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NARROW
GeoRef Subject
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all geography including DSDP/ODP Sites and Legs
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North America
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Great Lakes
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Lake Michigan (1)
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Northern Highlands (1)
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United States
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Wisconsin
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Door Peninsula (1)
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Lincoln County Wisconsin (1)
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Oneida County Wisconsin (1)
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Vilas County Wisconsin (1)
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elements, isotopes
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isotopes
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radioactive isotopes
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metals
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alkaline earth metals
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beryllium
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geochronology methods
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exposure age (1)
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optically stimulated luminescence (1)
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geologic age
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Holocene
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upper Holocene (1)
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upper Pleistocene (2)
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absolute age (1)
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upper Pleistocene (2)
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geomorphology (2)
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isotopes
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metals
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alkaline earth metals
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North America
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Great Lakes
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permafrost (2)
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sediments
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clastic sediments
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boulders (1)
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soils (1)
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United States
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Wisconsin
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Lincoln County Wisconsin (1)
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Vilas County Wisconsin (1)
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sediments
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sediments
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ABSTRACT Loess mantles upland summits across much of the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin and its origin and paleoenvironmental significance has been a focus of research since the nineteenth century. Although the Driftless Area was ice free through the many glaciations of the Quaternary, long-term preservation of loess was limited by post-depositional erosion across much if not all of this highly dissected landscape, erosion that was likely accelerated under periglacial conditions during glaciations when ice sheets were nearby. Loess preserved today includes four members of the Kieler Formation and two older loesses known only from one locality. The Peoria Member, the youngest, thickest, and most extensive member of the Kieler Formation, was deposited during and just after the peak of the last glaciation. Its main sources include both the Mississippi River valley and the Iowan Erosion Surface and glacial outwash surfaces farther west in Iowa and Minnesota. More research is needed on the relative contribution from each of these sources to the Peoria Member, and on the sources of older loess units. Eolian sand, often forming dunes, covers extensive low-relief landscapes in the northern Driftless Area, the Mississippi and Wisconsin River valleys, and smaller areas elsewhere in the region, overlying sandstone bedrock, stream terraces, and the former bed of Glacial Lake Wisconsin. These sands are stabilized by vegetation today but were active during and just after the period of Peoria Member deposition. Thus, large areas of eolian sand acted as surfaces of transport where loess did not accumulate but rather was conveyed far downwind of its sources. Colluvium that is a mixture of bedrock-derived sediment and loess covers bedrock slopes throughout the Driftless Area. A variety of geochronologic, geomorphic, and stratigraphic evidence supports the hypothesis that this colluvial mantle formed mainly in the cold, periglacial environment of the last glaciation, with only limited modification during the Holocene. A new research effort, incorporating modern geochemical and geochronological techniques, could provide important insights on the processes that originally produced the colluvial mantle and those that are acting on it today.
ABSTRACT The study of Holocene paleohydrology and paleofloods represents one of James C. Knox’s most enduring contributions to our understanding of the geology and physical geography of the Driftless Area. His work on these subjects resulted in over 20 journal articles, refereed book chapters, field-trip guidebooks, and unpublished reports over a period of 40 years. By systematically amassing a wealth of radiocarbon-dated morphologic, stratigraphic, and sedimentologic observations, he was able to quantitatively document changing hydrologic conditions in the region over the past 11.7 ka. He extended these empirical results to establish a broadly applicable theoretical perspective about the profound hydrologic and geomorphologic impacts of even modest changes in climate. This theory, grounded in field-derived data collection, detailed sedimentological analysis, statistical methods, and contextual analysis of supplementary paleoenvironmental evidence, has important implications for our understanding of changing flood magnitudes and frequencies in response to ongoing climate change. Knox pioneered novel methods for reconstructing past hydrologic variability. His work on the cross-sectional geometry of paleomeanders provides a direct proxy for estimation of high-frequency, low-magnitude bankfull floods. His analysis of overbank gravels facilitates reconstruction of an early through late Holocene time-series of large, infrequent floods. His attention to sandy beds occurring within uninterrupted, fine-grained, overbank depositional sequences enables continuous magnitude and frequency analysis of floods to be extended hundreds, even thousands, of years beyond the modern gaging record. We demonstrate this with statistical correlation of a gaging record to >0.25 mm sand contents at one of Knox’s former sites. By quantifying hydrologic change in the Driftless Area over millennial timescales, Knox’s work demonstrates conclusively the non-stationarity of flood magnitudes and frequencies, a result that has significance for fluvial geomorphology, paleohydrology, water resource management, and flood mitigation. The scientific and societal value of these results continues to increase in relevance for the future.
