Variations in Lake Levels during the Holocene in North America: An Indicator of Changes in Atmospheric Circulation Patterns

ABSTRACT Fluctuations in the extent of closed lakes provide a detailed record of regional and continental variations in mean annual water budget. The temporal sequence of hydrological fluctuations during the Holocene in North America has been reconstructed using information from the Oxford Lake-Level Data Bank. This data base includes 67 basins from the Americas north of the equator. Maps of lake status, an index of relative depth, are presented for the period 10,000 to 0 yr BP. The early Holocene was characterised by increasingly arid conditions, which led to widespread low lake levels in the mid-latitudes by 9,000 yr BP. By 6,000 yr BP this zone of low lakes extended from 32o to 51oN. Many of the features of the present day lake-level pattern, particularly high lake levels north of 46oN and along the eastern seaboard, were established by 3.000 yr BP. Four distinctive regional patterns of lake behaviour through time are apparent. Histograms of lake status from 20,000 to 0 yr BP are presented for each of these regions. They illustrate the temporal patterns of lake-level fluctuations on a time scale of 103 — 104 yr. Changes in lake status over North America are interpreted as indicating displacements in major features of the general circulation, specifically the zonal Westerlies and the Equatorial Trough, as reflected by changes in air mass trajectories and hence the position of air mass boundaries over the continent.

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AN ASSESSMENT OF LATE PLEISTOCENE TO MIDDLE HOLOCENE LAKE LEVEL FLUCTUATIONS IN SURPRISE VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

10.31237/osf.io/9hefc ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel Enrique Ibarra

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

North America ◽

Late Pleistocene ◽

General Circulation ◽

Lake Level ◽

Basin And Range ◽

Future Climate ◽

Western United States ◽

Western North America ◽

Ocean General Circulation

Knowledge of Earth’s climate history and sensitivity, combined with modeling past and future climate, are central to informing policy decisions regarding future climate change. The hydrologic response to future warming scenarios due to increased anthropogenic CO2 emissions remains uncertain. Freshwater availability in the arid western United States is projected to decrease in availability as increased agricultural, urban and industrial uses continue to stress supplies. Motivated by the potential for dramatic future hydrologic changes, studies recording the abrupt transitions between different equilibrium states of natural past climate variability shed light on our understanding of the modern climate system.The presence of pluvial lakes in the Basin and Range Province, in the western United States, during the late Pleistocene (40 to 10 ka) indicates far greater moisture availability during the Pleistocene glacials. This study investigates the timing and magnitude of the most recent pluvial lake cycle that filled Surprise Valley, California using geophysical, geochemical and geochronologic tools. Spanning 31.2 to 4.6 ka, this new lake level record places the highest lake level, at 180 meters above present day playa, at 13.9 ± 1.2 ka. This age appears to be nearly synchronous with highstands of Lake Lahontan to the south and the Chewaucan Basin to the north. Additionally, most of the Basin and Range lake highstands, including Lake Surprise, follow peaks in precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P-ET) by 8-10 kyr. By compiling a diverse set of paleoclimate data available for western North America, I found that the timing and geographic distribution of lake highstands is inconsistent with increased precipitation in response to shifting westerly winds, the current model for the genesis of large lakes in western North America. Rather, lakes levels are more strongly correlated with changes in summer insolation, suggesting that lake highstands were likely facilitated by colder temperatures and increased humidity due to the presence of continental ice sheets and increased atmospheric convergence. I compared the constraints from lake and soil-based records to Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Model simulations from the Paleoclimate Model Intercomparison Project 2. Based on model-proxy intercomparison, the Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models, the same models used to also assess future climatic changes, poorly predict hydrologic quantities for the Last Glacial Maximum.

