Sangamonian

(Redirected from Sangamonian Stage) Last interglacial stage in the North American regional subdivision of the Quaternary

The Sangamonian Stage (or Sangamon interglacial) is the term used in North America to designate the Last Interglacial (130,000-115,000 years ago) and depending on definition, part of the early Last Glacial Period, corresponding to Marine Isotope Stage 5 (~130-80,000 years ago). While often historically considered equivalent in scope to MIS 5, it is now often used in a more narrow sense to refer to the Last Interglacial only (corresponding to MIS 5e and the European Eemian). It preceded the Wisconsinan (Wisconsin) Stage and followed the Illinoian Stage in North America.

Definition

The Sangamonian Stage, originally the Sangamon interglacial stage, is defined on the basis of the Sangamon Soil, a paleosol, which is developed in contemporaneous colluvium and older glacial tills and loesses and overlain by Wisconsinan loesses or tills. Although originally described from water wells in northwestern Sangamon County, Illinois, the current type sections for the Sangamon Stage are the Rochester section in eastern Sangamon County and the Chapman section in Morgan County, Illinois. In the Rochester Section, the Sangamon Soil is developed in Sangamonian colluvial sediments, called “accretion gley”, that accumulated contemporaneously with the development of the Sangamon Soil. In the Rochester section, the Sangamon Soil is developed directly in Illinoian glacial till and overlain by Roxana Silt, the oldest of the two regional Wisconsinan loesses.

Correlations

In its typical and broadest usage, the Sangamonian Stage is equivalent to all of Marine isotope stage 5 between 75,000 and 125,000 BP. Although it includes the same time span, the Sangamonian Stage (sensu lato) is not temporally equivalent to the Eemian in Europe. In its much less common usage, the Sangamonian Stage (sensu stricto) is equivalent to Marine Isotope Substage 5e and the Eemian. In case of this usage, Marine Isotope Substages 5a, 5b, 5c, and 5d are collectively referred to as the Eowisconsinan Stage. In its broadest sense (sensu lato), the Sangamonian Stage precedes the Wisconsinan (Wisconsin) Stage and follows the Illinoian Stage in North America.

Research concerning the age and degree of development of the Sangamon Soil demonstrates that it actively developed, at the least, over all of Marine Isotope Stage 5, which is a period of time from 125,000 to 75,000 BP. Unlike Europe, the development of ice sheets in Canada was limited during Marine Isotope Substages 5b, 5c, and 5b and either completely disappeared or were greatly reduced in size during Marine Isotope Substage 5a. Because of the continuous development of the Sangamonian Soil in the Midwest and the limited development of ice sheets in North America during this marine isotope stage, the Sangamonian Stage, unlike the Eemian in Europe, is regarded as encompassing all of Marine Isotope Stage 5.

Dates

The start of the Sangamonian Stage is constrained by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates obtained from fluvial deposits of the Pearl Formation and Illinoian glacial tills of the Glasford Formation, which fill an ancient and buried Mississippi River valley in north-central Illinois. The age of fluvial sediments overlying the youngest glacial till (Radnor Member) of the Glasford Formation yield optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates that averaged 131,000 BP. These OSL dates demonstrate that the Illinoian Stage ended and the Sangamonian Stage started about 125,000 BP. These dates refute older dates, i.e. between 220,000 and 450,000 BP, given by older publications for the start of the Sangamonian Stage.

Events

The steppe bison (Bison priscus) migrated into the heartlands of North America from Alaska at the beginning of the Sangamonian, giving rise to the giant long-horned bison Bison latifrons (which is first known from the Snowmass site in Colorado, dating to around 120,000 years ago) and ultimately all North American bison species, and marking the beginning of the Rancholabrean faunal age in North America. Also the Sangamonian the American lion (Panthera atrox) appeared and become widespread across North America, having descended from populations of the Eurasian cave lion (Panthera spelaea) that had migrated into Alaska during the preceding Illinoian.

