A mid to late Holocene history of floodplain and terrace reworking along the middle Delaware River valley, USA
Abstract
This study tests and refines the traditional floodplain development model for the partly confined middle Delaware River valley, which has shown that the main channel was relatively stable and flanked by a 6000-8000year old, vertically accreting alluvial terrace. The Holocene alluvial processes and history presented here in 6 fluvial phases were reconstructed using morphostratigraphy, 36 profile descriptions, 332 grain size analyses, and 82 14C ages from soil trenches, auger borings, and archaeological excavations. Fluvial phases I-III largely validate previous reconstructions showing a late Pleistocene (I: >10.7ka) braided stream transition into an early Holocene wandering stream with prolonged floodplain stability (II: 10.7-8ka), followed by early-middle Holocene erosion and then deposition (III: 8-5ka). The early and middle Holocene changes in alluvial stratigraphy and sedimentology broadly correlate with climatically derived Holocene subdivisions, suggesting climate change partly controls alluvial response along the middle Delaware River valley. This study documents for the first time a middle Holocene episode of channel incision occurring sometime between 6.0 and 5.0ka. Although the results reconfirm that the majority of alluvial landforms are composed of vertical accretion deposits, we present here new evidence of oblique, abandoned channel, and lateral accretion deposits inset to similar landforms with different formation histories (i.e., polycyclic terrace development), depicting a river valley that has experienced floodplain and terrace reworking. The majority of floodplain and terrace reworking occurs during the late-middle and late Holocene phases IV-VI (5.5-0ka), following the middle Holocene incision event. These phases demonstrate floodplain reworking processes in the form of channel abandonment, stripping, flood channeling, and convex bank erosion. The subsequent space filled rapidly with evidence of multistory soil formation, and eventually resulted in alluvial fill terraces with heights comparable to older surfaces. The most recent fluvial phase, VI (1.0-0ka), shows markedly faster sedimentation rates and coarser flood deposits associated with peak prehistoric population and the onset of Euroamerican settlement. The results presented here contribute newly documented evidence of erosion and depict a river valley that has undergone middle Holocene incision and floodplain and terrace reworking since the late-middle Holocene. Stream modelers, fluvial geomorphologists and geoarchaeologists working in the NE USA should consider floodplain reworking processes when examining alluvial history and predicting changes in stream dynamics. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.
Publication Title
Geomorphology
Recommended Citation
Stinchcomb, G., Driese, S., Nordt, L., & Allen, P. (2012). A mid to late Holocene history of floodplain and terrace reworking along the middle Delaware River valley, USA. Geomorphology, 169-170, 123-141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.04.018