ABSTRACT Lead and zinc ore minerals occur in the middle Ordovician Sinnipee Group dolomites in southwest Wisconsin and adjacent areas of northwest Illinois and northeast Iowa. Europeans began mining lead deposits as early as the mid-1600s; production of lead ore and smelting of lead reached a peak ca. 1850. Mining and production from the stratigraphically lower zinc deposits reached a peak in 1917, with a lesser resurgence of zinc production ca. 1950–1970. The mining detritus and sediment from mine waste piles is relatively stable. However, cations of lead and zinc freely adsorb to clay and silt particles and have been incorporated into the downstream fluvial systems. The temporal coincidence of lead-zinc mining and active aggradation of many fluvial systems in the Driftless Area has resulted in these “legacy sediments” being preserved in overbank fluvial deposits throughout the Lead-Zinc District.
Foreword
ABSTRACT The Driftless Area is a region of roughly 22,000 km 2 almost entirely in southwestern Wisconsin and adjacent northwestern Illinois that contains no evidence for glaciation during the Quaternary. Both in terms of topography and geomorphic process, it stands in stark contrast to the surrounding glaciated landscapes of the Midwestern United States. The nearly flat-lying Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the region are deeply incised by the dendritic drainage system of the upper Mississippi and lower Wisconsin Rivers and numerous of their tributaries. Records of geologic processes that predate the Quaternary glaciations are exposed at the near-surface. The landscape is blanketed by loess of the Kieler Formation and was affected by mass wasting and a range of periglacial processes that were pervasive during permafrost conditions that existed between 33 and 14 ka. Post-glacial fluvial systems preserve myriad examples of channel adjustment to changes in sediment supply from the transition of glacial to interglacial conditions, changes in discharge across periods of Holocene climate change, and responses to Euro-American settlement of the landscape.
ABSTRACT The physical and fluvial development of the Driftless Area, largely in Wisconsin, has been investigated by James C. Knox and was the subject of a 1982 field trip. This chapter reviews and expands current understanding of the geomorphic history in and adjacent to the Driftless Area in northeast Iowa and southeast Minnesota, and the paleoecology and paleoclimates that were important in the late glacial and Holocene landform development. This information was largely obtained using fossil pollen, plant macrofossils, fossil mammals and insects, and cave speleothem records.
ABSTRACT The Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin is defined by its lack of glacial deposits; therefore, the geographic limits of the Driftless Area are delimited by glacial deposits of various ages. The northern boundary of the Driftless Area is marked by the patchy distribution of pre-Illinoian (pre–marine oxygen isotope stage [MIS] 8) deposits that contain clasts from the north and northwest. The western margin is also delimited by pre–MIS 8 sediments that extend roughly coincident with the Mississippi River. This boundary is best identified by the topographic feature of the Bridgeport moraine near the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers and by the presence of patchy till underlying MIS 2 loess on upland surfaces in southwesternmost Wisconsin. The southeastern margin is delimited by extensive Illinoian (MIS 6–8) deposits with eroded glacial landforms evident in modern light detection and ranging (LiDAR)–derived digital elevation models. The eastern margin is marked by well-preserved glacial landforms and sediment associated with the MIS 2 glaciation. The Green Bay Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet deposited prominent moraines that dammed numerous ice-proximal lakes. The most significant of these was glacial Lake Wisconsin, which formed when the Green Bay Lobe dammed the Wisconsin River at the east end of the Baraboo Hills. The most recent episode of permafrost in the Driftless Area lasted from ca. 33 to 14 ka; a suite of permafrost-related features that formed sometime during this time period can be found throughout the Driftless Area.
