Late-Pleistocene paleohydrography, eolian activity and frozen ground, New Jersey Pine Barrens, eastern USA

Abstract

The Late Pleistocene surface paleohydrography of the New Jersey Pine Barrens consisted of a series of broad braided alluvial surfaces with meandering paleochannels. This drainage is best explained in terms of impermeable (i.e. frozen) substrate, high sediment load, variable or decreasing discharge, and eolian sedimentary dynamics. Evidence for eolian activity is provided by wind-abraded sand grains, coversand, dunes, ventifacts, deflation hollows and wind-polished boulders. In several places stream avulsion occurred due to channel infilling by locally-derived wind-blown sediment. The braided and meandering river systems that characterise the tundra and polar semi-desert lowlands of the Western Canadian Arctic are described as modern analogs.