References

Occhietti, Serge; Clet, Martine; Richard, Pierre J.H. (2016-12-01). "The Don formation, Toronto, Canada: a record of the sangamonian interglacial and early wisconsinan (warm part of MIS 5e to a MIS 5 cold substage)". Quaternaire. 27 (4): 275–299. doi:10.4000/quaternaire.7746. ISSN 1142-2904.
^ McKay III, E.D., R.C. Berg, A.K. Hansel, T.J. Kemmis, and A.J. Stumpf, 2008, Quaternary Deposits and History of the Ancient Mississippi Valley. North-Central Illinois, Guidebook for the 51st Midwest Friends of the Pleistocene Field Trip, Streator, Illinois, May 13-15, 2005: Illinois State Geological Survey, Guidebook 35, 98 p.
^ Willman, H.B., and J.C. Frye, 1970, Pleistocene Stratigraphy of Illinois. Bulletin no. 94, Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, Illinois.
^ Hansel, A.K. and E.D. McKay, in press, Quaternary Period, in D.R. Kolata, ed., The Geology of Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey, Urbana, Illinois.
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Richmond, G.M. and D.S. Fullerton, 1986, Summation of Quaternary glaciations in the United States of America, Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 5, pp. 183-196.
Curry, B.B., and M.J. Pavich, 1996, Absence of Glaciation in Illinois during Marine Isotope Stages 3 through 5. Quaternary Research. v. 46, no. 1, p. 19–26.
Grimley, D.A. , L.R. Follmer, R.E. Hughes, and P.A. Solheid. 2003, Modern, Sangamon and Yarmouth soil development in loess of unglaciated southwestern Illinois. Quaternary Science Reviews. 22 no. 2-4, p. 225–244.
Clague, J.J., D.J. Easterbrook, O.L. Hughes, and J.V. Mathews, 1992, The Sangamonian and Early Wisconsinan Stages in western Canada and Northwestern United States. in Clark, P. U., and Lea, P. D., p. 253-268, , The Last Interglacial-Glacial Transition in North America. Special Paper no. 270, p. 171–184. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado. ISBN 978-0-8137-2270-2
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McKay, E.D., 2007, Six Rivers, Five Glaciers, and an Outburst Flood: the Considerable Legacy of the Illinois River. Proceedings of the 2007 Governor's Conference on the Management of the Illinois River System: Our continuing Commitment, 11th Biennial Conference, Oct. 2-4, 2007, 11 p.
McKay, E.D., and R.C. Berg, 2008, Optical ages spanning two glacial-interglacial cycles from deposits of the ancient Mississippi River, north-central Illinois. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 40, No. 5, p. 78 with powerpoint presentation
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Wornardt. W.W., and P.R. Vail , 1991, Revision of the Plio-Pleistocene Cycles and their Application to Sequence Stratigraphy and Shelf and Slope Sediments in the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions. v. 41, p. 719-744.
Froese, Duane; Stiller, Mathias; Heintzman, Peter D.; Reyes, Alberto V.; Zazula, Grant D.; Soares, André E. R.; Meyer, Matthias; Hall, Elizabeth; Jensen, Britta J. L.; Arnold, Lee J.; MacPhee, Ross D. E. (March 28, 2017). "Fossil and genomic evidence constrains the timing of bison arrival in North America". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (13): 3457–3462. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.3457F. doi:10.1073/pnas.1620754114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 5380047. PMID 28289222.
Bravo-Cuevas, Victor Manuel; Priego-Vargas, Jaime; Cabral-Perdomo, Miguel Ángel; Pineda Maldonado, Marco Antonio (2016-07-20). "First occurrence of <i>Panthera atrox</i> (Felidae, Pantherinae) in the Mexican state of Hidalgo and a review of the record of felids from the Pleistocene of Mexico". Fossil Record. 19 (2): 131–141. doi:10.5194/fr-19-131-2016. ISSN 2193-0074.

External links

Muhs, D.R., 2006, Last Interglacial: Timing and Environment (LITE). U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, Denver, Colorado.
Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, nd, Global correlation tables for the Quaternary (2007), Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England.

Quaternary Period