Muck (geology)
As Muck in which is geology a permafrost layer with a mixture of animal and vegetable remnants and debris called. This term is particularly common for layers in Canada and Alaska . A distribution of such layers is assumed over the entire ice-free , northeastern continental peninsula (Alaska / northeast Canada ).
history
Gold discoveries led to a gold rush in Alaska and Canada from 1890 to 1900 . As a result, the geological layers also moved more into the focus of the investigations.
Structure and content
The muck contains large amounts of frozen bones from mammoths , horses, mastodons , lions and giant bison , among others . Gold was and is panned from the layers of muck and the layers of rubble underneath in Alaska and Canada .
When analyzing the Muck, in addition to the bones and other animal remains (scraps of skin, hair, meat), four volcanic ash , e.g. Some strongly discarded layers detected. Because of the dismembered and disarticulated remains of the animals and plants, the deposition is associated with catastrophic circumstances. The mass extinction on which the muck is based is mostly dated to the end of the Ice Age or interglacial times.
Also were stone artifacts found in muck, the in situ are frozen. These show Yuma- like forms, as they were used until recently by the Athapaska tribe in Alaska.
Sources and Notes
- ^ A b c F. C. Hibben: Evidence of early Men in Alaska , American Antiquity VIII, 1943
- ↑ The horse was extinct in pre-Columbian America and was only reintroduced through Spanish expeditions .
- ^ A b F. Rainey: Archaeological Investigation in Central Alaska , American Antiquity V, 1940
See also
Web links
- "Theories of Alaska Muck Deposition" ( Memento from October 28, 2002 in the Internet Archive )