Holocene sedimentary architecture and paleoclimate variability at Mono Lake, California

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.R.H. Zimmerman ◽  
S.R. Hemming ◽  
S.W. Starratt
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Mono Lake ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Core ◽  
Sedimentary Architecture ◽  
Lake Floor

ABSTRACT Mono Lake occupies an internally drained basin on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, and it is sensitive to climatic changes affecting precipitation in the mountains (largely delivered in the form of snowpack). Efforts to recover cores from the lake have been impeded by coarse tephra erupted from the Mono Craters, and by disruption of the lake floor due to the uplift of Paoha Island ~300 yr ago. In this study, we describe the stratigraphy of cores from three recent campaigns, in 2007, 2009, and 2010, and the extents and depths of the tephras and disturbed sediments. In the most successful of these cores, BINGO-MONO10-4A-1N (BINGO/10-4A, 2.8 m water depth), we used core stratigraphy, geochemistry, radiocarbon dates, and tephrostratigraphy to show that the core records nearly all of the Holocene in varying proportions of detrital, volcanic, and authigenic sediment. Both the South Mono tephra of ca. 1350 cal yr B.P. (calibrated years before A.D. 1950) and the 600-yr-old North Mono–Inyo tephra are present in the BINGO/10-4A core, as are several older, as-yet-unidentified tephras. Laminated muds are inferred to indicate a relatively deep lake (³10 m over the core site) during the Early Holocene, similar to many records across the region during that period. The Middle and Late Holocene units are more coarsely bedded, and coarser grain size and greater and more variable amounts of authigenic carbonate detritus in this interval are taken to suggest lower lake levels, possibly due to lower effective wetness. A very low lake level, likely related to extreme drought, is inferred to have occurred sometime between 3500 and 2100 cal yr B.P. This interval likely corresponds to the previously documented Marina Low Stand and the regional Late Holocene Dry Period. The BINGO/10-4A core does not preserve a complete record of the period encompassing the Medieval Climate Anomaly, the Little Ice Age, and the historical period, probably due to erosion because of its nearshore position.

scholarly journals A continuous 4000-year lake-level record of Owens Lake, south-central Sierra Nevada, California, USA

2018 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven N. Bacon ◽  
Nicholas Lancaster ◽  
Scott Stine ◽  
Edward J. Rhodes ◽  
Grace A. McCarley Holder
Keyword(s):  
Water Level ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Mono Lake ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Integrated Analysis ◽  
Owens Lake ◽  
South Central ◽  
Lake Core

AbstractReconstruction of lake-level fluctuations from landform and outcrop evidence typically involves characterizing periods with relative high stands. We developed a new approach to provide water-level estimates in the absence of shoreline evidence for Owens Lake in eastern California by integrating landform, outcrop, and existing lake-core data with wind-wave and sediment entrainment modeling of lake-core sedimentology. We also refined the late Holocene lake-level history of Owens Lake by dating four previously undated shoreline features above the water level (1096.4 m) in AD 1872. The new ages coincide with wetter and cooler climate during the Neopluvial (~3.6 ka), Medieval Pluvial (~0.8 ka), and Little Ice Age (~0.35 ka). Dates from stumps below 1096 m also indicate two periods of low stands at ~0.89 and 0.67 ka during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. The timing of modeled water levels associated with 22 mud and sand units in lake cores agree well with shoreline records of Owens Lake and nearby Mono Lake, as well as with proxy evidence for relatively wet and dry periods from tree-ring and glacial records within the watershed. Our integrated analysis provides a continuous 4000-yr lake-level record showing the timing, duration, and magnitude of hydroclimate variability along the south-central Sierra Nevada.

n-Alkane evidence for the onset of wetter conditions in the Sierra Nevada, California (USA) at the mid-late Holocene transition, ~ 3.0 ka

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph H. Street ◽  
R. Scott Anderson ◽  
Robert J. Rosenbauer ◽  
Adina Paytan
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Aquatic Plants ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Plant Community Composition ◽  
Region Length ◽  
North Pacific Region ◽  
Chain Lengths ◽  
Plant Sources

