Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T05:45:02.418Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Lake Michigan Beach-Ridge and Dune Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John Lichter
John Lichter*
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108; and The University of Michigan Biological Station, Pellston, Michigan, 49769
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Strandplains of shore-parallel beach ridges bordering the Great Lakes are valuable for reconstructing histories of climate-related lake-level fluctuations. However, imprecise radiocarbon dates of ridge formation have frustrated development of dependable chronologies from which information about variation in the frequency of ridge formation and inferred climate fluctuations can be obtained. The resolution and precision of radiocarbon chronologies can be improved with AMS 14C dates of roots and rhizomes of plant species associated with the formation and growth of the sand-dune caps of breach ridges. These dates reliably estimate the timing of shore progradation when the base of the previously established beach ridge becomes inundated by the water table. An AMS radiocarbon chronology of beach-ridge formation in northern Lake Michigan shows that information about variation in the frequency of ridge formation is important for paleoclimatic interpretation.

Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , July 1997 , pp. 137 - 140
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

Bishop, C. T, (1990). Historical variation of water levels in Lakes Erie and Michigan–Huron. Journal of Great Lakes Research. 16, 406–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bristow, J. M, (1975). The structure and function of roots in aquatic vascular plants. The Development and Function of Roots. Academic Press, New York, p. 221–236.Google Scholar
Brunk, I. W, (1968). Evaluation of channel changes in St. Clair and Detroit Rivers. Water Resources Research. 4, 1335–1346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, R. H, Persoage, N. P, (1970). Some implications of crustal movement in engineering planning. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 7, 628–633.Google Scholar
Delcourt, P. A, Petty, W. H, Delcourt, H. R, (1996). Late-Holocene formation of Lake Michigan beach ridges correlated with a 70-yr oscillation in global climate. Quaternary Research. 45, 321–326.Google Scholar
Derecki, J. A, (1985). Effect of channel changes in the St. Clair River during the present century. Journal of Great Lakes Research. 11, 201–207.Google Scholar
Dott, E. R, Mickelson, D. M, (1995). Lake Michigan water levels and the development of Holocene beach-ridge complexes at Two Rivers, Wisconsin: Stratigraphic, geomorphic, and radiocarbon evidence. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 107, 286–296.Google Scholar
Hansel, A. K, Chrzastowski, M. J, Riggs, M. H, Miller, M. V, Follmer, L. R, (1990). New14 . Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 22, 12.Google Scholar
Larsen, C. E, (1994). Beach ridges as monitors of isostatic uplift in the upper Great Lakes. Journal of Great Lakes Research. 20, 108–134.Google Scholar
Lichter, J, (1995). Lake Michigan beach-ridge and dune development, lake levels, and variability in regional water balances. Quaternary Research. 44, 181–189.Google Scholar
Mitchell, J. M Jr., Stockton, C. W, Meko, D. M, (1979). Evidence for a 22-year rhythm of drought in the western United States relate to the Hale solar cycle since the 17th Century. McCormac, B. M, Seliga, T. A, Solar–Terrestrial Influences on Weather and Climate. Reidel, Dordrecht, 125–143.Google Scholar
Olson, J. S, (1958). Lake Michigan dune development 3: Lake-level, beach, and dune oscillations. Journal of Geology. 66, 473–483.Google Scholar
Quinn, F. H., Croley, T. E. II, (1981). The role of precipitation climatology in hydrologic design and planning on the Laurentian Great Lakes. Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the Hydrometerological and Meteorological Society. 7, 11.Google Scholar
Tait, B. J, Bolduc, P. A, (1985). An Update on Rates of Apparent Vertical Movement in the Great Lakes Basin. Dept. of Ocean Science and Surveys, Fisheries and Oceans, Ottawa. Google Scholar
Thompson, T. A, (1992). Beach-ridge development and lake-level variation in southern Lake Michigan. Sedimentary Geology. 80, 305–318.Google Scholar
Thompson, T. A, Baedke, S. J, (1995). Beach-ridge development in Lake Michigan: Shoreline behavior in response to quasi-periodic lake-level events. Marine Geology. 129, 163–174.Google Scholar