Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
Geology Signup for GSW Email News
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Geology; October 2000; v. 28; no. 10; p. 899-902; DOI: 10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<899:SOHTFI>2.0.CO;2
© 2000 Geological Society of America
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by George, S. St.
Right arrow Articles by Nielsen, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Signatures of high-magnitude 19th-century floods in Quercus macrocarpa tree rings along the Red River, Manitoba, Canada

Scott St. George*,1 and Erik Nielsen*,2

1 Geological Survey of Canada, 360-1395 Ellice Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3G 3P2, Canada
2 Manitoba Geological Survey, 360-1395 Ellice Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3G 3P2, Canada

Quercus macrocarpa (Michx.) growing along the Red River, Manitoba, Canada, contain an anatomical signature related to high-magnitude 19th-century floods. Tree-ring samples were collected from 194 Q. macrocarpa over a 100 km transect along the Red River valley. The combined tree-ring record extends from A.D. 1463 to A.D. 1999; sample depth between 1463 and 1650 is limited and made up exclusively of subfossil logs derived from alluvial deposits. Thirteen trees from four sites contain annual rings with reduced earlywood-vessel transverse areas that reflect flooding during the tree's growing season. Flood rings in 1826 are present in 24% of Q. macrocarpa samples and are coincident with the largest flood observed in the Red River valley. Flood rings in 1852 are exhibited in 5.9% of samples and correspond with the second largest Red River flood. These results confirm that Quercus species adapt to prolonged inundation by reducing the transverse area of their earlywood vessels and suggest that anatomical signatures in riverbank trees may be used to identify and delineate high-magnitude paleofloods for low-gradient rivers.

Key Words: Red River • paleofloods • dendrochronology • flood rings




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 ANN BOT (LOND)Home page
N. SCHMITZ, A. VERHEYDEN, H. BEECKMAN, J. G. KAIRO, and N. KOEDAM
Influence of a Salinity Gradient on the Vessel Characters of the Mangrove Species Rhizophora mucronata
Ann. Bot., December 1, 2006; 98(6): 1321 - 1330.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 The HoloceneHome page
S. St. George, S. St. George, and E. Nielsen
Palaeoflood records for the Red River, Manitoba, Canada, derived from anatomical tree-ring signatures
The Holocene, May 1, 2003; 13(4): 547 - 555.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Progress in Physical GeographyHome page
E. S.J. Dollar
Fluvial geomorphology
Progress in Physical Geography, March 1, 2002; 26(1): 123 - 143.
[PDF]

Home page
 GeologyHome page
C.F.M. Lewis, D.L. Forbes, B.J. Todd, E. Nielsen, L.H. Thorleifson, P.J. Henderson, I. McMartin, T.W. Anderson, R.N. Betcher, W.M. Buhay, et al.
Uplift-driven expansion delayed by middle Holocene desiccation in Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Geology, August 1, 2001; 29(8): 743 - 746.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Geological Society of America