| ABSTRACT The Mojave Desert of the American West is characterized by plant species that reflect a unique mixture of winter precipitation and summer monsoon climate. Currently, the Mojave Desert experiences a strong summer monsoonal pattern with weak winter precipitation. Data from pollen and packrat midden analyses have revealed a history of Mojave Desert vegetation during the transition from the late Pleistocene to late Holocene (~17500 Cal. years B.P. to ~ 1200 Cal. years B.P.) that highlight a summer dominated monsoonal pattern, similar to those in the greater American Southwest. We compare pollen data from a lava tube in the Cima volcanic field, located in south-central region of the Mojave Desert, with plant macrofossil data from several woodrat midden... |
