Last Glacial loess in the conterminous USA

Quaternary Science Reviews
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Abstract

The conterminous United States contains an extensive and generally well-studied record of Last Glacial loess. The loess occurs in diverse physiographic provinces, and under a wide range of climatic and ecological conditions. Both glacial and non-glacia lloess sources are present, and many properties of the loess vary systematically with distance from loess sources. United States' mid-continent Last Glacial loess is probably the thickest in the world, and our calculated mass accumulation rates (MARs) are as high as 17,500 g/m2/yr at the Bignell Hill locality in Nebraska, and many near-source localities have MARs greater than 1500 g/m2/yr. These MARs are high relative to rates calculated in other loess provinces around the world. Recent models of LastGlacial dust sources fail to predict the extent and magnitude of dust flux from the mid-continent of the United States. A better understanding of linkages between climate, ice sheet behaviour, routing of glacial meltwater, land surface processes beyond the ice margin, and vegetation is needed to improve the predictive capabilities of models simulating dust flux from this region.
Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Last Glacial loess in the conterminous USA
Series title Quaternary Science Reviews
DOI 10.1016/S0277-3791(03)00169-0
Volume 22
Issue 18-19
Year Published 2003
Language English
Publisher Elsevier
Publisher location Amsterdam, Netherlands
Contributing office(s) Geology and Environmental Change Science Center
Description 40 p.
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title Quaternary Science Reviews
First page 1907
Last page 1946
Country United States
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