Abstractn-Alkane biomarker distributions in sediments from Swamp Lake (SL), in the central Sierra Nevada of California (USA), provide evidence for an increase in mean lake level ~ 3000 yr ago, in conjunction with widespread climatic change inferred from marine and continental records in the eastern North Pacific region. Length distributions of n-alkane chains in modern plants growing at SL were determined and compared to sedimentary distributions in a core spanning the last 13 ka. As a group, submerged and floating aquatic plants contained high proportions of short chain lengths (< nC25) compared to emergent, riparian and upland terrestrial species, for which chain lengths > nC27 were dominant. Changes in the sedimentary n-alkane distribution over time were driven by variable inputs from plant sources in response to changing lake level, sedimentation and plant community composition. A shift toward shorter chain lengths (nC21,nC23) occurred between 3.1 and 2.9 ka and is best explained by an increase in the abundance of aquatic plants and the availability of shallow-water habitat in response to rising lake level. The late Holocene expansion of SL following a dry mid-Holocene is consistent with previous evidence for increased effective moisture and the onset of wetter conditions in the Sierra Nevada between 4.0 and 3.0 ka.

scholarly journals Late Holocene landscape change history related to the Alpine Fault determined from drowned forests in Lake Poerua, Westland, New Zealand

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2051-2064 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Langridge ◽  
R. Basili ◽  
L. Basher ◽  
A. P. Wells
Keyword(s):  
Lake Level ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Alluvial Fan ◽  
Time Of Death ◽  
Fault Rupture ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Living Tree ◽  
Alpine Fault ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lowland Forests

Abstract. Lake Poerua is a small, shallow lake that abuts the scarp of the Alpine Fault on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Radiocarbon dates from drowned podocarp trees on the lake floor, a sediment core from a rangefront alluvial fan, and living tree ring ages have been used to deduce the late Holocene history of the lake. Remnant drowned stumps of kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) at 1.7–1.9 m water depth yield a preferred time-of-death age at 1766–1807 AD, while a dryland podocarp and kahikatea stumps at 2.4–2.6 m yield preferred time-of-death ages of ca. 1459–1626 AD. These age ranges are matched to, but offset from, the timings of Alpine Fault rupture events at ca. 1717 AD, and either ca. 1615 or 1430 AD. Alluvial fan detritus dated from a core into the toe of a rangefront alluvial fan, at an equivalent depth to the maximum depth of the modern lake (6.7 m), yields a calibrated age of AD 1223–1413. This age is similar to the timing of an earlier Alpine Fault rupture event at ca. 1230 AD ± 50 yr. Kahikatea trees growing on rangefront fans give ages of up to 270 yr, which is consistent with alluvial fan aggradation following the 1717 AD earthquake. The elevation levels of the lake and fan imply a causal and chronological link between lake-level rise and Alpine Fault rupture. The results of this study suggest that the growth of large, coalescing alluvial fans (Dry and Evans Creek fans) originating from landslides within the rangefront of the Alpine Fault and the rise in the level of Lake Poerua may occur within a decade or so of large Alpine Fault earthquakes that rupture adjacent to this area. These rises have in turn drowned lowland forests that fringed the lake. Radiocarbon chronologies built using OxCal show that a series of massive landscape changes beginning with fault rupture, followed by landsliding, fan sedimentation and lake expansion. However, drowned Kahikatea trees may be poor candidates for intimately dating these events, as they may be able to tolerate water for several decades after metre-scale lake level rises have occurred.

