Preliminary 14 C Dates on Bulk Soil Organic Matter from the Black Creek Megafauna Fossil Site, Rocky River, Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9242762 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matt Forbes, Erick Bestland, Rod Wells (0000-0001-7474-6719) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 437-443 |
| Publication date | 2004-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Radiocarbon (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-8222 • E-ISSN: 1945-5755 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0033822200039746 |
| OpenAlex | W1650614582 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 21 |
Radiocarbon age determinations and stratigraphy suggest that the deposits in Black Creek Swamp on Kangaroo Island record 3 phases of deposition and associated soil development which spanned at least the last 20,000 yr. Four new 14 C age determinations on bulk soil organic matter and their stratigraphic context are presented in this paper. Three of these age determinations (FP6: 15,687 ± 110 BP [WK11487]; FP7: 16,326 ± 385 BP [WK11488]; and FP8: 17,618 ± 447 BP [WK11489]), are from the organic-rich fossil layer located 45–75 cm below the current floodplain surface. The fourth, a much younger date, FP5: 5589 ± 259 BP (WK11486), was obtained from the base of the overlying modern soil. The dates for the fossil layer increase systematically with depth and correlate well with 5 previous 14 C dates (Hope et al., unpublished), ranging between 15,040 ± 120 BP and 19,000 ± 310 BP. This suggests that the data set represents a possible minimum age of the bulk organic matter, and considering the high organic matter contents of approximately 8%, has implications for the age of the megafauna buried in this layer. The overlying modern soil, with its much younger date, contains lower levels of organic matter (3–7%) and gastropods not seen in the fossil layer. This suggests a substantial change in environmental conditions probably due to an alteration in the floodplain drainage conditions. This chronological and sedimentalogical discontinuity indicates that 2 distinct depositional regimes existed and were separated by up to 10,000 14 C yr. A calcareous, sandy silt deposit underlying the fossil layer is a calcarenite deposit with low total organic content and is considered the base of the section; it suggests a third separate depositional episode. As such, the Black Creek Swamp in the southwest corner of Kangaroo Island formed intermittently over at least the last 20,000 yr during 3 distinct depositional phases, one of which was the formation of the fossil-laden, organic-rich floodplain surface, which has a possible minimum age of approximately 15,000 to 19,000 BP
Archaeology · Floodplain · Geography · Gleysol · Megafauna · Organic matter · Peat · Pleistocene · Radiocarbon dating · Sediment · Sedimentary depositional environment · Soil water · Structural basin · Swamp · Geological formations and processes · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Ecology · Geology · Paleontology · Soil Science · Stratigraphy
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |