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Widespread episodes of stream erosion during the Holocene and their climatic cause

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Abstract

Quaternary fill-terrace sediments along a 6-km reach of the Pomme de Terre River in south-central Missouri (38°06′ N, 93°26′ W) have yielded abundant vertebrate fossils, pollen, and archaeological remains1. Numerous radiocarbon dates have also been obtained. When these are combined with stratigraphic results (described by Haynes and myself), an ‘alluvial chronology’ of floodplain depositional history can be constructed. The Holocene portion of this chronology is summarised here and compared with other dated alluvial and proxy-climatic sequences from the northern mid-latitudes. From such a comparison, considerable insight may be gained into the operation of synoptic climatological controls over fluvial sedimentation and erosion.

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Brakenridge, G. Widespread episodes of stream erosion during the Holocene and their climatic cause. Nature 283, 655–656 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/283655a0

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