Guidebook of the 18th Biennial Meeting of the American Quaternary Association

Abstract

ln June 2004, the University of Kansas hosted the 18th Biennial Meeting of the American Quaternary Association (AMQUA). In addition to a technical session, two pre-meeting and post-meeting field trips were held. Although a guidebook was prepared for distribution at the conference, plans were made to revise it after the trips were completed. Specifically, the authors wanted to include feedback from field-trip participants. Also, by publishing the guidebook in the Kansas Geological Survey's Technical Series, peer review of the manuscripts was ensured, and the volume would gain a broader audience. The resulting guidebook is much more than descriptive narratives for localities along routes; it provides a wealth of new information about the glacial history, loess record, archeology, geoarcheology, and late Quaternary paleoecology of the midcontinent of the United States.

Field Trip 1 focuses on the stratigraphy, paleopedology, lithology, and chronology of Last Glacial loess in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Joseph Mason and his colleagues shed new light on the history of loess deposition in areas bordering the Missouri River valley. They use loess thickness and grain-size trends to identify sediment sources, and new data are presented for the Loveland Loess type locality as well as other loess sections.

Field Trip 2 focuses on late Quaternary biogeography and paleoecology along the prairie-forest border in the eastern Plains. The dynamics of prairie vegetation (including the effects of fire and bison) and soils are considered at the Konza Prairie Biological Station in northeastern Kansas. In addition, paleoecological evidence (i.e., pollen, phytolith. and plant macrofossil records) indicating late Quaternary bioclimatic change is presented and examined in the South Fork of the Big Nemaha River in southeastern Nebraska.

Field Trip 3 focuses on pre-Illinoian tills and associated sediments and paleosols in northeastern Kansas and central Missouri. Wakefield Dort presents evidence of glaciation and considers the location of the terminal glacial boundary in Kansas. Charles Rovey describes the lithostratigraphy of pre-Illinoian glaciogenic sediments in north-central Missouri and presents the results of recent paleomagnetic studies used to estimate the age of pre-Illinoian tills in north-central Missouri.

Field Trip 4 focuses on late Quaternary alluvial stratigraphy and geoarcheology in the central Great Plains of Kansas and northern Oklahoma. Four early Paleoindian sites—Simshauser, Waugh, Cooper, and Jake Bluff—are included in this trip. Also, the Winger site, a late Paleoindian bison bonebed in southwestern Kansas, and the Claussen site, a stratified Paleoarchaic campsite in northeastern Kansas, are described.