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Early Holocene dune activity linked with final destruction of Glacial Lake Minong, eastern Upper Michigan, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Henry M. Loope ,
Walter L. Loope ,
Ronald J. Goble ,
Timothy G. Fisher ,
Harry M. Jol  and
J.C. Seong
Henry M. Loope
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
Walter L. Loope*
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Munising, MI 49862, USA
Ronald J. Goble
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
Timothy G. Fisher
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA
Harry M. Jol
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI 54702, USA
J.C. Seong
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA 30118, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author. P.O. Box 40, N8391 Sand Pt. Rd., Munising, MI 49862, USA. Fax: + 1 906 387 4025. E-mail address:wloope@usgs.gov (W.L. Loope)
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Abstract

The early Holocene final drainage of glacial Lake Minong is documented by 21 OSL ages on quartz sand from parabolic dunes and littoral terraces and one radiocarbon age from a lake sediment core adjacent to mapped paleoshorelines in interior eastern Upper Michigan. We employ a simple model wherein lake-level decline exposes unvegetated littoral sediment to deflation, resulting in dune building. Dunes formed subsequent to lake-level decline prior to stabilization by vegetation and provide minimum ages for lake-level decline. Optical ages range from 10.3 to 7.7 ka; 15 ages on dunes adjacent to the lowest Lake Minong shoreline suggest final water-level decline ∼ 9.1 ka. The clustering of optical ages from vertically separated dunes on both sides of the Nadoway–Gros Cap Barrier around 8.8 ka and a basal radiocarbon date behind the barrier (8120 ± 40 14C yr BP [9.1 cal ka BP]) support the hypothesis that the barrier was breached and the final lake-level drop to the Houghton Low occurred coincident with (1) high meltwater flux into the Superior basin and (2) an abrupt, negative shift in oxygen isotope values in Lake Huron.

Keywords

Lake MinongdunesUpper MichiganLake Superiorlake levelOSLvibracoring
Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 74 , Issue 1 , July 2010 , pp. 73 - 81
Copyright
University of Washington

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Footnotes

1 Present address: Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.

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