Holocene Woodlands in the Southwestern Deserts
Van Devender TR. 1977. Holocene Woodlands in the Southwestern Deserts. Science. 198(4313):189-192
Analyses of packrat middens document woodland communities in the deserts of the southwestern US less than 10,000 years ago. A synchronous change from woodland to desert or grassland occurred about 8000 years ago in Chihuahuan, Sonoran, and Mohave deserts. Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) and big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) were found in middens from Montezuma's Head in the Ajo Mountains at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The site is about 395 km south of the nearest big sagebrush locality in Arizona. These samples also contained single-needle pinon, juniper, and shrub live oak (Quercus turbinella ajoensis). The assemblages have been radio carbon dated at 13,500 + 390 BP to 21,840 + BP. These records suggest that the Mohave Desert occupied a relatively greater area in the late Pleistocene.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Van Devender, Thomas
- Units
- DEVA , ORPI
- Keywords
- Ajo Mountains (ORPI), Ajo Mountains Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument AZ, Chihuahuan Desert (AZ), Historic Vegetation, Isotopic Dating, Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia), Mohave Desert, Packrat Middens, Paleoenvironment, Paleontology, Plant Communities, Plant Studies, Pleistocene, sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), Sonoran Desert, Titus Canyon Death Valley National Park CA NV, Woodland