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Controls on lake level in the early to mid Holocene, Hawes Water, Lancashire, UK

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683611400455 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 21 (7) ◽

pp. 1061-1072 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

R.T. Jones ◽

J.D. Marshall ◽

E. Fisher ◽

J. Hatton ◽

C. Patrick ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lake Level ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Anthropogenic Activity ◽

Lake Levels ◽

Sea Levels ◽

The Holocene ◽

Rising Sea Levels ◽

New Interpretation ◽

Radiocarbon Chronology ◽

High Level

This study presents a new interpretation of the evidence for Holocene lake-level changes from Hawes Water in NW England constrained by detailed stratigraphic data, radiocarbon chronology and palaeo-environmental evidence. Lake levels are seen to decline gradually from the start of the Holocene through to 9960 cal. yr BP, in response to lake infilling and the prevailing dry climatic conditions. Low lake levels then persist until 6000 cal. yr BP, punctuated by two transgressive phases. Rising sea levels during the Holocene high-level sea stand are thought to be responsible for a major rise in lake level at 6000 cal. yr BP driven by changes in the local water-table. The rise in lake level is coincident with a rise in anthropogenic activity across the site, possibly reflecting the migration of coastal Mesolithic communities inland in response to rising sea levels.

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The Driving Forces Underlying Spatiotemporal Lake Extent Changes in the Inner Tibetan Plateau During the Holocene

Frontiers in Earth Science ◽

10.3389/feart.2021.685928 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Xiangjun Liu ◽

David Madsen ◽

Xiaojian Zhang

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Lake Level ◽

Climate Model ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Early Holocene ◽

Water Vapor Transport ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Lake Levels ◽

The Holocene ◽

Spatial Differences

The Inner Tibetan Plateau (ITP), the central and western part of the Tibetan Plateau (TP), covers about one-fourth of the entire TP and contains more than 800 endorheic lakes larger than 1 km2. These lakes are important water reservoirs and sensitive to TP climate changes. They regulate regional water circulations, and further influence local ecosystems. Many lakes in ITP are surrounded by conspicuous paleoshorelines indicating much higher past lake levels. Previous studies found that lakes in the western ITP (west of ∼86°E) apparently expanded to higher levels than those to the east during the Holocene high lake level stage, however, there is no in-depth study on the reasons for the spatial differences of high lake levels within the ITP. In this study, we first identify Holocene lake level (or lake extent) changes over the ITP by combining published lake level variation data with our reconstruction of Dagze Co lake level variations. We then investigate spatial differences in the magnitude of lake expansions and explore the underlying forces driving these differences using the transient climate evolution of the last 21 ka (TraCE-21ka) and Kiel Climate Model (KCM) simulation results. We find that lakes in the ITP expanded to their highest levels during the early Holocene when the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) greatly intensified. After the mid-Holocene, lake levels fell as a result of the weakening of the ISM. The early Holocene northward shift of the westerly jet and a positive phase of the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) resulted in the intensification of southwesterly winds on the southwest TP flank. Concurrently, westerly winds over the TP weakened, causing a differential increase in water vapor transport to the ITP with higher precipitation levels in the southwestern ITP and lower levels to the northeast. These wind-driven differential precipitation levels caused lakes in the southwestern ITP to expand to higher levels than those in the central, northern and northeastern ITP. During the early Holocene, expansion of lakes in the northwestern ITP was enhanced by an increase in glacier melt water besides the increased summer rainfall associated with the intensified ISM.

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Geomorphology of the lakebed and sediment deposition during the Holocene in Lake Visovac

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-15787 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nikolina Ilijanić ◽

Slobodan Miko ◽

Ozren Hasan ◽

Dea Brunović ◽

Martina Šparica Miko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Lake Sediment ◽

