Geomorphic processes influence human settlement on two islands in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska
Abstract The Islands of Four Mountains island group of the Aleutian island arc is remote and difficult to access. Consequently, little fieldwork has focused on geomorphic processes and their relationship to island morphology, climatic change, and human settlement. We investigated glacial, fluvial, a...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/qua.2018.112 2024-03-03T08:36:26+00:00 Geomorphic processes influence human settlement on two islands in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska Persico, Lyman Lanman, Henry Loopesko, Lydia Bruner, Kale Nicolaysen, Kirsten 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/qua.2018.112 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589418001126 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Quaternary Research volume 91, issue 03, page 953-971 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth-Surface Processes Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) journal-article 2018 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2018.112 2024-02-08T08:33:41Z Abstract The Islands of Four Mountains island group of the Aleutian island arc is remote and difficult to access. Consequently, little fieldwork has focused on geomorphic processes and their relationship to island morphology, climatic change, and human settlement. We investigated glacial, fluvial, and slope processes on the morphologically different Carlisle, Cleveland, and Tana volcanoes. The islands were extensively glaciated at the last glacial maximum (LGM), and there is evidence for a Neoglacial advance. On the highly dissected Tana volcano, a large basin is likely the result of a pre-LGM sector collapse and subsequent glacial erosion into weak hydrothermally altered rock. Valley and moraine morphology is also influenced by hydrothermal alteration. On both Tana and Carlisle, there are sediment fans composed dominantly of thick debris flow deposits mantled by ~3 m of layered tephras, fine-grained alluvium, and anthropogenic deposits. Debris flow deposition was favored during the unstable paraglacial landscape of the early Holocene–latest Pleistocene. The earliest direct archaeological evidence for settlement is 3.8 cal ka BP, but soil geochemical evidence suggests that the islands were inhabited by 7.3 cal ka BP. This discrepancy in the archaeological record may be explained by geomorphic processes including coastal erosion and unstable geomorphic surfaces. Article in Journal/Newspaper Aleutian Island Alaska Cambridge University Press Quaternary Research 91 03 953 971 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
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English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth-Surface Processes Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth-Surface Processes Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) Persico, Lyman Lanman, Henry Loopesko, Lydia Bruner, Kale Nicolaysen, Kirsten Geomorphic processes influence human settlement on two islands in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth-Surface Processes Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) |
description |
Abstract The Islands of Four Mountains island group of the Aleutian island arc is remote and difficult to access. Consequently, little fieldwork has focused on geomorphic processes and their relationship to island morphology, climatic change, and human settlement. We investigated glacial, fluvial, and slope processes on the morphologically different Carlisle, Cleveland, and Tana volcanoes. The islands were extensively glaciated at the last glacial maximum (LGM), and there is evidence for a Neoglacial advance. On the highly dissected Tana volcano, a large basin is likely the result of a pre-LGM sector collapse and subsequent glacial erosion into weak hydrothermally altered rock. Valley and moraine morphology is also influenced by hydrothermal alteration. On both Tana and Carlisle, there are sediment fans composed dominantly of thick debris flow deposits mantled by ~3 m of layered tephras, fine-grained alluvium, and anthropogenic deposits. Debris flow deposition was favored during the unstable paraglacial landscape of the early Holocene–latest Pleistocene. The earliest direct archaeological evidence for settlement is 3.8 cal ka BP, but soil geochemical evidence suggests that the islands were inhabited by 7.3 cal ka BP. This discrepancy in the archaeological record may be explained by geomorphic processes including coastal erosion and unstable geomorphic surfaces. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Persico, Lyman Lanman, Henry Loopesko, Lydia Bruner, Kale Nicolaysen, Kirsten |
author_facet |
Persico, Lyman Lanman, Henry Loopesko, Lydia Bruner, Kale Nicolaysen, Kirsten |
author_sort |
Persico, Lyman |
title |
Geomorphic processes influence human settlement on two islands in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska |
title_short |
Geomorphic processes influence human settlement on two islands in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska |
title_full |
Geomorphic processes influence human settlement on two islands in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Geomorphic processes influence human settlement on two islands in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Geomorphic processes influence human settlement on two islands in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska |
title_sort |
geomorphic processes influence human settlement on two islands in the islands of four mountains, alaska |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/qua.2018.112 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589418001126 |
genre |
Aleutian Island Alaska |
genre_facet |
Aleutian Island Alaska |
op_source |
Quaternary Research volume 91, issue 03, page 953-971 ISSN 0033-5894 1096-0287 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2018.112 |
container_title |
Quaternary Research |
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91 |
container_issue |
03 |
container_start_page |
953 |
op_container_end_page |
971 |
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1792506825252274176 |