wisconsin. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison.Google Scholar
Frolking, T. A. (1989). Forest soil uniformity along toposequences in the loess-mantled Driftless Area of Wisconsin. Soil Science Society of America Journal 53, 1168–1172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frye, J. C. Glass, H. D., and Willman, H. B. (1962). Stratigraphy and mineralogy of Wisconsinan loesses of Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey Circular 334.Google Scholar
Hajic, E. R. (1990). “Late Pleistocene Landscape Evolution, Depositional Subsystems, and Stratigraphy in the Lower Illinois River Valley and Adjacent Central Mississippi River Valley.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana.Google Scholar
Hallberg, G. (1986). Pre-Wisconsin glacial stratigraphy of the central Great Plains region in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri. In“Quaternary Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere” (Sibrava, V. Bowen, D. Q., and Richmond, G. M, Eds.). Bulletin 88, 174–176.Google Scholar
Imbrie, J. Hays, J. D. Martinson, D. G. McIntyre, A. Mix, A. C. Morley, J. J. Pisias, N. J. Prell, W. L., and Shackleton, N. J. (1984). The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: Support from a revised chronology of the marine delta 180 record. In “Milankovich and Climate—Part I” (Berger, A. L. et al., Eds.), pp. 269–305. Reidel, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Jacobs, P. M., and Knox, J. C. (1994). Provenance and pedology of a long-term Pleistocene depositional sequence in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area. Catena 22, 49–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, W. H. (1986). Stratigraphy and correlation of the glacial deposits of the Lake Michigan Lobe prior to 14,000 yr BP. In “Quaternary Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere” (Sibrava, V. Bowen, D. Q., and Richmond, G. M., Eds.). Quaternary Science Reviews 5, 17–22.Google Scholar
Johnson, W. H., and Follmer, L. R. (1989). Source and origin of Roxana Silt and middle Wisconsinan midcontinent glacial activity. Quaternary Research 31, 319–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knox, J. C. (1982). Quaternary history of the Kickapoo and lower Wisconsin River valleys, Wisconsin. In “Quaternary history of the Kickapoo and lower Wisconsin River valleys, Wisconsin. In “Quaternary History of the Driftless Area,” pp. 1–65. 29th Annual Midwest Friends of the Pleistocene Meeting, Wisconsin Geological and Natural Survey Field Trip Guidebook 5.Google Scholar
Knox, J. C. (1989). Longand short-term episodic storage and removal of sediment in watersheds of southwestern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois. In “Sediment and the Environment” (Hadley, R. F. and Ongley, E. D., Eds.), pp. 157–164. International Association of Scientific Hydrology, Publication 184.Google Scholar
Knox, J. C., and Attig, J. W. (1988). Geology of the pre-Illuioian sediment in the Bridgeport Terrace, lower Wisconsin River valley, Wisconsin, Journal of Geology 96, 505–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knox, J. C. Leigh, D. S., and Frolking, T. A. (1990). Rountree Formation (New). Appendix in “Geology of Sauk County Wisconsin” (Clayton, L. and Attig, J. W., Eds.), pp. 64–67. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Information Circular 67.Google Scholar
Kukla, G. J. (1977). Pleistocene land-sea correlations. I. Europe. Earth Science Reviews 13, 307–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, G. J. Heller, F. Ming, L. M„ Chun, X. T., and An, Z. (1988). Pleistocene climates in China dated by magnetic susceptibility. Geology 16, 811–814.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, D. S. (1991). “Origin and Paleoenvironment of the Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana Silt.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin at Madison.Google Scholar
Leigh, D. S. (1994). Roxana silt of the Upper Mississippi Valley: Lithology, source, and paleoenvironment. Geological Society of America Bulletin 106, 430–442.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, D. S., and Knox, J. C. (1993). AMS radiocarbon age of the Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana silt. Quaternary Research 39, 282–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, D. S. McSweeney, K., and Knox, J. C. (1989). Micromorphotogy of a “welded” Sangamonian to Wisconsinan age paleosol in southwestern Wisconsin. Catena 16, 575–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, G. C. Fosberg, M. A., and Falen, A. L. (1984). Identification of loess by particle size distributions using the Coulter Counter TAII. Soil Science 137, 172–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, T. S. Shouxin, Z., and Jiamao, H. (1986). Stratigraphy and paleoenvironmental changes in the loess of central China. In “Quaternary Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere” (Sibrava, V. Bowen, D. Q., and Richmond, G. M., Eds.). Quaternary Science . Reviews 5, 489–495.Google Scholar
