01825nas a2200193   4500008004100000245012600041210006900167300001200236490000800248520117900256653002601435653002301461653002001484653001901504653002001523653002001543100001701563856005101580       2014                        eng d00aHolocene Mississippi River Floods and Geoarchaeological Site Formation Processes in the Sny Bottom, Western Illinois, USA0 aHolocene Mississippi River Floods and Geoarchaeological Site For  a114-1380 v3423 a<p>Holocene alluvial deposits are well represented in the Sny Bottom, a reach of the Mississippi River in western Illinois characterized by the presence of a long anabranch channel (the Sny). Prior to its engineered confinement, the flood-stage Mississippi functioned as an anastomosed system comprised of many secondary landscape elements hierarchically arranged to distribute water out across a broad floodplain. Radiocarbon-dated stratigraphic sequences are used to reconstruct the geological history of this river reach as it metamorphosed from a sandy Late Pleistocene braided floodplain into a system dominated by mud. By 7400&nbsp;cal&nbsp;BP, the Mississippi migrated to its present position and began to build the natural levee it would use for the remainder of the Holocene. Major subsequent geomorphological adjustments to the system resulted from large floods at ca. 6900, 4900, 3300 and 2000&nbsp;cal&nbsp;BP. Valley fill is a complex arrangement of individual sedimentary bodies that accumulated at highly variable rates. Vertical accretion by sedimentation and soil upbuilding acted together to preserve numerous buried archaeological sites of all ages.</p>
10aalluvial stratigraphy10aAnastomosed rivers10aCrevasse splays10aGeoarchaeology10aSoil upbuilding10aTerrace veneers1 aVan Nest, J.  uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.05.031