Pollen and macrofossils profiles and age determination from the Pittsburg Basin in the lowlands of south-central Illinois ...

• Main Author: Grüger, Eberhard
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 1972
• Subjects: Livingstone piston sampler; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.714979; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.714979

Pollen and macrofossil evidence for the nature of the vegetation during glacial and interglacial periods in the regions south of the Wisconsinan ice margin is still very scarce. Modern opinions concerning these problems are therefore predominantly derived from geological evidence only or are extrapolated from pollen studies of late Wisconsinan deposits. Now for the first time pollen and macrofossil analyses are available from south-central Illinois covering the Holocene, the entire Wisconsinan, and most probably also Sangamonian and late Illinoian time. The cores studied came from three lakes, which originated as kettle holes in glacial drift of Illinoian age near Vandalia, Fayette County. The Wisconsinan ice sheet approached the sites from the the north to within about 60 km distance only.One of the profiles (Pittsburg Basin) probably reaches back to the late Illinoian (zone 1), which was characterized by forests with much Picea. Zone 2, most likely of Sangamonian age, represents a period of species-rich ...