Tammy M Rittenour
Biographic Data
| ID | 4054781 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tammy M Rittenour |
| GIVEN NAMES | Tammy M |
| FAMILY NAME | Rittenour |
| SIGNATURE | RITTENOUR T M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Utah State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1925-0395 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 50 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Downstream dilution of quartz luminescence sensitivity due to rapid erosion in the tectonically active Peloritani Range, NE Sicily
Low optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) sensitivity is commonly observed in quartz from tectonically active catchments, suggesting limited or short-lived conditions favorable for sensitization. We characterize the OSL sensitivity of quartz sand within a small, tectonically active catchment in Sicily using modern fluvial samples and a hillslope soil sample. We investigate how OSL sensitivity varies with bedrock lithology, weathering proxies, a…
User guide for scanning electron microscopy applications to luminescence dating
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods are widely used in the geosciences to determine grain shape and surface characteristics using SEM–secondary electron and backscatter imagery (SEM-SE/BSE) and elemental composition of minerals using SEM–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). We discuss applications and best practices for utilizing widely available SEM methods for luminescence dating, including (1) checking sample purity following…
Reconstructing Holocene fire records using dune footslope deposits at the Cooloola Sand Mass, Australia
In this study, we assess charcoal records from eolian deposits within the Cooloola Sand Mass, a subtropical coastal dune system in eastern Australia, to determine whether they can be used as a proxy for Holocene fire history. We excavate four profiles in depositional wedges at the base of dune slipfaces (footslope deposits) and calculate charcoal concentrations for three size classes (180–250 μm, 250–355 μm, and 355 μm–2 mm) at predetermined dept…
Changing environments and human interaction during the Pleistocene–Early Holocene from the shallow coastal area of Dor, Israel
The protected Tel-Dor coastal embayment in the eastern Mediterranean preserves an unusually complete stratigraphic record that reveals human–environmental interactions throughout the Holocene. Interpretation of new seismic profiles collected from shallow marine geophysical transects across the bay show five seismic units were correlated with stratigraphy and age dates obtained from coastal and shallow-marine sediment cores. This stratigraphic fra…
Climate and Vegetation Change, Hillslope Soil Erosion, and the Complex Nature of Late Quaternary Environmental Transitions, Eastern Mojave Desert, USA
In what are now the warm deserts of the American Southwest, direct effects of changing climate on plant distributions are typically viewed as the principal driver of vegetation changes that followed the late Pleistocene–Holocene transition (LPH). However, at a semi-arid site in the eastern Mojave Desert, the transition to modern, shrub-dominated desert scrub on xeric, south-aspect hillslopes occurred only after the erosion of relatively thick soi…
Age control for the Lake Bottom oxbow in the Dolores River watershed of eastern Utah, USA
Chronology of Missoula Flood Deposits at the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site, Washington State, USA
Late Pleistocene outburst megafloods, mostly from glacial Lake Missoula, hydraulically ponded behind downstream constrictions in the Columbia River in southeastern Washington State, USA. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages for flood deposits from the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site, located in a high (315–320 m asl) distal portion of the transient lake, indicate that at least seven floods ponded high enough to inundate the area during the per…
Holocene evolution of a barrier-spit complex and the interaction of tidal and wave processes, Inskip Peninsula, SE Queensland, Australia
This paper presents a reconstruction of the Holocene evolution of the Inskip Peninsula in SE Queensland. The peninsula links two major dune fields, the Cooloola Sand Mass to the south and K’gari (Fraser Island) to the north. Geomorphic features of this peninsula include remnant parabolic dunes, numerous beach ridges with foredunes, and a series of spits. Together these features provide insight into Holocene coastal evolution and changing marine c…
Multitechnique dating of earthen irrigation canals at the La Playa site, Sonora, Mexico
La Playa (SON:F:10:3) is an archaeological site in Sonora, Mexico that contains the remains of an extensive preceramic earthen irrigation canal system. Modern floodplain erosion has destroyed the majority of these canals, but geoarchaeological investigations on areas of the system that remain reveal much about this early agricultural technology. Comprehensive dating using accelerator mass spectrometry 14 C on gastropods, charcoal, and soil humate…
