A Mid-Wisconsinan Pollen Diagram From Black Hawk County, Iowa

• Main Authors: Mundt, S., Baker, R. G.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: UNI ScholarWorks 1979
• Subjects: Palynology; Quaternary; Farmdalian Interstadial; Parkland; Cut Bank; taiga
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol86/iss1/10; https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1402&context=pias

A pollen sequence spanning the mid-Wisconsinan Farmdalian interstadial, from 34,460 to 20,850 RCYBP (radiocarbon years before present), was recovered from a peat along a cut bank on the Wapsipinicon River in Black Hawk County, Iowa. The pollen sequence is divided into three zones. Zone I at the base of the peat is dominated by Pinus and NAP (nonarboreal pollen) believed to represent an open pine parkland. Zone II, dominated by Picea and Pinus pollen, is interpreted as the record of a closed conifer forest, and Zone III, dominated by Picea and NAP, as open, taiga-like vegetation. Changes in the pollen sequence appear to reflect the abatement and subsequent return of glacial conditions. Comparable changes are recorded in pollen diagrams from elsewhere in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas.