This paper reviews evidence of middle Holocene environments, geology, and archaeology in the Southern Plains of the United States. Paleoenvironmental review of data including pollen, vertebrates, mollusks, and stable isotopes indicate drier climates prevailed in this region during the middle Holocene than in the early Holocene or the late Holocene. This climatic record is registered in different patterns of alluvial sedimentology and pedology across the region and among different drainage basins. Middle Holocene eolian deposits are documented in some localities from the Southern High Plains to the eastern plains margins. Reduced biomass and reduced surface water availability appear to have forced demographic and economic responses by middle Holocene populations in this region. However, deep burial of archaeological sites under flood plains as well as a paucity of geoarchaeological investigations constrain clear reconstruction of adaptive changes during this period.

An interpretation of eolian features for part of the southern high plains demonstrates the use of remote sensing as an inexpensive and easily applicable tool for identifying long-term wind patterns in regions of moderate relief. Eolian features useful in such an interpretation are sand dunes, blowouts, dust plumes, clay dunes, and wind-formed playas. Although the relief is low to moderate in this area of the high plains, topographic channeling is the most important factor in determining high wind-energy areas. The multidirectional wind regime of the southern high plains has produced a unique set of eolian features. Migration of parabolic dunes in the Mescalero dune field shows several directions of movement. The Monahans-Kermit dunes are also a result of conflicting winds from several directions. They show no discernable migration direction, are partially stabilized, and have a complex dune morphology. Under this multidirectional wind regime, playas are oriented normal to the winter winds that occur during the season when the playas are dry. This orientation is interpreted as a result of progradation of clay dunes toward the playa. Interpretation of eolian features detectable on LANDSAT imagery provided the information for regional assessment of windflow patterns in the southern high plains. A map was compiled summarizing the interpretations. Recorded wind data were correlated with the interpretation and are summarized for reference.