Measuring Late Quaternary Uplift Rates of Marine Terraces Using High-Resolution Chirp Sub-Bottom Data, Northern Channel Islands, California, Usa

Laws, Alexander W.; Maloney, J. M.; Klotsko, Shannon; Gusick, Amy E.; Braje, Todd J.; Ball, Dave

doi:10.1130/abs/2018rm-314015

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Many of the mapped paleoshorelines are buried beneath Holocene sediments and are not observed in modern seafloor bathymetry. Therefore, while useful over larger regions, models of paleoshorelines that use modern bathymetry may miss preserved paleoshoreline features and misinterpret the distance of modern shorelines and subaerial Paleocoastal sites from ancient shorelines (Laws et al, 2019). However, the burial of submerged paleoshoreline features by Holocene sediments may also mean that archaeological resources are preserved in these locations.…”

Section: Results and Interpretationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to their active tectonic setting, the NCI are uplifting at rates of 0.12-0.20 m/ka (Pinter et al, 2003;Laws et al, 2019). As such, the geomorphology near the coast of much of the NCI is characterized by step-like marine terrace features formed during sea level highstands (Muhs et al, 2014;Sorlien, 1994;Pinter et al, 2003).…”

Section: Geologic Settings and Environmental Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Working from the Known to the Unknown: Linking the Subaerial Archaeology and the Submerged Landscapes of Santarosae Island, Alta California, USA

Braje¹,

Maloney²,

Gusick³

et al. 2019

Open Quaternary

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Since the collapse of the Clovis-first model of the peopling of the Americas some 30 years ago, there has been growing interest in the Pacific Coast as a potential early human dispersal corridor. With postglacial eustatic sea level rise inundating most New World paleoshorelines older than ~7000 years, however, locating terminal Pleistocene sites along modern coastlines is challenging. Using the distribution and archaeology of subaerial Paleocoastal archaeological sites on California's Northern Channel Islands as a guide, we developed a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) predictive model to locate and map submerged high probability landforms, which might contain Paleocoastal sites. Our results illustrate how archaeologists can narrow targets in their search for evidence of the first Americans along submerged Pacific Coast paleoshorelines.

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Section: Results and Interpretationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geologic Settings and Environmental Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working from the Known to the Unknown: Linking the Subaerial Archaeology and the Submerged Landscapes of Santarosae Island, Alta California, USA

Braje¹,

Maloney²,

Gusick³

et al. 2019

Open Quaternary

Self Cite

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Emerging Technologies in the Search for the Submerged Cultural Landscapes of the Pacific Continental Shelf

Gusick

Maloney

King

et al. 2019

Day 1 Mon, May 06, 2019

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As applications for offshore renewable energy projects increase, state and federal land managers have become concerned over potential impacts to cultural heritage resources along submerged landscapes. Identification, documentation, and management of historical shipwrecks have been relatively common, but methods for identifying submerged pre-contact archaeological deposits are developing in many coastal regions of the continental United States. Permitting agencies in certain regions along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean typically require management plans that include mitigation measures for submerged archaeological sites. Over the last decade, resource managers along Pacific Coast regions have become increasingly aware of the need for submerged archaeological site protection. This is especially important since the eastern Pacific continental shelf has become a focal point in the search for late Pleistocene migrations into the Americas and other evidence of pre-contact habitation in coastal regions since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Integral to this search is the identification of submerged Pleistocene landforms that may favor preservation of pre-contact archaeological sites. Stemming from this, our multidisciplinary and multi-institutional effort includes marine geologists, marine biologists, and archaeologists synthesizing existing data using GIS models, and collecting new side scan sonar, CHIRP, and multibeam bathymetry data ground truthed with marine sediment cores. This methodology for the identification of submerged archaeological deposits is not new; however, the landscape approach that defines our research, and our focus on understanding paleolandscapes using modeling, sonar survey, and marine coring is the first of its kind on the eastern Pacific continental shelf. The goal of our project is to develop an archaeological sensitivity model, which the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management can consult in the offshore energy permitting process. As such, we are building our model using data from California’s Northern Channel Islands and testing the model along Oregon’s central coast. Results suggest that with the right technologies, sensitive landscape features such as paleochannels, paleoestuaries, and offshore tar seeps – all features used by Native American communities during the late Pleistocene and Holocene along the Pacific Coast – can be identified and used to model sensitive archaeological landscapes. We also are testing the efficacy of controlled-source marine electromagnetic methods in conjunction with sonar survey data for the identification of tar seeps, paleochannels, and buried archaeological shell midden deposits. This combined methodological approach is unique to North America’s Pacific Coast and represents a pioneering effort in the search for submerged archaeological deposits, which will help identify, document, and preserve underwater cultural heritage resources.

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Measuring Late Quaternary Uplift Rates of Marine Terraces Using High-Resolution Chirp Sub-Bottom Data, Northern Channel Islands, California, Usa

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Working from the Known to the Unknown: Linking the Subaerial Archaeology and the Submerged Landscapes of Santarosae Island, Alta California, USA

Working from the Known to the Unknown: Linking the Subaerial Archaeology and the Submerged Landscapes of Santarosae Island, Alta California, USA

Emerging Technologies in the Search for the Submerged Cultural Landscapes of the Pacific Continental Shelf

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