National Park ◽

Lake Level ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Sediment Cores ◽

Depositional Environments ◽

Lake Levels ◽

The Holocene

Lake Visovac is a tufa barrier lake on the Krka River between Ro&#353;ki slap (60 m asl) and Skradinski buk (46 m absl) waterfalls, included in the Krka national park as primarily unaltered area of exceptional natural value. Paleolimnological research was conceived to address a lake evolution and depositional environments through the geophysical survey and collection of the lake sediment cores. A high-resolution bathymetric map was obtained using a multibeam sonar. The average lake depth varies between 20 and 25 m. Sediment cores were investigated to extract physical properties, sedimentological, mineralogical, geochemical and paleoecological records constrained by the radiocarbon chronology, to understand what was happening to both the landscapes and lakescapes of Lake Visovac during the last 2.000 cal yr.Significant findings of the project are geomorphological features on the lake bottom: submerged sinkholes of various sizes (up to 40 m deep); submerged tufa barriers in the area of Kali&#269;ki kuk (southern part of Lake Visovac) at the depths of 15 and 17 m, followed by a series of buried cascade tufa barriers at the depth of 25 m covered with up to 10 m of Holocene lake sediments; submerged vertical tufa barrier up to 32 m-high near the mouth of &#268;ikola River; submerged landslides, small (river) fan structures characterized by sediment waves. Ground-penetrating-radar (GPR) data have been acquired due to the presence of gas-saturated sediments over a large area of the lake, that limited the use of high-resolution acoustic profiling. A total thickness of sediments is up to 40 m. High resolution paleoenvironmental record through the Late Holocene gives evidence of high sedimentation rates in Lake Visovac, variable soil erosion impact on lake sediment composition and carbonate authigenic sedimentation. Higher organic carbon is observed in the last 50 years due to changes in land cover and reforestation. Pleistocene lake sediment outcrops occur up to 20 m above the present lake levels indicating higher lake levels as a consequence of higher elevation of tuffa barriers. Kali&#269;ki kuk, which lies up to 20 m above present lake level, is a remnant of these barriers which have been dated to MIS5. Results allow us to interpret the environmental and evolutionary dynamics of Lake Visovac in the following way: lake level more than 20 m higher than today in mid-Pleistocene with significantly larger lake volume in Lake Visovac, with active Kali&#269;ki kuk and Skradinski buk waterfalls; lower lake-level at the beginning of the Holocene when several small lakes existed in isolated basins in the area of Lake Visovac. The tufa barrier at Skradinski buk started to grow faster than the Kali&#269;ki kuk barriers and waterfalls resulting in their flooding and submergence during the Holocene. The tufa barrier at Skradinski buk has grown 15 m since then. This study demonstrates the role of geomorphological lakebed characteristics in reshaping our understanding of the environmental changes and the future of Lake Visovac.The research was conducted as part of the project funded by the Krka National Park and CSF funded QMAD project (IP-04-2019-8505).

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Contrasting patterns of climatic changes during the Holocene across the Italian Peninsula reconstructed from pollen data

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-9-1233-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 1233-1252 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

O. Peyron ◽

M. Magny ◽

S. Goring ◽

S. Joannin ◽

J.-L. de Beaulieu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lake Level ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Southern Italy ◽

Summer Precipitation ◽

Aegean Sea ◽

Northern Italy ◽

Lake Levels ◽

The Holocene ◽

The North ◽

The Mediterranean

Abstract. Lake-level records from Italy suggest that patterns of precipitation in the central Mediterranean during the Holocene were divided between the north and south, but a scarcity of reliable palaeoclimatic records in the north and central-southern Mediterranean means new evidence is needed to validate this hypothesis. We provide robust quantitative estimates of Holocene climate in the Mediterranean region using four high-resolution pollen records from northern (Lakes Ledro and Accesa) and southern (Lakes Trifoglietti and Pergusa) Italy. Multiple methods are used to provide an improved assessment of the palaeoclimatic reconstruction uncertainty. The multi-method approach uses the pollen-based weighted averaging, weighted-average partial least-squares regression, modern analogue technique, and the non-metric multidimensional scaling/generalized additive model methods. We use independent lake-level data to validate the precipitation reconstructions. Our results support a climatic partition between northern and southern Italy during the Holocene, confirming the hypothesis of opposing mid-Holocene summer precipitation regimes in the Mediterranean. The northern sites (Ledro, Accesa) are characterized by minima for summer precipitation and lake levels during the early to mid-Holocene, while the southern sites (Trifoglietti, Pergusa) are marked by maxima for precipitation and lake levels at the same time. Both pollen-inferred precipitation and lake levels indicate the opposite pattern during the late Holocene, a maximum in northern Italy and a minimum in southern Italy/Sicily. Summer temperatures show the same partitioning, with warm conditions in northern Italy and cool conditions in Sicily during the early/mid-Holocene, and a reversal during the late Holocene. Comparison with marine cores from the Aegean Sea suggests that climate trends and gradients observed in Italy show strong similarities with those recognized from the Aegean Sea, and more generally speaking in the eastern Mediterranean.

