Late Holocene alluvial chronology and climate change in the central great plains

Abstract

Alluvium in one reach of the Republican River valley, south-central Nebraska, dates to the Holocene. Radiocarbon dating of fills underlying the two terraces in the valley reveals that entrenchment between 4500 and 3700 yr B.P. formed the high terrace. Subsequently, alternating aggradation and stability occurred until sometime between 1800 and 1100 yr B.P. Following another period of alluviation, channel incision formed the low terrace. General synchrony between this chronology and other late Holocene fluvial chronologies of the central Great Plains suggests climatic control of fluvial activity. The episodes of incision are tentatively correlated with different climate regimes, illustrating the difficulty of attributing a given fluvial response to a particular direction of climatic change.