Raymond Mueller

Prehispanic human ecology of the Río Verde drainage basin, Mexico

Abstract This article discusses the results of ten years of interdisciplinary archaeological research along the Rio Verde drainage basin, Oaxaca, Mexico. In the highland valleys of the upper drainage basin we have documented six periods of significant geomorphic change. The first two were probably the result of climatic change during the mid‐Holocene. The four subsequent periods of landscape change are correlated with major shifts in demographics and human land use; we argue that these factors may be causally related. Erosion in the highland valleys led to modification of stream channel dynamics, alluviation and expansion of the agriculturally rich floodplain in the lower Rio Verde Valley. Increasing agricultural productivity in the lowlands may explain in part the rapid increase in population and social complexity beginning in the Late Formative. However, increased flooding also created risks for people living on the floodplain. The research demonstrates the dynamic nature of prehispanic ecology in the R...

Multiproxy paleoecological reconstruction of prehistoric land-use history in the western region of the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico

Paleoecological archives from three paleomeander sites and one archeological feature located in the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico, are used to develop a spatial understanding of the patterns of prehistoric agricultural land use over the last ~3000 years. Multiproxy paleoecological data at each site (i.e. magnetic susceptibility, micro- and macroscopic charcoal, pollen and stable carbon isotopes) provide a history of land use. By examining the spatial differences in agricultural indicators at all the sites through time, augmented with our understanding of changes in demography and settlement patterns determined through the archeological record, we are able to reconstruct the complex human/land interactions in the western portion of the valley.

Chapter 26 Water quality issues in the outer coastal plains: New Jersey

Abstract New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the US and yet it is home to one of the most pristine groundwater resources in the country, the Kirkwood–Cohansey Aquifer System. This chapter discusses some of the activities that affect water quality in New Jerseys coastal plains. The most significant activities are human induced and they include excessive groundwater withdrawal and the addition of non-point and point source contaminants. The effects of those human activities that alter surface soils in ways that promote the movement of chemicals to streams and groundwater is included. The chemicals addressed include point source contaminants coming from superfund sites, landfills, underground storage tanks (USTs), sewage facilities, stormwater runoff facilities, storage lagoons, and other “state permitted” discharges. The contaminants include nitrates (NO 3 − ), phosphates, pesticides, some chlorides and trace metals, and many volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Some of these come directly from their natural or human-induced deposition on the surface or come about because of the secondary impact of these deposited chemicals on surface soils and sediments. Well water withdrawals have also altered the pre-development groundwater and surface water flow patterns. Chlorides from brackish bays and tidal rivers and from the ocean itself have recharged coastal plain aquifers in Raritan Bay, Delaware and along the Atlantic Ocean. These pumping centers are also drawing chlorides and other ions from saline groundwater coming from deeper aquifers. In addition, VOCs and Fe have recharged underlying aquifers from contaminated rivers and point sources toward these pumping centers.