Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-lvtdw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-06T11:44:28.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Composite Nature of the Provo Level of Lake Bonneville, Great Basin, Western North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dorothy Sack
Dorothy Sack*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Ohio University, 122 Clippinger Labs, Athens, Ohio, 45701
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Deposits of a transgressive-phase Lake Bonneville stillstand or oscillation are found just below the elevation of the regressive-phase Provo shoreline at numerous exposures throughout the Bonneville basin. Existence of these subProvo shoreline deposits provides a new explanation for the massive size of Provo depositional and erosional landforms, which can no longer be explained by a long stillstand at the Provo shoreline. Provo coastal landforms are large because they are superimposed on subProvo landforms. Results also help to clarify divergent interpretations regarding the relative age of the Provo shoreline and the number of times it was occupied by the water plane. Occupation of approximately the same level during both the transgressive and the regressive phase of Lake Bonneville may be coincidental, or it may indicate that a bedrock sill controlled outflow at subProvo as well as Provo time. Rise to the Bonneville level could have occurred after massive slope failure plugged the outlet pass.

Keywords

Lake Bonneville chronologyProvo shorelinesubProvo shoreline deposits
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , November 1999 , pp. 316 - 327
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

Antevs, E. (1945). Correlation of Wisconsin glacial maxima. American Journal of Science. 243A, 1–39.Google Scholar
Antevs, E. (1952). Cenozoic climates of the Great Basin. Geologische Rundschau. 40, 94–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antevs, E. (1955). Geologic-climatic dating in the west. American Antiquity. 20, 317–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, L.V., Currey, D.R., Dorn, R.I., Lajoie, K.R., Oviatt, C.G., Robinson, S.W., Smith, G.I., Stine, S. (1990). Chronology of expansions and contractions of four Great Basin lake systems during the past 35,000 year. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 78, 241–286.Google Scholar
Bissell, H. J. (1963). Lake Bonneville: Geology of Southern Utah Valley, Utah, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 257-B, pp. 101–130.Google Scholar
Bissell, H.J. (1968). Bonneville—An Ice-Age Lake.Google Scholar
Bright, R.C. (1963). Pleistocene Lakes Thatcher and Bonneville, Southeastern Idaho. University of Minnesota, .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.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Orr, P.C. (1958). Radiocarbon chronology of Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 69, 1009–1032.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burr, T.N., Currey, D.R. (1988). The Stockton Bar. Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication. 88-1, 66–73.Google Scholar
Condie, K.C., Barsky, C.K. (1972). Origin of Quaternary basalts from the Black Rock Desert region, Utah. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 83, 333–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, M. D. Jr (1963). New Data on the Isostatic Deformation of Lake Bonneville, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 454E.Google Scholar
Crittenden, M.D. Jr.. (1967). Viscosity and finite strength of the mantle as determined from water and ice loads. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 14, 261–279.Google Scholar
Currey, D.R. (1980). Coastal geomorphology of Great Salt Lake and vicinity. Utah Geological Survey Bulletin. 116, 69–72.Google Scholar
Currey, D.R. (1980). Threshold-controlled shorelines of Lake Bonneville. Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Geographical Journal. 9, 103–104.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 year ago. Geographical Journal of Korea. 10, 1085–1099.Google Scholar
Currey, D. R, Atwood, G and Mabey, D. R.(1984). Major Levels of Great Salt Lake and Lake Bonneville. Utah Geological Survey Map 73.Google Scholar
Eardley, A.J., Gvosdetsky, V.M., Marsell, R.E. (1957). Hydrology of Lake Bonneville and sediments and soils of its basin. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 68, 1141–1201.Google Scholar
Feth, J.H., Rubin, M. (1957). Radiocarbon dating of wave-formed tufas from the Bonneville basin. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 68, 1827.Google Scholar
Fisher, K.D. (1974). A Cartographic Study of Lake Bonneville. Brigham Young University, .Google Scholar
Gilbert, G.K. (1880). The outlet of Lake Bonneville. American Journal of Science. 19, 341–349.Google Scholar
Gilbert, G.K. (1890). Lake Bonneville.Google Scholar
Goode, H.D., Eardley, A.J. (1960). Lake Bonneville: A preliminary report on the Quaternary deposits of Little Valley, Promontory Range, Utah. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 71, 2035.Google Scholar
Gvosdetsky, V and Hawkes, H. B.(1953). Reappraisal of the History of Lake Bonneville. Utah Engineering Experiment Station Bulletin 60.Google Scholar
Ives, R.L. (1951). Pleistocene valley sediments of the Dugway area, Utah. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 62, 781–797.Google Scholar