ABSTRACT Floodplain systems in the Driftless Area have experienced widespread historical transformations in hydrologic and sediment characteristics as well as rates of hydrogeomorphic processes. These changes exceed natural variability experienced during the Holocene and are driven by nearly two centuries of major land-cover alterations coupled with shifting precipitation patterns. On the pre–Euro-American landscape, tributaries to the Upper Mississippi River had clear, constant base flow and low sedimentation rates due to a protective cover of prairie, oak savanna, and woodland. The Upper Mississippi River was sandy and braided, with geomorphologically diverse backwaters, side channels, and vegetated islands. Soil erosion and gullying caused by agriculture-related land clearance have had the largest historical effects on Upper Mississippi River tributary stream morphology and floodplain sedimentation. Floodplain sedimentation rates for tributaries and the Upper Mississippi River were 0.2 and 0.9 mm/yr, respectively, before Euro-American settlement, compared to 2–20 and 5–20 mm/yr after Euro-American settlement, respectively. The soil conservation movement had its birthplace in the Driftless Area in the 1920s because of the region’s widespread landscape degradation. As soil erosion decreased and gullies were stabilized in the middle to late twentieth century, land management efforts turned toward the lingering problem of fine-grained, phosphorus-rich sediment stored in tributary floodplains and channels. This trend has been complicated by a climatic shift in the late twentieth century toward increased annual precipitation, increased flood variability, and more floods in late fall and winter months, when bare fields are vulnerable to runoff. Floods are major contributors to channel erosion and deposition, and variability in magnitudes and frequency will likely continue in the early twenty-first century. Restoration efforts in tributaries have included reducing bank erosion, reconnecting floodplains, and adding trout habitat features. Lock and dam structures have altered sediment transport and erosion processes within the Upper Mississippi River, and restoration efforts there have focused on creation and rehabilitation of islands and protection of remnant off-channel backwater habitats.
An overview of Driftless Area prehistory
ABSTRACT This paper presents an overview of the human prehistory of the Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Valley as revealed through archaeological research. Discussion begins with the earliest evidence of human occupation over 13,000 yr ago and concludes just prior to the arrival of European traders and missionaries in the seventeenth century.
Front Matter
Over the course of his 43-year career, James C. Knox conducted seminal research on the geomorphology of the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin. His research covered wide-ranging topics such as long-term landscape evolution in the Driftless Area; responses of floods to climate change since the last glaciation; processes and timing of floodplain sediment deposition on both small streams and on the Mississippi River; impacts of European settlement on the landscape; and responses of stream systems to land-use changes. This volume presents the state of knowledge of the physical geography and geology of this unglaciated region in the otherwise-glaciated Midwest with contributions written by Knox prior to his passing in 2012 and by a number of his former colleagues and graduate students.
