The Buzzard's Roost and Eustis mollusc sequences: comparison between the paleoenvironments of two sites in the Wisconsinan loess of Nebraska, USA

We investigated the Upper Pleistocene mollusc sequence in the loess deposit of Buzzard's Roost, Nebraska, and compared the results with those obtained for Eustis, 50 km to the west. Both sequences show similarities in: (i) stratigraphy and magnetic susceptibility implying identical fluctuations in loess deposition, (ii) biostratigraphy which indicates a succession of cold-and-moist to cold-and-dry conditions, and (iii) an increasing trend in mollusc abundance and diversity of species characterizing a climatic and/or environmental improvement. We interpret the variations in both sequences as related to the advance of the James and Des Moines ice lobes towards both sites, which was synchronous with the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The occurrence of hygrophilous species in the mollusc record, from the upper sequences of Buzzard's Roost, suggests a moister environment than in Eustis. Our preliminary comparison of both malacological sequences suggests that regional or local, rather than global, influence prevailed over the Great Plains between 20 and 12 kyr BP.