INTERPRETATION OF HOLOCENE VEGETATION IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

Summary

Changes in the Holocene vegetation have not been widely studied in the

southern Midwest. Palynological studies of two locations, Big Lake and

Pemiscot Bayou in northeastern Arkansas, represent a vegetational sequence

for the past approximately 9000 years. This study was undertaken as part of

a greater examination of cultural resources and the geomorphology of Ditches

10, 12, and 29 in 11ississippi County, Arkansas. The cores from Big Lake and

Pemiscot Bayou represent vegetational changes in the northern portion of the

Southern Forest in the Mississippi Valley. Previous· studies at Big Lake,

Arkansas yielded a pollen column than encompassed only the past 180 years.

The pollen record obtained from this study of Big Lake represents at least

9000 years of vegetation change, while tllat from nearby Pemiscot Bayou

represents at least 8500 years. These records span a period beginning prior

to the mid-Holocene warm/dry interval which has been referred to as the

Hypsithermal (Deevey and Flint 1957), the altithermal (Antevs 1948), and the

xerothermic (Sears 1942), to the present.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• PaleoResearch Institute

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