Item talk:Q55887
Stratigraphy and age of a prominent paleosol in a late Pleistocene sedimentary sequence, Mason Neck, Virginia
The High Point paleosol is 2.28-meters-thick aggradational soil developed in fining upward estuarine-alluvial sand and loess. The paleosol is exposed in a few shoreline cliff faces of Mason Neck, Virginia. Although a former A horizon is missing, the E, Bw, Bt, and C horizon sequence seen in the sediments indicates subaerial pedogenesis. Pedogenesis began with initial estuarine-alluvial floodplain emergence as sea level was lowering in late marine isotope stage 5 (MIS5) and MIS4, continued during eolian silt deposition accompanied by incorporation of the silt into the estuarine-alluvial sand, and ended with a period of loess and eolian sand deposition, erosion, and development of periglacial(?) features. Six optically stimulated luminescence ages provide an age range from 86 to 56 ka (thousand years ago) for sedimentary units below and above the paleosol. These ages indicate a 10,000- to 30,000-year interval in late MIS5 and MIS4 for these events to have occurred.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Stratigraphy and Age of Units in Mason Neck Cliff Face Exposures
- Pedostratigraphy and Age of the High Point Paleosol
- Summary of Pedostratigraphic and Age Data
- General Observation Based on Data Presented in this Report
- References Cited