Jones, D.J., Marsell, R.E. (1955). Pleistocene sediments of lower Jordan Valley, Utah. Utah Geological Society Guidebook to the Geology of Utah. 10, 85–112.Google Scholar
Light, A. (1996). Amino Acid Paleotemperature Reconstruction and Radiocarbon Shoreline Chronology of the Lake Bonneville Basin. University of Colorado, .Google Scholar
Malde, H. E. (1968). The Catastrophic Late Pleistocene Bonneville Flood in the Snake River Plain, Idaho, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 596.Google Scholar
McCoy, W.D. (1987). Quaternary aminostratigraphy of the Bonneville basin, western United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 98, 99–112.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, R.B. (1961). Correlation of the deposits of lakes Lahontan and Bonneville and the glacial sequences of the Sierra Nevada and Wasatch Mountains, California, Nevada, and Utah. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 424-D, 122–124.Google Scholar
Morrison, R.B. (1961). New evidence on the history of Lake Bonneville from an area south of Salt Lake City, Utah. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 424-D, 125–127.Google Scholar
Morrison, R. B. (1965a). ), Lake Bonneville: Quaternary Stratigraphy of Eastern Jordan Valley. South of Salt Lake City, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 477.Google Scholar
Morrison, R.B. (1965). New evidence on Lake Bonneville stratigraphy and history from Southern Promontory Point, Utah. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 525C, 110–119.Google Scholar
Morrison, R.B. (1965). Quaternary geology of the Great Basin. Wright, H.E., Frey, D.G. The Quaternary of the United States. Princeton University Press, Princeton., 265–285.Google Scholar
Morrison, R.B. (1966). Predecessors of Great Salt Lake. Utah Geological Society Guidebook to the Geology of Utah. p. 77–104.Google Scholar
Morrison, R.B. (1991). Quaternary stratigraphic, hydrologic, and climatic history of the Great Basin, with emphasis on Lakes Lahontan, Bonneville, and Tecopa. Geological Society of America, Geology of North America. K2, 283–320.Google Scholar
Morrison, R. B and 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. Nevada Bureau of Mines Report 9.Google Scholar
Oviatt, C.G. (1984). Lake Bonneville Stratigraphy at the Old River Bed and Leamington, Utah. University of Utah, .Google Scholar
Oviatt, C.G. (1997). Lake Bonneville fluctuations and global climate change. Geology. 25, 155–158.Google Scholar
Oviatt, C.G., Currey, D.R., Sack, D. (1992). Radiocarbon chronology of Lake Bonneville, eastern Great Basin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 99, 225–241.Google Scholar
Pack, F.J. (1939). Lake Bonneville: A popular treatise dealing with the history and physical aspects of Lake Bonneville. Bulletin of the University of Utah. 30, 1–112.Google Scholar
Sack, D. (1989). Reconstructing the chronology of Lake Bonneville: An historical review. Tinkler, K.J. History of Geomorphology. Unwin Hyman, London., 223–256.Google Scholar
Sack, D. (1990). Quaternary Geology of Tule Valley. West-Central Utah, Utah Geological Survey Map 124.Google Scholar
Sack, D. (1994). Geomorphic evidence of climate change from desert-basin palaeolakes. Abrahams, A.D., Parsons, A.J. Geomorphology of Desert Environments. Chapman and Hall, London., 616–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, W. E. (1980). New Interpretations of Lake Bonneville Stratigraphy and Their Significance for Studies of Earthquake-Hazard Assessment along the Wasatch Front, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80–801.Google Scholar
Scott, W.E. (1988). Transgressive and high-shore deposits of the Bonneville Lake Cycle near North Salt Lake, Utah. Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication. 88-1, 38–42.Google Scholar
Scott, W.E., McCoy, W.D., Shroba, R.R., Miller, R.D. (1980). New interpretations of the late Quaternary history of Lake Bonneville, western United States. American Quaternary Association Abstracts. 6, 168–169.Google Scholar
Scott, W.E., McCoy, W.D., Shroba, R.R., Rubin, M. (1983). Reinterpretation of the exposed record of the last two cycles of Lake Bonneville, western United States. Quaternary Research. 20, 261–285.Google Scholar
Sewell, R.E., Shroder, J.F. (1981). Red Rock landslip: Massive failure initiated by late Pleistocene Bonneville Flood. Geological Society of America Abstracts. 13, 225.Google Scholar
Smith, D.G., Jol, H.M. (1992). Ground-penetrating radar investigation of a Lake Bonneville delta, Provo level, Brigham City, Utah. Geology. 20, 1083–1086.Google Scholar
Spencer, R.J., Baedecker, M.J., Eugster, H.P., Forester, R.M., Goldhaber, M.B., Jones, B.F., Kelts, K., McKenzie, J., Madsen, D.B., Rettig, S.L., Rubin, M., Bowser, C.J. (1984). Great Salt Lake, and precursors, Utah, the last 30,000 year. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. 86, 321–334.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J. (1993). Extended 14C database and revised CALIB radiocarbon calibration program. Radiocarbon. 35, 215–230.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S., Toolin, L.J., Forester, R.M., Spencer, R.J. (1990). Accelerator-mass spectrometer (AMS) radiocarbon dating of Pleistocene lake sediments in the Great Basin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 78, 301–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar