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A Late Holocene desiccation of Lake Hoare and Lake Fryxell, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2004

W.B. Lyons ,
S.W. Tyler ,
R.A. Wharton ,
D.M. McKnight  and
B.H. Vaughn
W.B. Lyons
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, PO Box 870338, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0338, USA
S.W. Tyler
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, PO Box 60220, Reno, NV 89506-0220, USA
R.A. Wharton
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, PO Box 60220, Reno, NV 89506-0220, USA
D.M. McKnight
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
B.H. Vaughn
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
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Abstract

Stable isotope data from waters of lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of southern Victoria Land, Antarctica are presented in order to establish the climatic history of this region over the past two millennia. New data from Lake Fryxell and Lake Hoare in Toylor Valley, along with previously published data from Lake Vanda, Wright Valley and Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley are used to infer the recent climatic history of MDV. Lakes Vanda, Fryxell and Bonney appear to have lost their ice covers and evaporated to small, hypersaline ponds by 1000 to ~1200 yr BP. Lake Hoare either desiccated or did not exist prior to 1200 yr BP. These data indicate a major lowering of lake level prior to ~1000 yr BP, followed by a warmer and/or more humid climate since then.

Keywords

climate changehydrological balancelakes
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , September 1998 , pp. 247 - 256
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 1998

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