The prominent, black, coal deposits beneath alluvial landforms in

The prominent, black, coal deposits beneath alluvial landforms in the Lehigh and Schuylkill River basins serve as an anomalous lithologic fingerprint when compared to the previous ∼12 ka of alluvial deposits consisting of mixed alluvium primarily composed of quartz, mica, feldspars, and clay minerals. The widespread occurrence of coal alluvium in southeastern Pennsylvania has been documented by soil scientists and archeologists for some time (Eckenrode, click here 1982, Fischer et al., 1962, Kinsey and Pollack, 1994, Kopas, 1982, Lewis, 1993, Lewis et al., 1989, Monaghan, 1994a, Monaghan, 1994b, Myers et al., 1992, Myers et al., 1995, Sisler, 1928, Staley, 1974, Vento,

2002,

Wagner, 1989, Wagner, 1993 and Wagner, 1996). The Gibraltar Series soil, which contains a black epipedon composed of coal, has been mapped throughout the Lehigh and Schuylkill River basins (Soil Survey Staff, 2012a and Soil Survey Staff, 2012b). The three sites examined here, Nesquehoning, Oberly Island, and Barbadoes Island, all provide supporting evidence of the GW3965 order widespread presence of coal alluvium and further demonstrate the lateral variability and potential for multiple episodes of deposition. Assuming no stratigraphic inversion has taken place, all coal alluvium overlies Late Woodland prehistoric deposits and, where present, Euro-American plowed A (Ap) horizons. These data suggest the coal was deposited post Late Woodland (1000–1600 AD) and initial Euro-American settlement,

well after 1600 AD, a maximum age range of ∼400 years. These observations clearly demonstrate that the coal alluvium is a stratigraphic event documented throughout the Lehigh and Schuylkill River basins that Galeterone has a conservative age range estimate of 1600 AD – recent. Historic documents provide further insight into the chronological, spatial and behavioral context of these deposits (see below). The 18th–early 20th century history of coal mining in portions of the Lehigh and Schuylkill headwaters provides ample evidence to link the stratigraphic coal event with human-induced change (discussed below). Thus, we propose elevating this stratigraphic coal event to an Anthropogenic Event, herein referred to as the Mammoth Coal Event (MCE). The term, “Mammoth Coal” is derived from the Mammoth coal bed occurring in the Pennsylvanian-age Llewellyn Formation. The Mammoth bed was of primary economic importance in the Pennsylvania anthracite fields and had an average coal seam thickness of ∼6 m (Eggleston et al., 1999) (Fig. 1). The mining and sporadic use of coal began in the late 18th century in Pennsylvania (Eavenson, 1942, Eckhart, 1992, Edmunds, 2002, Powell, 1980 and Towne, 2012).

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