The Composite Nature of the Provo Level of Lake Bonneville, Great Basin, Western North America

1999 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy Sack
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Slope Failure ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Lake Bonneville ◽  
Relative Age ◽  
Coastal Landforms ◽  
Composite Nature ◽  
Bonneville Basin ◽  
Regressive Phase

Deposits of a transgressive-phase Lake Bonneville stillstand or oscillation are found just below the elevation of the regressive-phase Provo shoreline at numerous exposures throughout the Bonneville basin. Existence of these subProvo shoreline deposits provides a new explanation for the massive size of Provo depositional and erosional landforms, which can no longer be explained by a long stillstand at the Provo shoreline. Provo coastal landforms are large because they are superimposed on subProvo landforms. Results also help to clarify divergent interpretations regarding the relative age of the Provo shoreline and the number of times it was occupied by the water plane. Occupation of approximately the same level during both the transgressive and the regressive phase of Lake Bonneville may be coincidental, or it may indicate that a bedrock sill controlled outflow at subProvo as well as Provo time. Rise to the Bonneville level could have occurred after massive slope failure plugged the outlet pass.

scholarly journals Phylogeography of the pallid kangaroo mouse,Microdipodops pallidus: a sand-obligate endemic of the Great Basin, western North America

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 2102-2118 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Hafner ◽  
Nathan S. Upham ◽  
Emily Reddington ◽  
Candice W. Torres
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Western North America

Late Pleistocene and early Holocene rivers and wetlands in the Bonneville basin of western North America

2003 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles G. Oviatt ◽  
David B. Madsen ◽  
Dave N. Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Coarse Sand ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
River Channels ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Lake Bonneville ◽  
River Bed ◽  
Bonneville Basin

AbstractField investigations at Dugway Proving Ground in western Utah have produced new data on the chronology and human occupation of late Pleistocene and early Holocene lakes, rivers, and wetlands in the Lake Bonneville basin. We have classified paleo-river channels of these ages as “gravel channels” and “sand channels.” Gravel channels are straight to curved, digitate, and have abrupt bulbous ends. They are composed of fine gravel and coarse sand, and are topographically inverted (i.e., they stand higher than the surrounding mudflats). Sand channels are younger and sand filled, with well-developed meander-scroll morphology that is truncated by deflated mudflat surfaces. Gravel channels were formed by a river that originated as overflow from the Sevier basin along the Old River Bed during the late regressive phases of Lake Bonneville (after 12,500 and prior to 11,000 14C yr B.P.). Dated samples from sand channels and associated fluvial overbank and wetland deposits range in age from 11,000 to 8800 14C yr B.P., and are probably related to continued Sevier-basin overflow and to groundwater discharge. Paleoarchaic foragers occupied numerous sites on gravel-channel landforms and adjacent to sand channels in the extensive early Holocene wetland habitats. Reworking of tools and limited toolstone diversity is consistent with theoretical models suggesting Paleoarchaic foragers in the Old River Bed delta were less mobile than elsewhere in the Great Basin.

scholarly journals The Role of Basketry in Early Holocene Small Seed Exploitation: Implications of a Ca. 9,000 Year-Old Basket from Cowboy Cave, Utah

2008 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil R. Geib ◽  
Edward A. Jolie
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Processing Technique ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Seed Processing ◽  
Small Seed ◽  
Food Exploitation ◽  
The Continuum

Despite ranking at the low end of the continuum in net caloric benefit relative to other foods, small seeds assumed great dietary importance in many parts of the world, including western North America. In a series of publications, Adovasio (1970a, 1974, 1980, 1986) argued that coiled basketry technology was invented in the eastern Great Basin during the early Holocene as a specialized food-processing technique. Coiled baskets are indeed useful for collecting and processing seeds, but it does not necessarily follow that they were originally designed for this purpose. A whole basket recently discovered at Cowboy Cave in southeastern Utah returned an AMS radiocarbon assay of 7960 ± 50 B.P., making it currently the earliest directly dated coiled basket from the Americas. This basket is not a parching tray and likely had nothing to do with harvesting seeds. We discuss the implications of this find with regard to tracking the temporal spread of coiled basketry technology in western North America and the role of coiled and twined forms in the initiation of small seed exploitation. Coiled and twined baskets for small seed processing may result from reconfiguration of existing technologies to create novel forms suited to a new food exploitation strategy.

Impact of Alien Plants on Grant Basin Rangelands

1996 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 384-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Young ◽  
William S. Longland
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Alien Plants ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
Annual Species ◽  
Weed Species ◽  
Model Ecosystem ◽  
Alien Weed ◽  
The Impact

Our purpose is to discuss the impact of alien plants on rangeland ecosystems of the Great Basin in terms of their effects on biological functions. The sagebrush/bunchgrass ranges of western North America are used as a model ecosystem for the impact of alien plants. Alien weed species have been introduced in successive waves, with the success of each new introduction dependent on how well adapted to the environment and how competitive the new weed is with those previously introduced. Annual species have been successful across extensive areas of Great Basin rangelands. Biennial and short- and long-lived perennial introductions have been restricted to much more specific habitats. Alien plants impact rangelands through stand renewal and successional processes. Alien weeds can cause such processes to be accelerated and/or truncated depending on the species and range site.

Status, Distribution, and Conservation of Native Freshwater Fishes of Western North America

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Salmo Trutta ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Freshwater Fishes ◽  
Western North America ◽  
The Status ◽  
Bonneville Basin ◽  
Leatherside Chub

ABSTRACT Outside of anadromous salmonids and a few endangered species, the biology of native freshwater fishes of western North America is poorly known. What do we need to know to effectively manage native species and avoid decline and extinction? A recent analysis of the role of science in the Pacific salmon controversy outlines a clear framework for biological evaluation and management of native species. This framework has three components: (1) determine the status of populations based on genetic and ecological variation, (2) identify and quantify threats to populations, and (3) determine actions to alleviate threats and promote conservation of populations.We use our studies of leatherside chub <em>Gila copei</em> (also known as <em>Snyderichthys copei</em>), a small cyprinid native to the Bonneville basin and upper Snake River drainage, as a case study to illustrate the application of this research and management framework. Recent surveys have revealed dramatic reductions in range of leatherside chub over the last 50 years. Genetic, morphometric, and ecological studies all indicate that leatherside chub comprise two distinct species. Leatherside chub is threatened by both habitat degradation and introduced brown trout <em>Salmo trutta</em>, and the interaction between these two threats exacerbates negative effects.We conclude by showing how studies of leatherside chub can inform and influence management, conservation, and habitat restoration activities.

New evidence for an extended occupation of the Provo shoreline and implications for regional climate change, Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, Utah, USA

2005 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly S. Godsey ◽  
Donald R. Currey ◽  
Marjorie A. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
Threshold Control ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Lake Bonneville ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Bonneville Basin

Lake Bonneville was a climatically sensitive, closed-basin lake that occupied the eastern Great Basin during the late Pleistocene. Ongoing efforts to refine the record of lake level history are important for deciphering climate conditions in the Bonneville basin and for facilitating correlations with regional and global records of climate change. Radiocarbon data from this and other studies suggest that the lake oscillated at or near the Provo level much longer than depicted by current models of lake level change. Radiocarbon data also suggest that the lake dropped from threshold control much more rapidly than previously supposed. These revisions to the Lake Bonneville hydrograph, coupled with independent evidence of climate change from vegetation and glacial records, have important implications for conditions in the Bonneville basin and during the Pleistocene to Holocene transition.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document