2014 GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia (19–22 October 2014)

Paper No. 87-11
Presentation Time: 11:05 AM

LATE PLEISTOCENE-HOLOCENE ALLUVIAL STRATIGRAPHY OF SOUTHERN BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO


ANTINAO, José Luis1, MCDONALD, Eric2, RHODES, Edward J.3, BARRERA, Wendy3, BROWN, Nathan D.3, GOSSE, John C.4 and ZIMMERMAN, Susan H.5, (1)Division of Earth and Ecosystems Sciences, Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV 89512, (2)Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Pkwy, Reno, NV 89512, (3)Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 595 Charles Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095, (4)Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada, (5)Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550

Pleistocene to Holocene morphostratigraphy has been established for the basins of La Paz and San José del Cabo, in the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. Six discrete morphopedosedimentary alluvial units (Qt1 through Qt6) were differentiated across the region using a combination of geomorphologic mapping, sedimentological analysis, and soil development further reinforced with geochronology using radiocarbon, optically stimulated luminescence and cosmogenic depth-profiles. A first phase of regional aggradation began before ~ 100 ka (Qt1) and culminated ~10 ka (Qt4). After deposition of Qt4, increasing regional incision of older units and the progressive development of a channelized alluvial landscape coincide with deposition of Qt5 and Qt6 units in a second, incisional phase. All units were deposited as multiple 1-3 m thick alluvial packages in upper-flow regimes representing individual storms. Aggradational units covered broad (>2 km) channels in the form of sheetflood deposition while incisional stage deposits are confined to channels of ~0.5-2 km width. Continuous deposition of the thicker sequences is demonstrated by closely spaced luminescence dates in vertical profiles, sequence that in a few places is interrupted by disconformities indicated by partly eroded buried soils. Analysis of historical terraces as part of the younger units incised into older fans show that deposition was accomplished by large tropical cyclone events. Older units feature the same sedimentological traits as these historical deposits. We interpret the whole sequence as indicating discrete periods during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene when climatic conditions allowed large tropical cyclone events that today are not expressed. These discrete periods can be associated with specific periods when (a) insolation at the Equator was at peaks determined by precessional cycles and (b) the Tropical Pacific might have shown a state similar to that currently displayed during El Niño events.

Session No. 87

Fluvial Geomorphology
Monday, 20 October 2014: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM
208/209 (Vancouver Convention Centre-West)
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 46, No. 6, p.229
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