Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:41:07.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fluctuation in the Level of Pluvial Lake Lahontan During the last 40,000 Years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Larry Benson
Larry Benson*
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Samples of algal tufa, gastropods and calcite-cemented sand were collected from the Walker and Pyramid Lake areas of the Lahontan Basin, Nevada. X-ray diffraction petrographic and radiocarbon analyses show that massive forms of tufa such as the dendritic variety contain secondary carbon-bearing material and therefore yield unreliable radiocarbon dates. Dense coating of tufa (lithoid), however, gave radiocarbon ages in agreement with dates on coexisting aragonite gastropods. Radiocarbon data from the study were combined with previously dated noncarbonate materials [Born, S. M. (1972). “Lake Quaternary History, Deltaic Sedimentation, and Mudlump Formation at Pyramid Lake, Nevada”, Center for Water Resources, Desert Research Inst., Reno, Nevada] to give an internally consistent record of lake level fluctuations for the past 40,000 years. The main features of the Lahontan chronology are (1) extreme high stands (1330 m above sea level) 13,500 to 11,000 and 25,000 to 22,000 B.P., (2) a moderate high stand (1260 m above sea level) 20,000 to 15,000 B.P., (3) a low stand of unknown elevation 40,000 to 25,000 B.P., (4) an extremely low stand 9000 to 5000 B.P., and (5) an overall increase in the size of Walker and Pyramid Lakes during the past 5000 years, until the late 19th century. Pore fluid data indicate that Walker Lake desiccated sometime during the period 9050 to 6400 B.P. Salts deposited as a result of this dessication are still undergoing dissolution causing a flux of chloride, carbon, and other solute species from the sediments to the overlying lake water. Pore fluid data obtained from Pyramid Lake sediments do not indicate the presence of a concentrated brine at depth. This suggests that Pyramid Lake did not dry completely during this period although it may have been severely reduced in size. There has been considerable disagreement regarding the occurrence of extreme arid conditions (altithermal period) since 10,000 B.P. [Mehringer, P. J. (1977). “Models and Great Basin Prehistory”. Desert Research Inst. Pub, Reno, Nevada]. The data of this study suggest that such a climatic regime did occur in the western Great Basin during the period 9000 to 5000 B.P.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , May 1978 , pp. 300 - 318
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bateman, P.C., Wahrhaftig, C., 1966. Geology of the Sierra Nevada. California Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin. 190, 107 169.Google Scholar
Benson, L.116., Leach, D., 1977. Hydrochemistry of uranium in the Walker Basin, Nevada and California. in preparation.Google Scholar
Born, S.M., 1972 Lake Quaternary History, Deltaic Sedimentation, and Mudlump Formation at Pyramid Lake, Nevada. Published by Center for Water Resources, Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada, 97.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Kaufman, A., 1965. Radiocarbon chronology of Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville II, Great Basin. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 76, 537 566.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Orr, P.C., 1958. Radiocarbon chronology of Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 69, 1009 1032.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Walton, A., 1959. The geochemistry of C14 in freshwater systems. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 16, 15 38.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Van Donk, J., 1970. Insolation changes, ice volumes and the O18 record in deepsea cores. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics. 8, 169 198.Google Scholar
Craig, H., 1954. Carbon 13 in plants and the relationships between carbon 13 and carbon 14 variations in nature. Journal of Geology. 62, 115 149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deevey, E.S., Gross, M.S., Hutchinson, G.E., Kraybill, H.L., 1954. The natural C14 contents of materials from hard-water lakes. Proceedings National Academy of Science Washington. 40, 285 288.Google Scholar
Ekren, E.B., Rogers, C.L., Anderson, R.E., Orkild, P.P., 1968. Age of basin and range normal faults in Nevada Test Site and Nellis, Air Force Range Nevada. Eckel, E.B., Nevada Test Site: Geological Society of America Memoir. 110, 247 250.Google Scholar
Emiliani, C., 1966. Paleotemperature analysis of Caribbean cores P6304-8 and P6304-9 and a generalized temperature curve for the past 425,000 years. Journal of Geology. 74, 109 126.Google Scholar
Friedman, G.M., 1968. The fabric of carbonate cement and matrix and its dependence on the salinity of water. Müller, German, Friedman, , Recent Developments in Carbonate Sedimentology in Central Europe. Springer-Verlag, New York, 11 20.Google Scholar
Frye, J.C., Willman, H.B., Black, R.F., 1965. Outline of glacial geology of Illinois and Wisconsin. Wright, , Frey, , The Quaternary of the United States. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J, 43 61.Google Scholar
Imbrie, J., Kipp, N.G., 1971. New method for quantitative paleoclimatology. Turkekian, K.K., The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn, 71 181.Google Scholar
Jones, J.C., 1925. The geologic history of Lake Lahontan. Carnegie Institute of Washington Publication No. 325. 3 50.Google Scholar
Kukla, J., 1970. Correlation between loesses and deep-sea sediments. Geol. Fören. Stockholm Förk. 92, 148 180.Google Scholar
Mehringer, P.J. Jr., 1977. Great Basin late Quaternary environments and chronology. Fowler, D.D., Models and Great Basin Prehistory. Desert Research Institute Publications in Social Science No. 12. Univ. of Nevada, Reno, 113 167.Google Scholar
Morrison, R.B., 1965. Radiocarbon chronologies of Lakes Lahontan and Bonneville: A stratigraphic evaluation. International Association for Quaternary Research. VII International Congress. 347.Google Scholar
Morrison, R.B., Frye, J.C., 1965. Correlation of the Middle and Late Quaternary successions of the Lake Lahontan, Lake Bonneville, Rocky Mountain (Wasatch Range), Southern Great Plains , and Eastern Midwest Areas. Report 9 of the Nevada Bureau of Mines. 45.Google Scholar
Radbruch, D.H., 1957. Hypothesis regarding the origin of thinolite tufa at Pyramid Lake, Nevada. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 68, 1683 1688.Google Scholar
Russell, I.C., 1885. Geological history of Lake Lahontan. United States Geological Survey Monograph. 11, 288.Google Scholar
Scholl, D.W., 1960. Pleistocene algal pinnacles at Searles Lake, California. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 30, 414 431.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D., 1973. Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28-238: Oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 year and 106 year time scale. Quaternary Research. 3, 39 55.Google Scholar
Smith, G.I., 1962. Subsurface stratigraphy of late Quaternary deposits, Searles Lake, California: A summary. United States Geological Survey Prof. Paper 450-C. C65 C69.Google Scholar
Smith, G.I., 1962. Late-Quaternary geologic and climatic history of Searles Lake, southeastern California. 8th Internat. Quaternary Congress., Proc.. 7, 293 310.Google Scholar
Smith, G.I., 1970. Late Wisconsin lake fluctuations in Searles Valley, California: American Quaternary Assoc. Meeting. Aug. 28–Sep. 1 Yellowstone Park and Montana State Univ.: AMQUA Abstr.. 124.Google Scholar
Wahrhaftig, C., Birman, J.H., 1965. The Quaternary of the Pacific Mountain system in California. Wright, , Frey, , The Quaternary of the United States. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J, 299 339.Google Scholar