Late Quaternary alluvial history of the middle Owl Creek drainage basin in central Texas: A record of geomorphic response to environmental change

Episodes of fluvial deposition and incision preserved in Quaternary sediments are valuable archives, but have been understudied in low order streams in central Texas, USA. An exposure along Owl Creek a tributary of the Brazos River was examined using geological approaches and pedological, including stratigraphy and soil description and characterization. Eight stratigraphic units were identified, described, and constrained in time based on relative stratigraphy and optically stimulated luminescent (OSL) ranging in age from ∼120 ka to <8 ka. Despite the dynamic nature of fluvial systems, the Owl Creek record has uniquely preserved sediment spanning the late Quaternary with major erosional events that may reflect the advance and retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet and the southward displacement of the jet stream and ensuing wetter conditions. Regional proxies become more abundant into the Holocene with Owl Creek and other local stream preserving sediment of different ages and are likely responding to intrinsic variables.