Prehistoric Irrigation in Central Utah
In 1928, Noel Morss was shown 'irrigation ditches' along Pleasant Creek on the Dixie National Forest near Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, by a local guide who contended they were ancient. We relocated the site and mapped the route of an unusual mountain irrigation canal. We conducted excavations and employed OSL and AMS14C showing historic irrigation, and an earlier event between AD 1460 and 1636. Geomorphic evidence indicates that the canal ex…
Stratigraphic and geomorphologic evidence of three MIS 2 glacial advances in the South Fork Hoh River valley, Olympic Mountains, Washington, USA
The geomorphology and stratigraphy of the South Fork Hoh River (SF Hoh), Olympic Mountains, Washington, allow for greater understanding of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2) ice fluctuations, glacial dynamics, and sedimentation. Age control from optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon dating constrains deposited sediments associated with four Late Pleistocene ice-marginal positions that formed under reduced ice volume conditions comp…
Examining the chronology of transgressions since the late Pleistocene in the Fujian coast, southeastern China
Eolian sand and loess deposits indicate west-northwest paleowinds during the Late Pleistocene in western Wisconsin, USA
Our study adds to the Quaternary history of eolian systems and deposits in western Wisconsin, USA, primarily within the lower Chippewa River valley. Thickness and textural patterns of loess deposits in the region indicate transport by west-northwesterly and westerly winds. Loess is thickest and coarsest on the southeastern flanks of large bedrock ridges and uplands, similar in some ways to shadow dunes. In many areas, sand was transported up and …
Multiple glacial advances in the Rangitata Valley, South Island, New Zealand, imply roles for Southern Hemisphere westerlies and summer insolation in MIS 3 glacial advances
Stratigraphic evidence and extensive optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) geochronology from an 18-km-long reach of the middle Rangitata Valley, South Island, New Zealand, provide evidence for at least six distinct glacial advances during the last glacial cycle. These include four well-constrained Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and 2 advances at ca. 38 ka, ca. 27 ka, ca. 21 ka and at 18 ka, as well as less well-constrained advances in MIS…
Late-Holocene cliff-top blowout activation and evolution in the Cooloola Sand Mass, south-east Queensland, Australia
Cliff-top dunes are a locally important geomorphic features of sedimentary coasts. They are traditionally interpreted as being sourced by (or with) sand derived from the beach below the cliff. This paper presents the results of a stratigraphic and geochronological study of Carlo Sand Blow, a coastal blowout that has developed on top of a high sandy cliff in the Cooloola Sand Mass, south-east Queensland. We use a combination of sedimentological, p…
Single-Grain Optically Stimulated Luminescence Ages of Brownware Pottery in the Middle Rocky Mountains and the Spread of Numic Ceramic Technology
This study presents the results of a single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (SG-OSL) analysis of brownware pottery from four Late Prehistoric-period sites in the Middle Rocky Mountains, Wyoming, USA. SG-OSL of quartz ceramic temper provides improved age control for sites where radiocarbon dating has proven problematic due to old wood, recent wildfires, and calibration uncertainties. SG-OSL results are compared to fine-grain infrared stimu…
Environmental impacts of ancient copper mining and metallurgy
Forces driving late Pleistocene (ca. 77–12 ka) landscape evolution in the Cimarron River valley, southwestern Kansas
This study presents stratigraphic, geomorphic, and paleoenvironmental (δ 13 C) data that provide insight into the late Pleistocene landscape evolution of the Cimarron River valley in the High Plains of southwestern Kansas. Two distinct valley fills (T-1 and T-2) were investigated. Three soils occur in the T-2 fill and five in the T-1 fill, all indicating periods of landscape stability or slow sedimentation. Of particular interest are two cumulic …
Luminescence dating of late Pleistocene proximal glacial sediments in the Olympic Mountains, Washington
Investigation of late and post-Fremont alluvial stratigraphy of Range Creek, east-central Utah
The 9th New World Luminescence Dating Workshop
User Guide for Luminescence Sampling in Archaeological and Geological Contexts
Luminescence dating provides a direct age estimate of the time of last exposure of quartz or feldspar minerals to light or heat and has been successfully applied to deposits, rock surfaces, and fired materials in a number of archaeological and geological settings. Sampling strategies are diverse and can be customized depending on local circumstances, although all sediment samples need to include a light-safe sample and material for dose-rate dete…