Climate change and human disturbance of fynbos vegetation during the late Holocene at Princess Vlei, Western Cape, South Africa

The Holocene ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1137-1149 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.H. Neumann ◽  
L. Scott ◽  
M.K. Bamford
Keyword(s):  
Anthropogenic Disturbance ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Core ◽  
Pollen Types ◽  
Hydrological System ◽  
Vegetation And Climate ◽  
Floating Mat

Pollen analysis of a core in Princess Vlei in the Fynbos Biome near Cape Town gives a 4150 year record of vegetation and climate changes followed by disturbance by colonial settlers since c. 300 years ago. Their impact replaced climate as a major factor in changing the vegetation. The chronology is based on eight radiocarbon dates. Pollen types such as Restionaceae, Ericaceae, and Proteaceae reflect changes in fynbos. Pollen indicators at the bottom of the core suggest drier conditions followed by an increase in Morella, Cyperaceae and Carpacoce pollen, which might indicate moist conditions c. 3400–2600 cal. yr BP. Drier conditions prevail c. 2600–1900 cal. yr BP. Apparent light disturbance after c. 2000 cal. yr BP might be attributed to Khoi herders. Deeper water and damp surroundings are indicated c. 1900–1000 cal. yr BP. The top of the core shows an increase of Poaceae while Restionaceae decrease with anthropogenic disturbance, including the introduction of neophytes such as Pinus ( c. 300 years ago) and Zea mays. Charcoal percentages point to intense fires after the arrival of the Europeans. Water between 105 and 75 cm indicates the development of a floating mat resulting from changes in the hydrological system possibly connected to disturbances by settlers.

Late Pleistocene and Late Holocene Lake Highstands in the Pyramid Lake Subbasin of Lake Lahontan, Nevada, USA

2005 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Briggs ◽  
Steven G. Wesnousky ◽  
Kenneth D. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Large Lakes ◽  
Western Basin ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Beach Ridges ◽  
Climate Proxy ◽  
Pyramid Lake ◽  
Proxy Records

AbstractShoreline geomorphology, shoreline stratigraphy, and radiocarbon dates of organic material incorporated in constructional beach ridges record large lakes during the late Pleistocene and late Holocene in the Pyramid Lake subbasin of Lake Lahontan, Nevada, USA. During the late Holocene, a transgression began at or after 3595 ± 35 14C yr B.P. and continued, perhaps in pulses, through 2635 ± 40 14C yr B.P., resulting in a lake as high as 1199 m. During the latest Pleistocene and overlapping with the earliest part of the Younger Dryas interval, a lake stood at approximately 1212 m at 10,820 ± 35 14C yr B.P. and a geomorphically and stratigraphically distinct suite of constructional shorelines associated with this lake can be traced to 1230 m. These two lake highstands correspond to periods of elevated regional wetness in the western Basin and Range that are not clearly represented in existing northern Sierra Nevada climate proxy records.

Late Glacial and Late Holocene Moraines in the Cerros Cuchpanga, Central Peru

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.E. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Valley Bottom ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Western Cordillera ◽  
Limestone Bedrock ◽  
Ice Field

Small ice fields on the western cordillera northeast of Lima were expanded to three times their present size in the recent past, and the regional snow line was probably about 100 m lower than it is today. Outwash from the expanded glaciers formed deltas of silt in valley-bottom lakes. When the ice lobes retreated, the reduced outwash was trapped behind recessional moraines, and the clear meltwater infiltrated into the limestone bedrock and emerged at the heads of the deltas in spring pools. The delta surfaces then became covered with peat, and radiocarbon dates for the base of the peat (1100 ± 70 and 430 ± 70 yr B.P. for two different deltas) indicate that the maximum ice advance was older than those dates and, thus, older than the Little Ice Age of many north-temperate regions. Much older moraines date from expansion of the same local summit glaciers to even lower levels in the main valleys, which had previously been inundated by the cordilleran ice field. The cordilleran deglaciation and this expansion of local glaciers probably occurred between 12,000 and 10,000 yr ago, on the basis of slightly contradictory radiocarbon dates.

scholarly journals Development of Solontsovskie Lakes as indicator of humidity within Central Sikhote-Alin in the Late Holocene

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-304
Author(s):  
N.G. Razjigaeva ◽  
◽  
L.A. Ganzey ◽  
T.A. Grebennikova ◽  
T.A. Kopoteva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Hydrological Regime ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Sikhote Alin ◽  
Frequent Change ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Trophic Preferences ◽  
Middle Mountains

