Contrasting Pleistocene and Holocene Fluvial Systems
Pleistocene Fluvial System 2
of the Lower Pearl River, Louisiana and Mississippi, USA
Paul V. Heinrich, Louisiana Geological Survey, 3079 Energy, Coast, and Environment Bldg.
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Abstract
The geologic mapping of eastern St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, and adjacent parts of
Mississippi for the preparation of 1:24,000 and 1:100,000 scale maps has revealed the
presence of three, possibly four, distinct fluvial systems related to the Pearl River. The oldest
fluvial system lies on the surface of the Hammond alloformation of the Prairie Allogroup. It
consists of well-defined relict meander belts of the Late Pleistocene Pearl River with relict
sinuous courses and oxbows with large meander loops. One relict course ends in a delta-like
feature. Another one is associated with a large, well-defined crevasse splay complex. Within
the southeastern corner of St. Tammany Parish, an isolated relict channel segment appears to
be a second, younger fluvial system characterized by an unusually deeply incised channel. A
third, youngest, Pleistocene fluvial system consists of relict courses and oxbows exhibited by
the surfaces of the Gum Hollow and Mitchell Hammock alloformations of the Deweyville
Allogroup. These relict courses and oxbows, as clearly seen in the eastern half of the
Industrial 1:24,000 quadrangle, Pearl River County, Mississippi, are characterized by channel
widths and radii that greatly exceed those of the modern Pearl River. The modern Pearl River
is characterized by an anastomosing channel system. Individual channels that compose it are
sinuous and have actively meandered. These contrasting channel systems preserve a
discontinuous record of how the Pearl River has adjusted to changes in climate, discharge, and
base-level during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs.
Geologic map of the Lower Pearl
River Valley region showing
Pleistocene fluvial features exhibited
by the surfaces of the Hammond,
Mitchell Hammock, and Gum Bayou
alloformations. Fluvial channels and
0 1 mile
0 1 km
related features were originally
mapped using US Department of
Agriculture Agricultural Stabilization
and Conservation Service (ASCS)
aerial photography, 7.5-minute
topographic maps, United States
Department of Agriculture soil
surveys, and USGS digital orthophoto
quarter quadrangles (DOQQ). For this
map, the geology was modified from
the "Gulfport 30 x 60 Minute
Geologic Quadrangle" by Heinrich,
McCulloh, and Snead (2004). The
fluvial features were compiled from
7.5-minute geologic quadrangle maps
prepared for USGS STATEMAP
projects and revised using images
made from LIDAR (LIght Detection
And Ranging) digital elevation
models.
Pleistocene Fluvial System 1 Holocene Fluvial System
Hammond Alloformation Pearl River Alluvial Valley
Hammond Alloformation
As defined by Heinrich, McCulloh, and Snead (2004) in the “Gulfport 30 x 60
Minute Geologic Quadrangle”, the Hammond alloformation consists of the
0 1 mile
deposits of middle to late Wisconsin Coastal Plain streams in the Florida Parishes
of southeastern Louisiana. It includes late Pleistocene Mississippi River depoists, RS 0 1 km
exposed in the eastern valley wall of the modern Mississippi River alluvial valley
deposits, which Autin et al. (1988) originally defined as the Mt. Pleasant Bluff
Alloformation. This name was abandoned because the deposits exposed at this
location are atypical of this alloformation. Within the area mapped, the Hammond
alloformation consists of alluvial deposits of the Pearl and other coastal-plain RS
rivers, which lacks any loess cover. 0 1 mile
0 1 mile
0 1 km
0 1 mile
0 1 km
Excerpts from Haaswood 7.5-minute DOQQ and topographic map showing course of Fluvial RS
System 2. Unlike other channels present on the surface of the Hammond alloformation, this
0 1 mile
C C channel is deeply incised into its surface. This channel possibly represents a period of initial
0 1 km RS
S C entrenchment of Pearl River into the surface of the Hammond alloformation as a result of falling
sea level at the end of the Sangamon Stage.
