North-Central Section - 42nd Annual Meeting (24–25 April 2008)

Paper No. 2
Presentation Time: 1:00 PM-5:00 PM

EARLY PLEISTOCENE ENVIRONMENT OF CENTRAL JAVA, INDONESIA


MURRAY, Daniel S. and BETTIS III, Elmer A., Geoscience, University of Iowa, 121 Trowbridge Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242, daniel-murray@uiowa.edu

A sequence of fluvial deposits with intercalated paleosols in Central Java, Indonesia provides information on local and regional Early Pleistocene environments of the southern Sunda subcontinent. We analyze the morphology of paleosols, δ13C values of soil organic matter and soil carbonates, and δ18O of soil carbonates in a sequence of alluvial deposits spanning the period 1.5 to 0.5 Ma to reconstruct vegetation and climatic patterns.

All lines of evidence suggest a change toward regional drying, or increased duration of the annual dry season through the sequence. We propose that the Central Java record reflects vegetation response to Early Pleistocene intensification of the Western Pacific tropical monsoon.