Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-s9k8s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-12T17:49:14.478Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quaternary Paleoecology and Stratigraphy of the Sea Cliffs, Western Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Linda E. Florer
Linda E. Florer*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, New York University, Box 608, Tuxedo, New York, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The sea cliffs of the western Olympic Peninsula are composed chiefly of discontinuous beds of unconsolidated gravel, sand, silt, and peat of Pleistocene age. Two lower stratigraphic units, the “Steamboat Creek gravel” and “Joe Creek silt”, were deposited probably during the Puyallup Interglaciation; the upper unit, the “Kalaloch silt”, was deposited during an interval that extends from Salmon Springs Glaciation through Fraser Glaciation. Radiocarbon dates of the Kalaloch silt range from about 17,000 to > 48,000 BP.

Pollen analysis and stratigraphic correlation of the sea cliff sediments indicate that the present vegetation of the Olympic Peninsula has existed in this part of western Washington since the Puyallup Interglacial. During the Puyallup, the low elevation Tsuga heterophylla-Picea forest or its seral stages were predominant. During subsequent glaciations the low elevation forest was replaced by montane or alpine plant communities in areas near the ice front. At sites farther removed from glacial termini, low elevation forest apparently persisted, thriving in centers from which constituent species spread during interstadials.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , September 1972 , pp. 202 - 216
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.)

References

Arnold, R. 1906 Geologic reconnaissance of the Coast of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington Geological Society of America Bulletin 17 451–468 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birkeland, P.W. Crandell, D.R. Richmond, G.M. 1971 Status of correlation of Quaternary stratigraphic units in the western conterminous United States Quaternary Research 2 208–227 Google Scholar
Bretz, J.H. 1917 The Satsop formation of Oregon and Washington Journal of Geology 25 446–458 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crandell, D.R. 1964 Pleistocene Glaciations of the Southwestern Olympic Peninsula, Washintgon U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 501-B B135–B139 Google Scholar
Crandell, D.R. 1965 The glacial history of western Washington and Oregon Wright, H.E. Jr. Frey, D.G. The Quaternary of the United States Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey 341–353 Google Scholar
Crandell, D.R. Mullineaux, D.R. Waldron, H.H. 1958 Pleistocene sequence in the southeastern part of the Puget Sound lowland, Washington American Journal of Science 256 384–397 Google Scholar
Easterbrook, D.J. 1969 Pleistocene chronology of the Puget Lowland and San Juan Islands, Washington Geological Society of America Bulletin 80 2273–2286 Google Scholar
Easterbrook, D.J. Crandell, D.R. Leopold, E.B. 1967 Pre-Olympia Pleistocene stratigraphy and chronology in the central Puget Lowland, Washington Geological Society of America Bulletin 78 13–20 Google Scholar
Fonda, R.W. Bliss, L.C. 1969 Forest vegetation of the montane and subalpine zones, Olympic Mountains, Washington Ecological Monographs 39 271–301 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glover, S.A. 1940 Pleistocene deformation in the Olympic Coastal region Northwest Science 14 69–71 Google Scholar
Hansen, H.P. 1941 Paleoecology of a bog in the spruce-hemlock climax of the Olympic Peninsula American Midland Naturalist 25 290–297 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, H.P. Mackin, J.P. 1949 A pre-Wisconsin forest succession in the Puget Lowland, Washington American Journal of Science 247 833–855 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J. 1960 Late Pleistocene environments of North Pacific North America American Geographic Society Special Publication 35 308 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J. 1964 Palynology of four bog sections from the western Olympic Peninsula, Washington Ecology 45 23–40 Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J. 1969 Modern Pollen spectra from the Olympic Peninsula, Washington Torrey Botanical Club Bulletin 96 407–417 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J. 1972 Palynology and phytogeographical significance of a late-Pleistocene refugium near Kalaloch, Washington Quaternary Research 2 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, G.N. 1936 A botanical survey of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington University of Washington Publications in Biology 2 286 Google Scholar
Lupton, C.T. 1914 Oil and gas in the western part of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 581 23–81 Google Scholar
Weaver, C.E. 1937 Tertiary stratigraphy of western Washington and northwestern Oregon University of Washington Publications 2 266 Google Scholar