Geology Commons^™

Insights Into The Evolution Of The Great Plains Grassland Ecosystem Over The Last 5 Million Years From Paleotemperature And Paleovegetation Records, Anne Fetrow

Honors Program Theses

Over the last 10 million years, the Great Plains transitioned to the modern C₄ grass dominated ecosystem. Well-preserved late Miocene to Holocene fossils and paleosols make the Meade Basin in southwest Kansas, USA a unique place to determine how paleoenvironmental conditions changed during C₄ grassland evolution. δ¹⁸O values of paleosol carbonates (δ¹⁸O_carb) in the Meade Basin decreased from the Miocene to Holocene while δ¹³C values increased; these trends were interpreted as an increase in temperature and/or in aridity coincident with an increase of C₄ grass biomass on the landscape. …