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Climate control on Quaternary coal fires and landscape evolution, Powder River basin, Wyoming and Montana

¹Biology Department, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey 07940, USA
²Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
³U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009, USA

View larger version (72K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Zircon He dating sample locations on shaded relief map of Powder River basin. Symbols for sample sites are colored based on zircon He age of local clinker (m.a.s.l.—meters above sea level).

View larger version (39K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 2. Probability density function of clinker zircon He ages (black). A: With histogram of ages (gray). B: With time series of 18O (gray). C: With eccentricity (gray). Distribution of clinker ages can be explained by combination of preservational bias toward modern and climate controls on the timing of coal fires. Clinker ages preferentially occur during times of low 18O (low ice volume) and high eccentricity. Statistical tests and the absence of clinker ages during interglacial period at 0.4 Ma (shaded box) suggest that direct solar forcing may be more important to landscape evolution in the Powder River basin than are glacial-interglacial fluctuations.