Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8bljj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-20T21:25:08.316Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lake-Level Reconstruction and Paleohydrology of Birch Lake, Central Alaska, Based on Seismic Reflection Profiles and Core Transects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Mark B. Abbott ,
Bruce P. Finney ,
Mary E. Edwards  and
Kerry R. Kelts
Mark B. Abbott
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Morrill Science Center, University of Massachusetts, Box 35820, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-5820
Bruce P. Finney
Affiliation:
Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775
Mary E. Edwards
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775
Kerry R. Kelts
Affiliation:
Limnological Research Center, University of Minnesota, 220 Pillsbury Hall, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lake-level history for Birch Lake, Alaska, was reconstructed using seismic profiles and multiproxy sedimentary analyses including sedimentology, geochemistry, magnetic susceptibility, and palynology. Twenty-two seismic profiles (18 km total) and eight sediment cores taken from the lake margin to its depocenter at 13.5 m provide evidence for low lake stands during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Thirty-one AMS radiocarbon dates of macrofossils and pollen provide a century-scale chronology. Prior to 12,700 14C yr B.P., the lake, which now overflows, was either seasonally dry or desiccated for prolonged periods, indicating a severe period of aridity. Lake level rose more than 18 m between 12,700 and 12,200 14C yr B.P. before falling to 17 m below the level of overflow. Between 11,600 and 10,600 14C yr B.P. the water remained between 14 and 17 m below the overflow level. Onlap sedimentary sequences were formed during a transgression phase between 10,600 and 10,000 14C yr B.P. Between 10,000 and about 8800 14C yr B.P. the lake was between 6 and 9 m below the overflow level. Lake level again rose, approaching the overflow level, between 8800 and 8000 14C yr B.P. Seismic and core evidence of minor erosional events suggest lowstands of 2–6 m until 4800 14C yr B.P. There have been no prolonged periods of lake-level depression since that time. The major restructuring of the climate system during deglaciation evidently generated a complex set of fluctuations in effective moisture in interior Alaska, which likely affected eolian processes and vegetation development, as well as lake levels.

Keywords

lakesAlaskapaleolimnologyHoloceneradiocarboninsolation
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , March 2000 , pp. 154 - 166
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

Abbott, M.B., Stafford, T.W., (1996). Radiocarbon geochemistry of ancient and modern lakes, Arctic lakes, Baffin Island.. Quaternary Research 45, 300–311.Google Scholar
Abbott, M.B., Seltzer, G.O., Kelts, K.R., Southon, J., (1997). Holocene paleohydrology of the tropical Andes from lake records.. Quaternary Research 47, 70–80.Google Scholar
Abbott, M.B., Binford, M.W., Brenner, M., Kelts, K.R., (1997). A 3500 14C yr high-resolution record of lake level changes in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru.. Quaternary Research 47, 169–180.Google Scholar
Ager, T. A., (1975)., Late Quaternary environmental history of the Tanana valley, Alaska, In, Institute of Polar Studies, Report 4,.. Ohio State University, Columbus.Google Scholar
Anderson, P.M., Brubaker, L.B., (1993). Holocene vegetation and climate histories of Alaska.. Wright, H.E., Kutzbach, J.E., Webb, T., Ruddiman, W.F., Street-Perrott, F.A., Bartein, P.J., Global Climates since the Last Glacial Maximum University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.386–400.Google Scholar
Anderson, P.M., Brubaker, L.B., (1994). Vegetation history of northcentral Alaska: Mapped summary of late-Quaternary pollen data.. Quaternary Science Reviews 13, 71–92.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Brubaker, L., (1994). The paleoclimates of arctic lakes and estuaries (PALE): Goals and rationale of an international research program.. Journal of Paleolimnology 10, 163–166.Google Scholar
