Late Pleistocene Glaciation and Pollen Stratigraphy in northwestern New Jersey by Sirkin, L.A., and Minard, J.P.
Geological Survey Professional Paper (1972) |
AbstractStudy of pollen from a peat bog on Kittatinny Mountain,
Sussex County, NJ., allows correlation of the late Pleistocene pollen
stratigraphy of the bog with that of the Wallkill Valley to the north,
New England to the northeast, and Long Island to the east. The bog
(here called Saddle Bog) is in a saddle in the summit ridge of the
mountain and is partly dammed by an end moraine of late Wisconsin
age. Radiocarbon dating gives an age of 12,300 years B.P. at a depth of
5.50-5.65 m, The bog was cored to a depth of 7.65 m; commercial
quality peat extends from near the surface to a depth of 4.75 m. The
lower peat of the bog contains spruce, pine, and birch pollen, and
willow, alder, grass, sedge, and composite pollen, which may represent
park-tundra vegetation, that is, the herb pollen zone (T). The spruce
maximum occurs in the Al subzone, even though pine is more
abundant. Pine pollen peaks in the Bl subzone, accompanied by
abundant birch, and oak pollen rises in the B2 subzone. Oak-hemlock
and oak-hickory-hemlock pollen associations characterize the Cl and
C2 subzones, whereas both spruce and birch pollen rise in the C3
subzone. Sedimentation in the bog may have begun sometime between
15,000 and 18,300 years ago as deglaciation of the area began. AccessDownload (4.77 Mb) |