AVENUE OF THE SAINTS, MISSOURI: SUMMARY OF CLIMATE MODELS AND PALEOENVIRONMENT USING STRATIGRAPHIC POLLEN AND PHYTOLITH RECORDS

Sediment samples, collected from stratigraphic columns from three sites (23Ck57, 23Ck302, and 23Le174), were examined for pollen and phytoliths to provide information concerning the paleoenvironment along the Avenue of the Saints corridor in northeastern Missouri. The time periods represented by these stratigraphic samples include the Late Pleistocene at the base of 23Ck57, the Middle Holocene (6300-5500 BP) at 23Le174, and approximately 3510-2550 BP at 23Ck302. The samples 23Ck57 and 23Le174 also represent the time period from 1400 BP to approximately 400 BP. Since the plow zone was not sampled, the termination of the earliest portions is uncertain. This disjunct stratigraphic record reflects periodic interruptions of deposition or possible scouring of deposits along the Mississippi River at each of the locations sampled. Features dated to the Late Holocene at 23Le178/357 and 23Le248, represented by pollen and/or phytolith samples, do not contribute to the interpretation of the paleoenvironment here because they represent isolated portions of the record that could not be integrated with the stratigraphic record. Review of the climate models for Lewis and Clark counties provides a possible framework within which to examine the proxy data from these stratigraphic pollen records and create an interpretation of paleoenvironmental conditions in this area throughout much of the Holocene.