Markewich, H. E. (1993). “Progress Report on Chronostratigraphic and Paleoclimatic Studies, Middle Mississippi River Valley, Eastern Arkansas and Western Tennessee. U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 93–273.Google Scholar
Markewich, H. E. Millard, H. T. Rodbell, D. T. Rich, F. J. Rutledge, E. M. Ward, L. Van Valkenberg, S., and Wysocki, D. (1992). Chronostratigraphic and paleoclimatic data for Quaternary loessial and fluvial deposits in the Mississippi River Valley of Arkansas and Tennessee. In “Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs of the 1992 Annual Meeting,” p. A50.Google Scholar
McKay, E. D. (1977). “Stratigraphy and Zonation of Wisconsinan Loesses in Southwestern Illinois.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana.Google Scholar
McKay, E. D. (1979). Wisconsinan loess stratigraphy in Illinois. In“Wisconsinan, Sangamonian, and Illinoian Stratigraphy in Central Illinois” (Follmer, L. R. McKay, E. D. Lineback, J. A., and Gross, D. A., Eds.), pp. 37–67. Illinois State Geological Survey Guidebook Series 14.Google Scholar
McSweeney, K. Leigh, D. S. Darmody, R. H., and Knox, J. C. (1988). Micromorphological analysis of “mixed zones” associated with loess deposits of the midcontinental United States. In “Loess: Its Distribution, Geology, and Soils.” (Eden, D. N. and Furkert, R. J., Eds.), pp. 117–130. Balkema, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Miller, B. J. Day, W. J., and Schumacher, B. A. (1986). “Loesses and Loess-Derived Soils in the Lower Mississippi Valley.” Guidebook for Soils—Geomorphology Field Tour for the American Society of Agronomy Meetings. Louisiana State University and A & M College, Baton Rouge.Google Scholar
Miller, B. J. Schumacher, B. A. Lewis, G. C. Rehage, J. A., and Spicer, B. E. (1988). Basal mixing zones in loesses of Louisiana and Idaho. II. Formation, spatial distribution, and stratigraphic implications. Soil Science Society of America Journal 52, 759–764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, D. M., and Reynolds, R. C. (1989). “X-Ray Diffraction and the Identification and Analysis of Clay Minerals.” Oxford Univ. Press, New York.Google Scholar
North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature (1983). North American Stratigraphic Code. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 67, 841–875.Google Scholar
Norton, D. McSweeney, K., and West, L. T. (1988). Soil development and loess stratigraphy of the midcontinental U.S.A. In “Loess: Its Distribution, Geology, and Soils” (Eden, D. N. and Furkert, R. J., Eds.), pp. 145–159. Balkema, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Pavich, M. J. (1993). Beryllium-10. In “Progress Report on Chronostratigraphic and Paleoclimatic Studies, Middle Mississippi River Valley, Eastern Arkansas and Western Tennessee” (Markewich, H. E., Ed.), pp. 7–8. U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 93–273.Google Scholar
Pye, K., and Johnson, R. (1988). Stratigraphy, geochemistry, and thermoluminescence ages of lower Mississippi Valley loess. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 13, 103–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richmond, G. M., and Fullerton, D. S. (1986). Introduction to Quaternary glaciations in the U.S.A. In “Quaternary Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere” (Sibrava, V. Bowen, D. Q., and Richmond, G. M., Eds.), Quaternary Science Reports 5, 3–10.Google Scholar
Ruhe, R. V, (1976). Stratigraphy of mid’Continent loess U.S.A. In “The Quaternary Stratigraphy of North America” (Mahaney, W. C., Ed.), pp. 197–211. Dowden, Hutchinson, and Ross Inc., Stroudsburg, PA.Google Scholar
Ruhe, R. V. (1983). Depositional environment of late Wisconsin loess in the midcontinental United States. In “Quaternary Environments of the United States” (Wright, H. E. Jr., Ed.), Vol. 1, “The Late Pleistocene” (Porter, S. C., Ed.), pp. 130–136. Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Rutledge, E. M. West, L. T., and Guccione, M. J. (1990). Loess deposits of northeast Arkansas. In “Field Guide to the Mississippi Alluvial Valley” (Guccione, M. J. and Rutledge, E. M., Eds.), pp. 57–98. South-Central Friends of the Pleistocene Field Conference.Google Scholar
Schumacher, B. A. Lewis, G. C. Miller, B. J., and Day, W. J. (1988). Basal mixed zones in loesses of Louisiana and Idaho. I. Identification and Characterization. Soil Science Society of America Journal 52, 753–758.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, M. J., and Janitzky, P. (1986) “Field and Laboratory Methods Used in a Soil Chronosequence Study.” U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1648.Google Scholar
Soil Survey Staff (1981). Soil Survey Manual: USDA-SCS. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Willman, H. B., and Frye, J. C. (1970). “Pleistocene Stratigraphy of Illinois.” Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin 94.Google Scholar
Winters, H. A. Alford, J. A., and Rieck, R. L. (1988). The anomalous Roxana Silt and mid-Wisconsinan events in and near southern Michigan. Quaternary Research 29, 25–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar