Landscape response to bioclimatic change recorded in alluvial sediments within the southern margin of the prairie-forest ecotone

An alluvial stratigraphic model is presented for Bear Creek, Missouri. The geomorphology, sedimentology, and geochronology, of stratigraphic units are used to infer a history of stream behavior. The delta13C values of organic matter from alluvial stratigraphic profiles are utilized to infer changes in relative abundance of C3 (forest) and C 4 (prairie) plants vegetation throughout the Holocene. A method for interpreting delta13C values in alluvial profiles considering sedimentological and geomorphologieal qualities of alluvial profiles is presented. A comparison of the record of stream behavior and vegetation change is made and the influence of vegetation and climate change on the behavior of Bear Creek is determined to access the (1) vegetation changes that occurred during the Holocene near the southern margin of the prairie-forest ecotone, and (2) the effects of Holocene bioclimatic changes on the behavior of small streams.