The stages of development of small Solontsovskie (Shanduyskie) Lakes located in the middle mountains of the Central Sikhote-Alin within large landslides, formed on the slopes of the paleovolcano, are identified on the basis of complex study of the sediment section of the Nizhnee Lake. The ecological-taxonomic composition of the diatom flora, the botanical composition of peat have been analyzed, and the tendencies of lacustrine sedimentation depending on the different scale of hydroclimatic changes in the Late Holocene have been established. The age model is based on 6 radiocarbon dates. The temporary resolution for the reconstructions is 30–60 years. A comparison of the development of Nizhnee and Izyubrinye Solontsi Lakes was carried out, the stages of watering and shallowing of lakes were identified on the basis of their dynamics, which made it possible to restore the change in moisture in the middle mountains. Organogenic deposits in lacustrine basins accumulated at high rates (up to 1.7–1.9 mm/ year). The most detailed data were obtained for the last 2.6 thousand cal. yr BP based on the study of the sediment section of the Nizhnee Lake, which responded more sensitively to changing climatic conditions. Frequent changes in diatom assemblages and peat-forming plants indicate unstable hydroclimatic conditions with varying degrees of watering and drainage up to complete overgrowth of water bodies. According to the data of diatom analysis, a successive change in the trophicity of the lake was traced. A frequent change of sphagnum mosses of different sections with different trophic preferences was established. The main reason for the change in the hydrological regime of the lakes was variations in precipitation during the short-term climatic changes. The correlation of the identified paleoclimatic events with global data has been carried out. Cooling periods, as a rule, were accompanied by a decrease in moisture, but the Little Ice Age was wet due to an increase in precipitation.

scholarly journals Sedimentary archives of climate and sea-level changes during the Holocene in the Rhone prodelta (NW Mediterranean Sea)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Sophie Fanget ◽  
Maria-Angela Bassetti ◽  
Christophe Fontanier ◽  
Alina Tudryn ◽  
Serge Berné
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Water Depth ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Site ◽  
Nw Mediterranean ◽  
And Sea Level

Abstract. A 7.38 m-long sediment core was collected from the eastern part of the Rhone prodelta (NW Mediterranean) at 67 m water depth. A multi-proxy study (sedimentary facies, benthic foraminifera and ostracods, clay mineralogy, and major elements from XRF) provides a multi-decadal to century-scale record of climate and sea-level changes during the Holocene. The early Holocene is marked by alternative silt and clay layers interpreted as distal tempestites deposited in a context of rising sea level. This interval contains shallow infra-littoral benthic meiofauna (e.g. Pontocythere elongata, Elphidium spp., Quinqueloculina lata) and formed between ca. 20 and 50 m water depth. The middle Holocene (ca. 8.3 to 4.5 ka cal. BP), is characterized, at the core site, by a period of sediment starvation (accumulation rate of ca. 0.01 cm yr−1) resulting from the maximum landward shift of the shoreline and the Rhone outlet(s). From a sequence stratigraphic point of view, this condensed interval, about 35 cm-thick, is a Maximum Flooding Surface that can be identified on seismic profiles as the transition between delta retrogradation and delta progradation. It is marked by very distinct changes in all proxy records. Following the stabilization of the global sea level, the late Holocene is marked by the establishment of prodeltaic conditions at the core site, as shown by the lithofacies and by the presence of benthic meiofauna typical of the modern Rhone prodelta (e.g. Valvulineria bradyana, Cassidulina carinata, Bulimina marginata). Several periods of increased fluvial discharge are also emphasized by the presence of species commonly found in brackish and shallow water environments (e.g. Leptocythere). Some of these periods correspond to the multi-decadal to centennial late Holocene humid periods recognized in Europe (i.e. the 2.8 ka event and the Little Ice Age). Two other periods of increased runoffs at ca. 1.3 and 1.1 ka cal. BP are recognized, and are likely to reflect periods of regional climate deterioration that are observed in the Rhone watershed.