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Contrasting patterns of climatic changes during the Holocene in the Central Mediterranean (Italy) reconstructed from pollen data

Climate of the Past Discussions ◽

10.5194/cpd-8-5817-2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 8 (6) ◽

pp. 5817-5866 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

O. Peyron ◽

M. Magny ◽

S. Goring ◽

S. Joannin ◽

J.-L. de Beaulieu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lake Level ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Summer Precipitation ◽

Aegean Sea ◽

Weighted Averaging ◽

Lake Levels ◽

Central Mediterranean ◽

The Holocene ◽

The North ◽

The Mediterranean

Abstract. Lake-level records from Italy suggest a north–south climatic partition in the Central Mediterranean during the Holocene with respect to precipitation, but the scarcity of reliable palaeoclimatic records in the North and Central-Southern Mediterranean means new evidence is needed to validate this hypothesis. Here, we provide robust quantitative estimates of Holocene climate in the Mediterranean region based on four high-resolution pollen records from Northern (Lakes Ledro and Accesa) and Southern (Lakes Trifoglietti and Pergusa) Italy. Multiple methods are used to provide an improved assessment of the paleoclimatic reconstruction uncertainty. The multi-method approach uses the pollen-based Weighted Averaging, Weighted-Average-Partial-Least-Squares regression, Modern Analogues Technique, and the Non-Metric-Multidimensional Scaling/Generalized-Additive-Model methods. The precipitation seasonality reconstructions are validated by independent lake-level data, obtained from the same records. A climatic partition between the north and the south during the Holocene confirms the hypothesis of opposing mid-Holocene summer precipitation regimes in the Mediterranean. During the early-to-mid-Holocene the northern sites (Ledro, Accesa) are characterized by minima for summer precipitation and lake-levels while the southern sites (Trifoglietti, Pergusa) are marked by maxima for precipitation and lake-levels. During the late Holocene, both pollen-inferred precipitation and lake-levels indicate the opposite pattern, a maximum in North Italy and a minimum in Southern Italy/Sicily. Summer temperatures also show partitioning, with warm conditions in Northern Italy and cool conditions in Sicily during the early/mid-Holocene, and a reversal during the Late-Holocene. Comparison with marine cores from the Aegean Sea suggests that climate trends and gradients observed in Italy shows strong similarities with those recognized from the Aegean Sea, and more generally speaking in the Eastern Mediterranean.

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Earliest Evidence for Geophyte Use in North America: 11,500-Year-Old Archaeobotanical Remains from California's Santarosae Island

American Antiquity ◽

10.1017/aaq.2021.31 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Kristina M. Gill ◽

Todd J. Braje ◽

Kevin Smith ◽

Jon M. Erlandson

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Coastal Areas ◽

Channel Islands ◽

Plant Resources ◽

The Holocene ◽

Return Rates ◽

Archaeobotanical Remains ◽

Human Use ◽

Santa Rosa Island ◽

Protein Rich

There is growing evidence for human use of geophytes long before the advent of agriculture. Rich in carbohydrates, geophytes were important in many coastal areas where protein-rich marine foods are abundant. On California's Channel Islands, scholars have long questioned how maritime peoples sustained themselves for millennia with limited plant resources. Recent research demonstrates that geophytes were heavily used on the islands for 10,000 years, and here we describe geophyte and other archaeobotanical remains from an approximately 11,500-year-old site on Santa Rosa Island. Currently the earliest evidence for geophyte consumption in North America, our data extend geophyte use on the Channel Islands by roughly 1,500 years and document a diverse and balanced economy for early Paleocoastal peoples. Experimental return rates for a key island geophyte support archaeological evidence that the corms of blue dicks (Dipterostemon capitatus) were a high-ranked staple resource throughout the Holocene.

