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A Revised Middle to Late Holocene Alluvial Chronology of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Haussner, Elizabeth A
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1470744495

Abstract Details

2016, MS, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Geology.
Chaco Canyon National Historical Park is world-renowned for its multi-story sandstone masonry Great Houses built by a complex society of Anasazi Puebloan people who inhabited the canyon from about 450 – 1300 AD (1500 - 650 yrs BP). These people managed and modified the arid landscape in and around the canyon to cultivate maize, which was the primary subsistence crop for the large population at that time. A thorough understanding of changes in landscape during habitation, as well as variations in climate, is necessary for archaeologists to understand the magnitude and type of environmental management necessary for the civilization that inhabited Chaco Canyon. This study has developed alluvial chronologies in areas of the upper and lower reaches of Chaco Canyon by applying optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of quartz sand within depositional packages in the canyon. By synthesizing these new dates with existing chronologies of the full canyon, a more detailed master alluvial chronology for Chaco Canyon has been developed, defining the nature and rate of changes in the canyon’s landscape from the middle Holocene to the present. The geomorphology, sedimentology, and dates indicate cycles of repeated erosion/incisional events and depositional/aggradation events according to the following chronology: deposition in the middle Holocene followed by an undated episode of erosion; deposition from 3.8 ka until soil development at 3.4 ka and then incision until ~2.5 ka; aggradation between 2.5 and 1.7 ka; a likely incision event between 1.7 and 1.3 ka with aggradation at 1.3 ka; a full cycle of incision and aggradation before 0.9 ka; and finally aggradation until the recent modern arroyo incision began around 1880 AD. This study demonstrates the success of utilizing OSL dating to develop a more detailed alluvial chronology than previous studies in Chaco Canyon. Although future research is necessary, this study has taken a crucial step in defining the timing of geomorphic and sedimentologic oscillations that are likely relevant to human habitation in the canyon (1500 - 650 yrs BP). This will help archaeologists to better understand the landscape modifications necessary for the establishment and development of the Chaco civilization.
Warren Huff (Committee Chair)
Nicholas| Dunning (Committee Member)
Lewis Owen (Committee Member)
54 p.
Geology
Chaco Canyon; Chaco Culture National Historical Park; American southwest; OSL; arid landscape geomorphology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Haussner, E. A. (2016). A Revised Middle to Late Holocene Alluvial Chronology of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1470744495

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Haussner, Elizabeth. A Revised Middle to Late Holocene Alluvial Chronology of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. 2016. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1470744495.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Haussner, Elizabeth. "A Revised Middle to Late Holocene Alluvial Chronology of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1470744495

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1470744495
417
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.