Barber, V. A, Finney, B. P., in press, Late Quaternary paleoclimatic reconstructions for interior Alaska based on paleolake-level data and hydrologic models, Journal of Paleolimnology..Google Scholar
Bard, E., Hamelin, B., Arnold, M., Montaggioni, L., Cabioch, G., Faure, G., Rougerie, F., (1996). Deglacial sea-level record from Tahiti corals and the timing of glacial meltwater discharge.. Nature 382, 241–244.Google Scholar
Barnosky, C.W., Anderson, P.M., Bartlein, P.J., (1987). The northwestern U.S. during deglaciation: Vegetational history and paleoclimatic implications.. Ruddiman, W.F., Wright, H.E., North America and Adjacent oceans during the Last Deglaciation Geol. Soc. Am, Boulder.289–322.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P.J., Anderson, P.M., Edwards, M.E., McDowell, P.F., (1991). A framework for interpreting paleoclimatic variations in eastern Beringia.. Quaternary International 10, 73–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartlein, P.J., Anderson, K.H., Anderson, P.M., Edwards, M.E., Mock, C.J., Thompson, R.S., Webb, R.S., Webb, T. III, Whitlock, C., (1998). Paleoclimate simulations for North America over the past 21,000 years: Features of the simulated climate and comparisons with paleoenvironmental data.. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, 549–585.Google Scholar
Bengtsson, L., Enell, M., (1986). Chemical analysis.. Berglund, B.E., Handbook of Holocene Paleoecology and Paleohydrology Wiley, Chichester.Google Scholar
Berger, A., (1978a). Long-term variations of daily insolation and Quaternary climatic changes.. Journal of Atmospheric Science 35, 2362–2367.Google Scholar
Berger, A., (1978b). A simple algorithm to compute long-term variations of daily or monthly insolation.. Contribution 18, Université Catholique de Louvian, Institut d'Astronomie et de Geophysique, G. Lemaitre, Louvian-la-Neuve, B-1348 Belgique.Google Scholar
Berger, A., Loutre, M.F., (1991). Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years.. Quaternary Science Reviews 10, 297–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bigelow, N.H., Beget, J., Powers, R., (1990). Latest Pleistocene increases in wind intensity recorded in eolian sediments from central Alaska.. Quaternary Research 34, 160–168.Google Scholar
Bigelow, N.H., (1997). Late-Quaternary Vegetation and Lake-Level Changes in Central Alaska.. University of Alaska, Fairbanks.Google Scholar
Binford, M.W., Kolata, A.L., Brenner, M., Janusek, J., Abbott, M.B., Curtis, J., (1997). Climate variation and the rise and fall of an Andean civilization.. Quaternary Research 47, 235–248.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. S, Dodson, J, Duplessy, J.-C, Gasse, F, Liu, T.-S, Markgraf, V., (1995). . PANASH-PEP science and implementation. Paleoclimates of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres: The PANASH Project: 1-22.. Past Global Changes, International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme .Google Scholar
Bradley, R.S., Retelle, M.J., Ledlam, S.D., Hadley, D.R., Zolitschka, B., Lamoureux, S.F., Douglas, M.S.V., (1996). The Taconite Inlet lake project: A systems approach to paleoclimatic reconstruction.. Journal of Paleolimnology 16, 97–110.Google Scholar
Carter, L.D., (1993). Late Pleistocene stabilization and reactivation of eolian sand in northern Alaska: Implications for the effect of future climatic warming on eolian landscapes.. Continuous Permafrost. Proceedings, Sixth International Conference on Permafrost, South China University p. 78–83.Technology Press, Washan, Guanzhou, China..Google Scholar
COHMAP members. (1988). Climatic changes of the last 18,000 years: Observations and model simulations.. Science 241, 1043–1052.Google Scholar
Curtis, J.H., Hodell, D.A., (1996). Climate variability on the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) during the past 3500 years, implications for the Maya cultural evolution.. Quaternary Research 46, 37–47.Google Scholar
Digerfeldt, G., (1986). Studies on past lake level fluctuations.. Berglund, B.E., Handbook of Holocene palaeocology and palaeohydrology Wiley, Chichester.127–143.Google Scholar
Douglas, M.S.V., Smol, J.P., Blake, W. Jr., (1994). Marked post-18th-century environmental change in high-Arctic ecosystems.. Science 266, 416–419.Google Scholar
Edwards, M.E., Barker, E.D., (1994). Climate and vegetation in northern Alaska 18,000 yr.. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 109, 127–135.Google Scholar
