The valley and ridge physiographic province of central Pennsylvania provides an exceptional opportunity to reconstruct feedbacks between hillslope processes and Quaternary climate and ecosystem change, with implications for understanding the resilience of soil and water resources in the face of land use and climate change. Here, we propose to core Bear Meadows, a bog in central Pennsylvania near Garner Run, in order to investigate the coupled record of hillslope processes and Quaternary climate and ecosystem change. Based on preliminary analysis of Bear Meadows and nearby sites, we hypothesize that Bear Meadows hosts a long-lived (i.e., preHolocene) sedimentary record, and may provide a rare opportunity to recover the landscape response to Pleistocene glacial-interglacial climate cycles. We plan to use observations of the sediment core as preliminary data to motivate a larger study to quantify paleoerosion rates and reconstruct paleoenvironments from organic matter extracted from the core.
Resulting Publications
- Del Vecchio, J., DiBiase, R. A., Corbett, L. B., Bierman, P. R., Caffee, M. W., & Ivory, S. J. (2022). Increased erosion rates following the onset of Pleistocene periglaciation at Bear Meadows, Pennsylvania, USA. Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2021GL096739. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096739.
Resulting Presentations
- Del Vecchio, J., DiBiase, R.A., Corbett, L.B., Bierman, P.R., Caffee, M., and Ivory, S., 2020. Erosion rates before and after the Mid-Pleistocene Transition in periglaciated central Appalachia. Abstract EP035-03, presented at Fall Meeting, AGU (Virtual), 1–17 Dec.
- Del Vecchio, J., Ivory, S.J., Leddy, M., Mount, G.J., and DiBiase, R.A., 2020. QGG Marie Morisawa Award: Erosional and ecological response to climate change in a periglacial landscape 14-8 ka, central Appalachia. Abstract 250-4, GSA Annual Meeting, 26–30 Oct.
- Del Vecchio, J., DiBiase, R.A., Corbett, L. B., Bierman, P. R., Caffee, M. W., and Ivory, S.J., 2019. Pleistocene climate-modulated erosion: interpretations from cosmogenic nuclide concentrations of an 18 m sediment core in central Appalachia. Abstract 44-8, GSA Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, 22–25 Sep.