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Development of the mixed conifer forest in northern New Mexico and its relationship to Holocene environmental change

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/j.yqres.2007.12.002 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 69 (2) ◽

pp. 263-275 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

R. Scott Anderson ◽

Renata B. Jass ◽

Jaime L. Toney ◽

Craig D. Allen ◽

Luz M. Cisneros-Dozal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Mexico ◽

Pinus Ponderosa ◽

Late Glacial ◽

Conifer Forest ◽

Lake Levels ◽

Mixed Conifer ◽

The Holocene ◽

Groundwater Levels ◽

Mixed Conifer Forest ◽

Jemez Mountains

Chihuahueños Bog (2925 m) in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico contains one of the few records of late-glacial and postglacial development of the mixed conifer forest in southwestern North America. The Chihuahueños Bog record extends to over 15,000 cal yr BP. AnArtemisiasteppe, then an openPiceawoodland grew around a small pond until ca. 11,700 cal yr BP whenPinus ponderosabecame established. C/N ratios,δ13C andδ15N values indicate both terrestrial and aquatic organic matter was incorporated into the sediment. Higher percentages of aquatic algae and elevated C/N ratios indicate higher lake levels at the opening of the Holocene, but a wetland developed subsequently as climate warmed. From ca. 8500 to 6400 cal yr BP the pond desiccated in what must have been the driest period of the Holocene there. C/N ratios declined to their lowest Holocene levels, indicating intense decomposition in the sediment. Wetter conditions returned after 6400 cal yr BP, with conversion of the site to a sedge bog as groundwater levels rose. Higher charcoal influx rates after 6400 cal yr BP probably result from greater biomass production rates. Only minor shifts in the overstory species occurred during the Holocene, suggesting that mixed conifer forest dominated throughout the record.

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Cosmogenic10Be dating of raised shorelines constrains the timing of lake levels in the eastern Lake Agassiz-Ojibway basin

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1017/qua.2017.40 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 88 (2) ◽

pp. 265-276 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Pierre-Marc Godbout ◽

Martin Roy ◽

Jean J. Veillette ◽

Joerg M. Schaefer

Keyword(s):

Lake Level ◽

Time Interval ◽

Lake Levels ◽

Lake Agassiz ◽

Cosmogenic Isotopes ◽

Exposure Dating ◽

Group 3 ◽

Lake Stage ◽

Lake Ojibway

AbstractSurface exposure dating was applied to erosional shorelines associated with the Angliers lake level that marks an important stage of Lake Ojibway. The distribution of 1510Be ages from five sites shows a main group (10 samples) of coherent10Be ages yielding a mean age of 9.9±0.7 ka that assigns the development of this lake level to the early part of the Lake Ojibway history. A smaller group (3 samples) is part of a more scattered distribution of older10Be ages (with 2 outliers) that points to an inheritance of cosmogenic isotopes from a previous exposure, revealing an apparent mean age of 15.8±0.9 ka that is incompatible with the Ojibway inundation and the regional deglaciation. Our results provide the first direct10Be chronology on the sequence of lake levels in the Ojibway basin, which includes the lake stage presumably associated with the confluence and subsequent drainage of Lakes Agassiz and Ojibway. This study demonstrates the potential of this approach to date glacial lake shorelines and underlies the importance of obtaining additional chronological constraints on the Agassiz-Ojibway shoreline sequence to confidently assign a particular lake stage and/or lake-level drawdown to a specific time interval of the deglaciation.

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