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Fish Remains from Homestead Cave and Lake Levels of the Past 13,000 Years in the Bonneville Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jack M. Broughton ,
David B. Madsen  and
Jay Quade
Jack M. Broughton
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 270 S 1400 E RM 102, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0060
David B. Madsen
Affiliation:
Environmental Sciences, Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-6100
Jay Quade
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Gould-Simpson Building, 1040 E 4th Street, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0077
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Abstract

A late Quaternary ichthyofauna from Homestead Cave, Utah, provides a new source of information on lake history in the Bonneville basin. The fish, represented by 11 freshwater species, were accumulated between ∼11,200 and ∼1000 14C yr B.P. by scavenging owls. The 87Sr/86Sr ratio of Lake Bonneville varied with its elevation; 87Sr/86Sr values of fish from the lowest stratum of the cave suggest they grew in a lake near the terminal Pleistocene Gilbert shoreline. In the lowest deposits, a decrease in fish size and an increase in species tolerant of higher salinities or temperatures suggest multiple die-offs associated with declining lake levels. An initial, catastrophic, post-Provo die-off occurred at 11,300–11,200 14C yr B.P. and was followed by at least one rebound or recolonization of fish populations, but fish were gone from Lake Bonneville sometime before ∼10,400 14C yr B.P. This evidence is inconsistent with previous inferences of a near desiccation of Lake Bonneville between 13,000 and 12,000 14C yr B.P. Peaks in Gila atraria frequencies in the upper strata suggest the Great Salt Lake had highstands at ∼3400 and ∼1000 14C yr B.P.

Keywords

fish remainslake-level fluctuationsLake BonnevilleGreat Salt Laketerminal PleistoceneHolocene
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , May 2000 , pp. 392 - 401
Copyright
University of Washington

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