Edwards, M. E, Finney, B. M, Mock, C. J, Barber, V, Bartlein, P. J., in press, Potential analogues for paleoclimatic variations in eastern interior Alaska during the past 14,000 years: Atmospheric circulation controls of regional temperature and moisture responses.. Quaternary Science Reviews.Google Scholar
Edwards, R.L., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Donahue, D.J., Chappell, J.M.A., Bloom, A.L., Druffel, E.R.M., Taylor, F.W., (1993). A large drop in atmospheric 14C/12C and reduced melting in the Younger Dryas documented with 230Th ages of corals.. Science 260, 962–968.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, R.G., (1989). A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: Influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation.. Nature 342, 637–642.Google Scholar
Finney, B, Gardner, G, Edwards, M, Abbott, M. B., (1994)., Late Quaternary lake-level and pollen changes in interior Alaska.. GSA Annual Meeting, Seattle, 1994 .Google Scholar
Foley, J.A., Kutzbach, J.E., Core, M.T., Levis, S., (1994). Feedbacks between climate and boreal forests during the Holocene.. Nature 371, 52–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, T.D., (1986). Late Cenozoic glaciation of the central Brooks Range.. Hamilton, T.D., Reed, K.M., Thorson, R.M., Glaciation in Alaska: The Geologic Record Alaska Geological Society, Anchorage.9–50.Google Scholar
Hamilton, T.D., (1994). Late Cenozoic glaciation in Alaska.. Plafker, G., Bergs, H.C., The Geology of Alaska Geol. Soc. Am, Boulder.813–844.Google Scholar
Harrison, S.P., Digerfeldt, G., (1993). European lakes as palaeohydrological and palaeoclimatic indicators.. Quaternary Science Reviews 12, 2348–2363.Google Scholar
Hodell, D.A., Curtis, J.H., Brenner, M., (1995). Possible role of climate in the collapse of Classic Maya civilization.. Nature 375, 391–394.Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M., Smith, P.A., Matthews, J.V. Jr., (1981). Dated wood from Alaska and the Yukon: Implications for forest refugia in Beringia.. Quaternary Research 15, 217–249.Google Scholar
Hu, F.S., Ito, E., Brubaker, L.B., Anderson, P.M., (1998). Ostracod geochemical record of Holocene climatic change and implications for vegetational response in the northwestern Alaska Range.. Quaternary Research 49, 86–95.Google Scholar
Hu, F.S., Brubaker, L.B., Anderson, P.M., (1996). Boreal ecosystem development in the northwestern Alaska Range since 11,000 yr B.P.. Quaternary Research 45, 188–201.Google Scholar
Houghton, J.T., Jenkins, G.L., Ephraums, J.J., (1990). World Meteorological Organization, United Nations Environment Programme.. 239.Google Scholar
Mock, C.J., Bartlein, P.J., Anderson, P.M., (1998). Atmospheric circulation patterns and spatial climatic variations in Beringia.. International Journal of Climatology 18, 1085–1104.Google Scholar
Moore, T.C., Rea, D.K., Mayer, L.A., Lewis, D.M., Dodson, D.M., (1994). Seismic stratigraphy of Lake Huron–Georgian Bay and postglacial lake level history.. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 31, 1606–1617.Google Scholar
Peteet, D., Genio, A.D., Lo, K.K.W., (1997). Sensitivity of northern hemispheric air temperatures and snow expansion to North Pacific sea surface temperatures in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circulation model.. Journal of Geophysical Research 102, 23781–23791.Google Scholar
Péwé, T. L., (1975)., The Quaternary geology of Alaska.. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 385, 145 pp.Google Scholar
Street-Perrott, F.A., Harrison, S.P., (1985). Lake level fluctuations.. Hecht, A.D., Paleoclimate Data and Modeling Wiley, New York.291–340.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., (1993). Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program.. Radiocarbon 35, 215–230.Google Scholar
Ten Brink, N.W., Waythomas, C., (1985). Late Wisconsin glacial chronology of the north-central Alaska Range—A regional synthesis and its implications for early human settlements.. Powers, W.R., North Alaska Range Early Man Project Natl. Geog. Soc, Washington.15–32.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E., Mann, D.H., Glaser, P.H., (1984). Piston corers for peat and lake sediments.. Ecology 65, 657–659.Google Scholar