Late Quaternary Landscape Evolution, Environmental Change, and Paleoindian Geoarchaeology in Middle Park, Colorado

Stratigraphic records in Middle Park in north-central Colorado provide evidence for the late Quaternary geomorphic and environmental history of a non-glaciated Southern Rocky Mountain basin. Episodes of geomorphic instability apparent in the stratigraphic record coincide with changes in paleoenvironmental records from above 2750 m in north-central Colorado, suggesting that the western Middle Park landscape was sensitive to environmental changes affecting the region over the last ~14,000 years. Tributaries were incised prior to 14.0 ka, but deposits older than 12.0 ka are rare. Upland erosion and incision followed by rapid aggradation in alluvial settings between 12.0 and 11.0 ka coincide with evidence for regional temperatures at or above present, and is interpreted to signal the onset of Holocene summer-wet precipitation. A widespread soil-stratigraphic marker represents a long period of landscape stability between