Late Holocene temporal constraints for human occupation levels at the Bodo archaeological locality, east-central Alberta, Canada using radiocarbon and luminescence chronologies
The Bodo Archaeological Locality in east-central Alberta is one of the largest precontact (prehistoric) archaeological sites in the Canadian Prairie Ecozone. Situated at the transition between the aspen parkland and fescue grassland regions within a postglacial eolian dune landscape, the site has the potential to add to existing understandings of cultural–environmental dynamics as they relate to late Holocene hunter-gatherer settlement and subsis…
Combining radiocarbon and single-grain optically stimulated luminescence methods to accurately date pre-ceramic irrigation canals, Tucson, Arizona
Combining radiocarbon and single-grain optically stimulated luminescence methods to accurately date pre-ceramic irrigation canals, Tucson, Arizona
User Guide for Luminescence Sampling in Archaeological and Geological Contexts
Luminescence dating provides a direct age estimate of the time of last exposure of quartz or feldspar minerals to light or heat and has been successfully applied to deposits, rock surfaces, and fired materials in a number of archaeological and geological settings. Sampling strategies are diverse and can be customized depending on local circumstances, although all sediment samples need to include a light-safe sample and material for dose-rate dete…
Multitechnique dating of earthen irrigation canals at the La Playa site, Sonora, Mexico
La Playa (SON:F:10:3) is an archaeological site in Sonora, Mexico that contains the remains of an extensive preceramic earthen irrigation canal system. Modern floodplain erosion has destroyed the majority of these canals, but geoarchaeological investigations on areas of the system that remain reveal much about this early agricultural technology. Comprehensive dating using accelerator mass spectrometry 14 C on gastropods, charcoal, and soil humate…
Environmental impacts of ancient copper mining and metallurgy
Prehistoric Irrigation in Central Utah
In 1928, Noel Morss was shown 'irrigation ditches' along Pleasant Creek on the Dixie National Forest near Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, by a local guide who contended they were ancient. We relocated the site and mapped the route of an unusual mountain irrigation canal. We conducted excavations and employed OSL and AMS14C showing historic irrigation, and an earlier event between AD 1460 and 1636. Geomorphic evidence indicates that the canal ex…
Holocene evolution of a barrier-spit complex and the interaction of tidal and wave processes, Inskip Peninsula, SE Queensland, Australia
This paper presents a reconstruction of the Holocene evolution of the Inskip Peninsula in SE Queensland. The peninsula links two major dune fields, the Cooloola Sand Mass to the south and K’gari (Fraser Island) to the north. Geomorphic features of this peninsula include remnant parabolic dunes, numerous beach ridges with foredunes, and a series of spits. Together these features provide insight into Holocene coastal evolution and changing marine c…
Single-Grain Optically Stimulated Luminescence Ages of Brownware Pottery in the Middle Rocky Mountains and the Spread of Numic Ceramic Technology
This study presents the results of a single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (SG-OSL) analysis of brownware pottery from four Late Prehistoric-period sites in the Middle Rocky Mountains, Wyoming, USA. SG-OSL of quartz ceramic temper provides improved age control for sites where radiocarbon dating has proven problematic due to old wood, recent wildfires, and calibration uncertainties. SG-OSL results are compared to fine-grain infrared stimu…
Late Holocene temporal constraints for human occupation levels at the Bodo archaeological locality, east-central Alberta, Canada using radiocarbon and luminescence chronologies
The Bodo Archaeological Locality in east-central Alberta is one of the largest precontact (prehistoric) archaeological sites in the Canadian Prairie Ecozone. Situated at the transition between the aspen parkland and fescue grassland regions within a postglacial eolian dune landscape, the site has the potential to add to existing understandings of cultural–environmental dynamics as they relate to late Holocene hunter-gatherer settlement and subsis…
Combining radiocarbon and single-grain optically stimulated luminescence methods to accurately date pre-ceramic irrigation canals, Tucson, Arizona
Late Holocene temporal constraints for human occupation levels at the Bodo archaeological locality, east-central Alberta, Canada using radiocarbon and luminescence chronologies
The Bodo Archaeological Locality in east-central Alberta is one of the largest precontact (prehistoric) archaeological sites in the Canadian Prairie Ecozone. Situated at the transition between the aspen parkland and fescue grassland regions within a postglacial eolian dune landscape, the site has the potential to add to existing understandings of cultural–environmental dynamics as they relate to late Holocene hunter-gatherer settlement and subsis…