scholarly journals Holocene aridification trend interrupted by millennial- and centennial-scale climate fluctuations from a new sedimentary record from Padul (Sierra Nevada, southern Iberian Peninsula)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
María J. Ramos-Román ◽  
Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno ◽  
Jon Camuera ◽  
Antonio García-Alix ◽  
R. Scott Anderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Activity ◽  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Arid Conditions ◽  
Humid Period

Abstract. Holocene centennial-scale paleoenvironmental variability has been described in a multiproxy analysis (i.e. lithology, geochemistry, macrofossil and microfossil analyses) of a paleoecological record from the Padul basin in Sierra Nevada, southern Iberian Peninsula. This sequence covers a relevant time interval hitherto unreported in the studies of the Padul sedimentary sequence. The ca. 4700 yr-long record has preserved proxies of climate variability, with vegetation, lake levels and sedimentological change the Holocene in one of the most unique and southernmost peat bogs from Europe. The progressive Middle and Late Holocene trend toward arid conditions identified by numerous authors in the western Mediterranean region, mostly related to a decrease in summer insolation, is also documented in this record, being here also superimposed by centennial-scale variability in humidity. In turn, this record shows centennial-scale climate oscillations in temperature that correlate with well-known climatic events during the Late Holocene in the western Mediterranean region, synchronous with variability in solar and atmospheric dynamics. The multiproxy Padul record first shows a transition from a relatively humid Middle Holocene in the western Mediterranean region to more aridity from ~ 4700 to ~ 2800 cal yr BP. A relatively warm and humid period occurred between ~ 2600 to ~ 1600 cal yr BP, coinciding with persistent negative NAO conditions and the historic Iberian-Roman Humid Period. Enhanced arid conditions, co-occurring with overall positive NAO conditions and increasing solar activity, are observed between ~ 1550 to ~ 450 cal yr BP (~ 400 to ~ 1400 CE) and colder and warmer conditions happened during the Dark Ages and Medieval Climate Anomaly, respectively. Slightly wetter conditions took place during the end of the MCA and the first part of the Little Ice Age, which could be related to a change towards negative NAO conditions and minima in solar activity. Evidences of higher human impact in the Padul peat bog area are observed in the last ~ 1550 cal yr BP. Time series analysis performed from local (Botryococcus and TOC) and regional signals (Mediterranean forest) helped us determining the relationship between southern Iberian climate evolution, atmospheric, oceanic dynamics and solar activity.

scholarly journals Paleoflood records within Sikhote-Alin foothills during last 2.2 ka

2019 ◽  
pp. 85-99
Author(s):  
N. G. Razzhigaeva ◽  
L. A. Ganzey ◽  
T. A. Grebennikova ◽  
T. A. Kopoteva ◽  
M. A. Klimin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Ash Content ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Peat Bog ◽  
Sikhote Alin ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Mineral Components

The periods of intensification of the frequency of severe floods in Late Holocene were reconstructed on the basis of a multi-proxy study of the section of paleo-bend deposits in the lower reaches of the Bikin River, which includes a peat bog, buried by floodplain loam. The peat bog was formed on the place of flood lake and is represented by interlayering of the layers with a different contents of mineral components, which brought during heavy floods. The criteria for the allocation of phases of abundant river flow were defined. Peat ash content, biostratigraphic data (diatom, botanical analyzes) and radiocarbon dates of the peat bog showed that the flood activity in the foothills of the Sikhote-Alin changed significantly over the last 2.24 ka. The most severe floods occurred in the Medieval Warm Period and warm phases of the Little Ice Age. Duration of periods with strong floods varied from 70 to 200 years. Synoptic situations leading to heavy rainfall were probably similar to modern ones. Strong floods began last 210 yr in the conditions of a trend for warming. Reduction of flood activity, as a rule, occurred in cooling. The intensification of fires took place in drier periods. The response of swamp landscapes to the passage of severe floods and fires has been established.

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