Episodic Late Quaternary slopewash deposition as recorded in colluvial aprons, Southeastern Wyoming

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Colluvial aprons found along fluvial terraces of the Laramie River and Sybille Creek in southeastern Wyoming are interpreted as late Quaternary slopewash deposits. Each apron studied contained multiple buried soils, interpreted to indicate that slopewash activity was episodic and short-lived, and was followed by relatively long periods of landscape stability and soil development. Apron deposits were described and subsequently correlated based on their internal stratigraphy and their relative degree of soil development. Optical dating was used to chronologically constrain periods of slopewash deposition, and based on 17 optical ages taken from five aprons, aggradation occurred at ∼65–56, 16.0, 12.9, 11.8, 8.1, 7.3, 5.0, and 1.7 ka. Several of these events correspond with climatic transitions such as the termination of Heinrich Event 1, the onset and termination of the Younger Dryas, and the 8.2 ka event, suggesting that apron aggradation was driven by changes in climatic regime. Although either increased aridity or a change in precipitation regime could result in increased erosion of terrace scarps, apron aggradation events do not correlate with regional records of aridity. Instead, periods of increased precipitation intensity and/or frequency that occur during climatic transitions most likely drive apron aggradation events.