Forces driving late Pleistocene (ca. 77–12 ka) landscape evolution in the Cimarron River valley, southwestern Kansas
This study presents stratigraphic, geomorphic, and paleoenvironmental (δ 13 C) data that provide insight into the late Pleistocene landscape evolution of the Cimarron River valley in the High Plains of southwestern Kansas. Two distinct valley fills (T-1 and T-2) were investigated. Three soils occur in the T-2 fill and five in the T-1 fill, all indicating periods of landscape stability or slow sedimentation. Of particular interest are two cumulic …
Luminescence dating of late Pleistocene proximal glacial sediments in the Olympic Mountains, Washington
Investigation of late and post-Fremont alluvial stratigraphy of Range Creek, east-central Utah
The 9th New World Luminescence Dating Workshop
User Guide for Luminescence Sampling in Archaeological and Geological Contexts
Luminescence dating provides a direct age estimate of the time of last exposure of quartz or feldspar minerals to light or heat and has been successfully applied to deposits, rock surfaces, and fired materials in a number of archaeological and geological settings. Sampling strategies are diverse and can be customized depending on local circumstances, although all sediment samples need to include a light-safe sample and material for dose-rate dete…
Environmental impacts of ancient copper mining and metallurgy
Single-Grain Optically Stimulated Luminescence Ages of Brownware Pottery in the Middle Rocky Mountains and the Spread of Numic Ceramic Technology
This study presents the results of a single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (SG-OSL) analysis of brownware pottery from four Late Prehistoric-period sites in the Middle Rocky Mountains, Wyoming, USA. SG-OSL of quartz ceramic temper provides improved age control for sites where radiocarbon dating has proven problematic due to old wood, recent wildfires, and calibration uncertainties. SG-OSL results are compared to fine-grain infrared stimu…
Eolian sand and loess deposits indicate west-northwest paleowinds during the Late Pleistocene in western Wisconsin, USA
Our study adds to the Quaternary history of eolian systems and deposits in western Wisconsin, USA, primarily within the lower Chippewa River valley. Thickness and textural patterns of loess deposits in the region indicate transport by west-northwesterly and westerly winds. Loess is thickest and coarsest on the southeastern flanks of large bedrock ridges and uplands, similar in some ways to shadow dunes. In many areas, sand was transported up and …
Multiple glacial advances in the Rangitata Valley, South Island, New Zealand, imply roles for Southern Hemisphere westerlies and summer insolation in MIS 3 glacial advances
Stratigraphic evidence and extensive optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) geochronology from an 18-km-long reach of the middle Rangitata Valley, South Island, New Zealand, provide evidence for at least six distinct glacial advances during the last glacial cycle. These include four well-constrained Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and 2 advances at ca. 38 ka, ca. 27 ka, ca. 21 ka and at 18 ka, as well as less well-constrained advances in MIS…
Late-Holocene cliff-top blowout activation and evolution in the Cooloola Sand Mass, south-east Queensland, Australia
Cliff-top dunes are a locally important geomorphic features of sedimentary coasts. They are traditionally interpreted as being sourced by (or with) sand derived from the beach below the cliff. This paper presents the results of a stratigraphic and geochronological study of Carlo Sand Blow, a coastal blowout that has developed on top of a high sandy cliff in the Cooloola Sand Mass, south-east Queensland. We use a combination of sedimentological, p…
Stratigraphic and geomorphologic evidence of three MIS 2 glacial advances in the South Fork Hoh River valley, Olympic Mountains, Washington, USA
The geomorphology and stratigraphy of the South Fork Hoh River (SF Hoh), Olympic Mountains, Washington, allow for greater understanding of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2) ice fluctuations, glacial dynamics, and sedimentation. Age control from optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon dating constrains deposited sediments associated with four Late Pleistocene ice-marginal positions that formed under reduced ice volume conditions comp…
Examining the chronology of transgressions since the late Pleistocene in the Fujian coast, southeastern China
Multitechnique dating of earthen irrigation canals at the La Playa site, Sonora, Mexico
La Playa (SON:F:10:3) is an archaeological site in Sonora, Mexico that contains the remains of an extensive preceramic earthen irrigation canal system. Modern floodplain erosion has destroyed the majority of these canals, but geoarchaeological investigations on areas of the system that remain reveal much about this early agricultural technology. Comprehensive dating using accelerator mass spectrometry 14 C on gastropods, charcoal, and soil humate…