The role of permafrost on the morphology of an MIS 3 moraine from the southern Laurentide Ice Sheet
Influence of persistent buried ice on late glacial landscape development in part of Wisconsin’s Northern Highlands
ABSTRACT Landscape features that formed when buried ice melted and overlying sediment collapsed are abundant and widespread in the part of Wisconsin’s Northern Highland region glaciated by the Wisconsin Valley Lobe and the western part of the Langlade Lobe. Stagnation and burial of ice of the Wisconsin Valley Lobe are documented by broad tracts of hummocky moraine topography that record the position of the maximum extent of the lobe, and by extensive pitted and collapsed heads-of-outwash and outwash plains deposited during recession. Recession of the Wisconsin Valley Lobe was characterized by episodes of stagnation interspersed with episodes of readvance, documented by small west-east–trending heads-of-outwash. Advances of the western margin of the Langlade Lobe deposited large northwest-southeast–trending heads-of-outwash characterized by extensive areas of pitted and collapsed outwash plains with obscure but recognizable ice-contact faces. Following recession of the Wisconsin Valley and Langlade Lobes, the Ontonagon Lobe advanced out of the Superior Basin and over sediment containing abundant buried ice. Permafrost and debris cover combined to delay the melting of buried ice and the formation of the postglacial landscape. Regional correlation of ice-margin positions, combined with geomorphic and stratigraphic relationships, indicates that ice buried in north-central Wisconsin persisted in some places for up to 5000 yr or more following the recession of active ice.
This study focuses on the geomorphology and geochronology of dunes formed on three sandy barrier systems at Clark, Europe and Kangaroo Lakes in Wisconsin's Door Peninsula. The Lake Michigan shoreline in the peninsula contains abundant evidence for fluctuations in lake level with paleo-shoreline features that lie up to ~7 m above the present shoreline. Dunes are not very common along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Wisconsin, but the three bay barriers studied contain beach ridges that were buried by varying depths of eolian sand in the form of low relief sandsheets as well as parabolic and transverse dunes that have relief of up to 21 m. The purpose of this study was to document when the barriers formed and when the subsequent eolian activity occurred. The chronology presented here for barrier emplacement and dune development is based on 65 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) samples which were collected from littoral sediment in the barriers (n = 17) and the overlying eolian sand (n = 48). Sediment samples were collected using bucket augers or a vibracoring device at depths ranging from 0.5 to 4.1 m below the ground surface. The OSL ages show that barriers in each of the study sites were constructed between ~5.9 and 3.9 ka, corresponding closely to the Nipissing high lake phase. OSL ages falling between 3.3 and 2.5 ka at the Kangaroo Lake site suggest the portion of the barrier closest to Lake Michigan formed during the Algoma phase. The majority of the eolian ages fall into two primary groups that overlap with or are slightly younger than the ages acquired from the barriers. These results suggest eolian activity ended between 4.5 and 3.7 (n = 20 ages) and 2.5 and 1.8 (n = 11 ages) ka. Both geomorphic and geochronological evidence suggests that dune development occurred rapidly when sand supply increased as lake levels fell following these two transgressive events.
Late Pleistocene through Holocene landscape evolution of the White River Badlands, South Dakota
Abstract Badlands are common arid and semiarid landscapes long recognized in slope development and erosion rate studies by preeminent geomorphologists including Gilbert, Davis, and Schumm. The trip described here will examine in detail Quaternarystrata and landscape evolution in arguably the most famous badlands, the White River Badlands of South Dakota, which were pivotal during development of vertebrate paleontology in North America. Geologists have collected fossils from the White River Group there nearly every field season since the mid-1800s; however, until recently, little work was reported on the extensively exposed Quaternary strata. The White River Badlands are also a proposed dust source for the widespread PeoriaLoess of the Central Great Plains. The research highlighted on this trip includes (1) luminescence and radiocarbon ages from late Pleistocene through Holocene eolian sand, (2) radiocarbon ages from Holocene eolian cliff-top deposits, (3) luminescenceages from late Pleistocene fluvial silts, (4) radiocarbon ages of late Holocene fluvial silts, and (5) cosmogenic ages on ventifacts from the adjoining upper prairie. These new studies will facilitate discussions, including (1) late Quaternary paleoenvironments,(2) late Quaternary fluvial incision rates and episodes, (3) up-wind sediment supply of late Quaternary nonglaciogenic loess, (4) landscape evolution spanning late Pleistocene tableland through late Holocene sod table development, and (5) modern erosion-pedimentation rates. Keywords: Badlands, fluvial, eolian, geochronology, geomorphology.