Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-05T02:20:20.405Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Use of Total Lake-Surface Area as an Indicator of Climatic Change: Examples from the Lahontan Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

L.V. Benson  and
F.L. Paillet
L.V. Benson
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 404, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225 USA
F.L. Paillet
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 404, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Variation in the size of lakes in the Lahontan basin is topographically constrained. River diversion also has played a major role in regulating lake size in Lahontan subbasins. The proper gage of lake response to change in the hydrologic balance is neither lake depth (level) nor lake volume but instead lake-surface area. Normalization of surface area is necessary when comparing surface areas of lakes in basins having different topographies. To a first approximation, normalization can be accomplished by dividing the paleosurface area of a lake by its mean-historical, reconstructed surface area.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , November 1989 , pp. 262 - 275
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

Benson, L.V., (1988). Preliminary paleolimnologic data for the Walker Lane subbasin, California and Nevada U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigation Report 87-4258 Google Scholar
Benson, L.V. Mifflin, M.D., (1986). Reconnaissance bathymetry of basins occupied by Pleistocene Lake Lahontan U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigation Report 85-4262 Google Scholar
Benson, L.V. Thompson, R.S., (1987). The physical record of lakes in the Great Basin Ruddiman, W.F. Wright, H.E. Jr. North America and Adjacent Oceans during the Last Deglaciation The Geology of North America K-3, Geological Society of America Boulder, CO 241–259 Google Scholar
Benson, L.V. Thompson, R.S., (1987). Lake-level variation in the Lahontan basin for the past 50,000 years Quaternary Research 28, 69–85 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradbury, J.P., (1987). Late Holocene diatom paleolimnology of Walker Lake, Nevada Archiv fur Hydrobiologie, Supplement-Bd 79, 1–27 Google Scholar
Currey, D.R., (1988). Isochronism of final Pleistocene shallow lakes in the Great Salt Lake and Carson Desert regions of the Great Basin American Quaternary Association Programs and Abstracts of the Tenth Biennial Meeting 117 Google Scholar
Currey, D.R. Oviatt, C.G., (1985). Durations, average rates, and probable causes of Lake Bonneville expansions, stillstands, and contractions during the last deep-lake cycle, 32,000 to 10,000 years ago Kay, P.A. Diaz, H.F. Problems of and Prospects for Predicting Great Salt Lake Levels: Proceedings of a Conference Held in Salt Lake City, March 1985 Center for Public Affairs and Administration, University of Utah 9–24 Google Scholar
Davis, J.O., (1978). Late Sehoo discharge of the Humboldt River: Stratigraphy and archeology at the North Valmy power plant, Humboldt County, Nevada Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 10, 386 Google Scholar
Davis, J.O., (1982). Bits and pieces: The last 35,000 years in the Lahontan area Madsen, D.B. O'Connell, J.F. Man and Environment in the Great Basin Society for American Archeology Papers 2, 53–75 Google Scholar
Gilbert, G.K., (1890). Lake Bonneville U.S. Geological Survey Monograph 1,Google Scholar
Hutchinson, G.E., (1957). A Treatise on Limnology Geography, Physics, and Chemistry 1 Google Scholar
Jones, J.C., (1925). The Geological History of Lake Lahontan Carnegie Institution Publication 352 Google Scholar
King, C., (1878). United States Geological Explorations of the Fortieth parallel, Systematic Geology U.S. Govt. Printing Office 1 Washington DC Google Scholar
King, G.Q., (1978). The Late Quaternary History of Adrian Valley, Lyon County, Nevada Unpublished M.S. thesis Department of Geography, University of Utah Salt Lake City Google Scholar
Malde, H.E. Trimble, D.E., (1965). Malad Springs to Pocatello International Association of Quaternary Research, 7th Congress, Guidebook, Field Conference E 98–103 Google Scholar
Milne, W.K., (1987). A Comparison of Reconstructed Lake-Level Records since the Mid-1800s of Some Great Basin Lakes Unpublished M.S. thesis Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO Google Scholar
Morrison, R.B., (1964). Lake Lahontan: Geology of the southern Carson Desert, Nevada U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 401 Google Scholar
Morrison, R.B. Davis, J.O., (1984). Quaternary stratigraphy and archeology of the Lake Lahontan area: A reassessment Guidebook for Fieldtrip No. 13, Geological Society of America 1984 Annual Meeting Reno, Nevada 252–281 Google Scholar
Russell, I.C., (1885). Geological History of Lake Lahontan, a Quaternary Lake of Northwestern Nevada U.S. Geological Survey Monograph 11,Google Scholar
Smith, G.I. Street-Perrott, Pluvial lakes of the western United States Porter, S.C., (1983). Late-Quaternary Environments of the United States Vol. 1, Univ. of Minnesota Press Minneapolis 190–212 The Late Pleistocene Google Scholar
Stine, S., (1987). Mono Lake: The Past 4,000 Years Unpublished Ph.D. thesis University of California Berkeley Google Scholar