New databases reveal 200 years of change on the Mississippi River system
[No abstract available]
Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union↗
Geology topics
N. Pinter
Publications and source records attributed to N. Pinter.
Fire and vegetation shifts in the Americas at the vanguard of Paleoindian migration
Across North and South America, the final millennia of the Pleistocene saw dramatic changes in climate, vegetation, fauna, fire regime, and other local and regional paleo-environmental characteristics. Rapid climate shifts following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) exerted a first-order influence, but abrupt postglacial shifts in vegetation composition, vegetation structure, and fire regime also coincided with human arrival and transformative faunal extinctions in the Americas. We propose a model of post-glacial vegetation change in response to climatic drivers, punctuated by local fire regime shifts in response to megaherbivore-driven fuel changes and anthropogenic ignitions. The abrupt appearance of humans, disappearance of megaherbivores, and resulting changes in New World fire systems were transformative events that should not be dismissed in favor of climate-only interpretations of post-glacial paleo-environmental shifts in the Americas. Fire is a mechanism by which small human populations can have broad impacts, and growing evidence suggests that early anthropogenic influences on regional, even global, paleo-environments should be tested alongside other potential causal mechanisms.
Quaternary Science Reviews↗
Fire and vegetation history on Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands, and long-term environmental change in southern California
The long-term history of vegetation and fire was investigated at two locations – Soledad Pond (275 m; from ca. 12 000 cal. a BP) and Abalone Rocks Marsh (0 m; from ca. 7000 cal. a BP) – on Santa Rosa Island, situated off the coast of southern California. A coastal conifer forest covered highlands of Santa Rosa during the last glacial, but by ca. 11 800 cal. a BP Pinus stands, coastal sage scrub and grassland replaced the forest as the climate warmed. The early Holocene became increasingly drier, particularly after ca. 9150 cal. a BP, as the pond dried frequently, and coastal sage scrub covered the nearby hillslopes. By ca. 6900 cal. a BP grasslands recovered at both sites. Pollen of wetland plants became prominent at Soledad Pond after ca. 4500 cal. a BP, and at Abalone Rocks Marsh after ca. 3465 cal. a BP. Diatoms suggest freshening of the Abalone Rocks Marsh somewhat later, probably by additional runoff from the highlands. Introduction of non-native species by ranchers occurred subsequent to AD 1850. Charcoal influx is high early in the record, but declines during the early Holocene when minimal biomass suggests extended drought. A general increase occurs after ca. 7000 cal. a BP, and especially after ca. 4500 cal. a BP. The Holocene pattern closely resembles population levels constructed from the archaeological record, and suggests a potential influence by humans on the fire regime of the islands, particularly during the late Holocene.
California↗
Flood trends and river engineering on the Mississippi River system
Along >4000 km of the Mississippi River system, we document that climate, land-use change, and river engineering have contributed to statistically significant increases in flooding over the past 100-150 years. Trends were tested using a database of >8 million hydrological measurements. A geospatial database of historical engineering construction was used to quantify the response of flood levels to each unit of engineering infrastructure. Significant climate- and/or land use-driven increases in flow were detected, but the largest and most pervasive contributors to increased flooding on the Mississippi River system were wing dikes and related navigational structures, followed by progressive levee construction. In the area of the 2008 Upper Mississippi flood, for example, about 2 m of the flood crest is linked to navigational and flood-control engineering. Systemwide, large increases in flood levels were documented at locations and at times of wing-dike and levee construction. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.
Geophysical Research Letters↗
Regional impacts of levee construction and channelization, middle Mississippi River, USA
Abstract not submitted to date
Book chapter↗
Late Quaternary slip on the Santa Cruz Island fault, California
The style, timing, and pattern of slip on the Santa Cruz Island fault were investigated by trenching the fault and by analysis of offset late Quaternary landforms. A trench excavated across the fault at Christi Beach, on the western coast of the island, exposed deformation of latest Pleistocene to Holocene sediments and pre-Quaternary rocks, recording repeated large-magnitude rupture events. The most recent earthquake at this site occurred ca. 5 ka. Coastal terraces preserved on western Santa Cruz Island have been dated using the uranium-series technique and by extrapolation using terrace elevations and the eustatic record. Offset of terraces and other landforms indicates that the Santa Cruz Island fault is predominantly left lateral, having a horizontal slip rate of not more than 1.1 mm/yr and probably about 0.8 mm/yr. The fault also has a smaller reverse component, slipping at a rate of between 0.1 and 0.2 mm/yr. Combined with measurements of slip per event, this information suggests a long-term average recurrence interval of at least 2.7 k.y. and probably 4–5 k.y., and average earthquake magnitudes of Mw 7.2–7.5. Sense of slip, recurrence interval, and earthquake magnitudes calculated here for the Santa Cruz Island fault are very similar to recent results for other faults along the southern margin of the western Transverse Range, including the Malibu Coast fault, the Santa Monica fault, the Hollywood fault, and the Raymond fault, supporting the contention that these faults constitute a continuous and linked fault system, which is characterized by large but relatively infrequent earthquakes.
California↗