Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS45 Temporary Aquatic Ecosystems: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (Spatial and Temporal Connections)

Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001, Time: 11:30:00 AM

Location: Cochiti/Taos

Gaiser, E, E, Southeast Environmental Research Center Florida International University, Miami, USA, gaisere@fiu.edu

Taylor, B, E, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory University of Georgia, Aiken, USA, taylor@srel.edu

Brooks, M, J, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology University of South Carolina, New Ellenton, USA, mjbrooks@sc.edu

CLIMATIC INTERPRETATION OF ALTERNATIONS BETWEEN FLOODED AND PONDED STATES IN THE HOLOCENE HISTORY OF A TEMPORARY POND IN SOUTH CAROLINA, USA.

The southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain (USA) contains thousands of temporary freshwater wetlands and ponds. The series of climatic events driving the hydrology of these wetlands is poorly understood because these basins often lack adequately preserved microfossils. We reconstructed past hydrologic environments from microfossils in a small pond in South Carolina. Four distinct hydrologic phases were indicated. Fine clays at the base of the core (5200 BP) resembled sediments in nearby seasonally flooded oxbows of the Savannah River. Overlying peats containing planktonic diatom assemblages mark the onset of continuous open-water conditions ca. 4600 BP. These data, in conjunction with evidence from other southeastern wetlands, suggest a mid-Holocene hydrologic “threshold” for the flooding and expansion of wetland basins in this region. This is likely the net effect of increased precipitation and rising ground water levels corresponding to glacial retreat. Peat Bay retained permanent pond assemblages until about 3800 BP, after which time temporary pond diatoms, resembling modern assemblages, dominated the record. The pond was recently inundated by the creation of a nearby cooling water reservoir and permanent pond assemblages have returned.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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