S Pleistocene Fluvial System 3 Excerpt (left) from Nicholson 15-minute topographic map illustrating anastomosing
channel system which characterizes the modern Pearl River fluvial system. As argued
C
S Gum Hollow and Mitchell Hammock alloformations for the Rhine-Meuse delta by T. E. Tornqvist and others, the anastomosing character
Within the Pearl River Valley, the Deweyville Allogroup unit consists of coarse-grained deposits of the Pearl River within the lower part of its valley is regarded as a response to rapid
C post-glacial, sea-level rise.
of ancestral Pearl River and its tributaries. The “Gulfport 30 x 60 Minute Geologic Quadrangle”
C by Heinrich, McCulloh, and Snead (2004) recognized and mapped two unconformity bounded
1940 ASCS aerial photograph (above) and excerpt from stratigraphic units, the Mitchell Hammock and Gum Bayou alloformations, within the LIDAR image (right) of part of the Industrial 7.5-minute quadrangle. Because of the
St. Tammany 7.5-minute DOQQ (right) showing relict Deweyville Allogroup within the lower Pearl River Valley. The Mitchell Hammock alloformation thick vegetation cover, images made from the LIDAR digital elevation model shows
channels of Fluvial System 1. These channels are part of a is the youngest alloformation and the topographically lower surface of the Deweyville Allogroup channels and ridge and swale topography (RS) associated with them not detectable on
large alluvial cone created by the Pearl River during late along the Pearl River. It lies near the surface of the modern Pearl River flood plain and is mostly aerial imagery, soil surveys, and topographic maps. The ridge and swale topography
Sangamon sea level highstand. Because of degradation of buried by its Holocene deposits. The Gum Bayou alloformation is oldest alloformation and the demonstrates that some of the channels have actively meandered at times.
the surface of the Hammond alloformation, channels (C) topographically highest surface of the Deweyville Allogroup along the Pearl River within the
0 1 mile
and associated swales (S) now consist of shallow swamp. Gulfport 1:100,000 quadrangle. Gum Bayou, for which this alloformation is named, occupies
0 1 km
Greater than modern discharge of the Pearl River is relict meander scars of the Gum Bayou allformation.
indicated by channel widths and meander radii, which Conclusions
greatly exceed those of the modern Pearl River.
0 1 km 1. Meandering channels, delta-like feature, and large crevasse system are associated
0 1 mile
with the Sangamon alluvial cone of Pearl River, which forms part of the surface of
delta-like feature the the Hammond alloformation.
Hammond Alloformation C
2. A late Sangamon (?) meandering course of the Pearl River lies entrenched into the
C C Hammond alloformation.
C
F
C 3. The Deweyville Allogroup exhibits oversize chanels and meander loops.
F F C
F F C
C C C These Pleistocene channel systems, together with the anastomosing channel system
of the modern Pearl River fluvial system preserved a discontinuous record of the
C C C response of the Pearl River to changes in discharge and sea level.
B 1940 ASCS aerial photography (above) and excerpt
1 mile
Acknowledgements
B B from Industrial 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle
B B 0 1 mile
b (right) illustrate typical channels exhibited by both The mapping of the fluvial features was made possible by and conducted largely under
0 1 km
the Mitchell Hammock and Gum Bayou the funding of geologic mapping of the Bush, Haaswood, Hickory, Industrial,
0 1 mile 0 1 km alloformations. As argued by Michael Blum for
]
Lacombe, Slidell, and St. Tammany 7.5-minute geologic quadrangles and preparation
correlative units within the Deweyville Allogroup within the valleys of the Sabine, Trinity, and of the Gulfport 30-minute geologic map by the United States Geological Survey’s
LIDAR image of Slidell, Louisiana, area showing large beach ridge (B) Colorado rivers of Texas, these channels were graded to Middle Wisconsin sea level highstands. STATEMAP Program. Without this funding, the mapping of relict fluvial features of
along edge of delta-like feature, fluvial channels (C), and fault-line scarps As also discussed by Michael Blum, the lack of thick fines-grained overbank sediments, the Lower Pearl River Valley would not have been possible.
(F). Note lower sets of beach ridges (b), which lie seaward of large beach indicated lack of significant seasonal flooding despite greater than present discharge.
ridge.