Prehistoric Irrigation in Central Utah
In 1928, Noel Morss was shown 'irrigation ditches' along Pleasant Creek on the Dixie National Forest near Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, by a local guide who contended they were ancient. We relocated the site and mapped the route of an unusual mountain irrigation canal. We conducted excavations and employed OSL and AMS14C showing historic irrigation, and an earlier event between AD 1460 and 1636. Geomorphic evidence indicates that the canal ex…
Chronology of Missoula Flood Deposits at the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site, Washington State, USA
Late Pleistocene outburst megafloods, mostly from glacial Lake Missoula, hydraulically ponded behind downstream constrictions in the Columbia River in southeastern Washington State, USA. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages for flood deposits from the Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site, located in a high (315–320 m asl) distal portion of the transient lake, indicate that at least seven floods ponded high enough to inundate the area during the per…
Holocene evolution of a barrier-spit complex and the interaction of tidal and wave processes, Inskip Peninsula, SE Queensland, Australia
This paper presents a reconstruction of the Holocene evolution of the Inskip Peninsula in SE Queensland. The peninsula links two major dune fields, the Cooloola Sand Mass to the south and K’gari (Fraser Island) to the north. Geomorphic features of this peninsula include remnant parabolic dunes, numerous beach ridges with foredunes, and a series of spits. Together these features provide insight into Holocene coastal evolution and changing marine c…
Changing environments and human interaction during the Pleistocene–Early Holocene from the shallow coastal area of Dor, Israel
The protected Tel-Dor coastal embayment in the eastern Mediterranean preserves an unusually complete stratigraphic record that reveals human–environmental interactions throughout the Holocene. Interpretation of new seismic profiles collected from shallow marine geophysical transects across the bay show five seismic units were correlated with stratigraphy and age dates obtained from coastal and shallow-marine sediment cores. This stratigraphic fra…
Climate and Vegetation Change, Hillslope Soil Erosion, and the Complex Nature of Late Quaternary Environmental Transitions, Eastern Mojave Desert, USA
In what are now the warm deserts of the American Southwest, direct effects of changing climate on plant distributions are typically viewed as the principal driver of vegetation changes that followed the late Pleistocene–Holocene transition (LPH). However, at a semi-arid site in the eastern Mojave Desert, the transition to modern, shrub-dominated desert scrub on xeric, south-aspect hillslopes occurred only after the erosion of relatively thick soi…
Age control for the Lake Bottom oxbow in the Dolores River watershed of eastern Utah, USA
Reconstructing Holocene fire records using dune footslope deposits at the Cooloola Sand Mass, Australia
In this study, we assess charcoal records from eolian deposits within the Cooloola Sand Mass, a subtropical coastal dune system in eastern Australia, to determine whether they can be used as a proxy for Holocene fire history. We excavate four profiles in depositional wedges at the base of dune slipfaces (footslope deposits) and calculate charcoal concentrations for three size classes (180–250 μm, 250–355 μm, and 355 μm–2 mm) at predetermined dept…
Downstream dilution of quartz luminescence sensitivity due to rapid erosion in the tectonically active Peloritani Range, NE Sicily
Low optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) sensitivity is commonly observed in quartz from tectonically active catchments, suggesting limited or short-lived conditions favorable for sensitization. We characterize the OSL sensitivity of quartz sand within a small, tectonically active catchment in Sicily using modern fluvial samples and a hillslope soil sample. We investigate how OSL sensitivity varies with bedrock lithology, weathering proxies, a…
User guide for scanning electron microscopy applications to luminescence dating
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods are widely used in the geosciences to determine grain shape and surface characteristics using SEM–secondary electron and backscatter imagery (SEM-SE/BSE) and elemental composition of minerals using SEM–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). We discuss applications and best practices for utilizing widely available SEM methods for luminescence dating, including (1) checking sample purity following…
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (21 works) · Geography (20 works) · Archaeology (16 works) · Geology (16 works) · Paleontology (14 works) · Geomorphology (13 works) · Holocene (11 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (10 works) · Geology (9 works) · Physical geography (9 works)