Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T03:11:05.228Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mid-Holocene Hydrologic Model of the Shingobee Watershed, Minnesota

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sheryl K. Filby ,
Sharon M. Locke ,
Mark A. Person ,
Thomas C. Winter ,
Donald O. Rosenberry ,
John L. Nieber ,
William J. Gutowski  and
Emi Ito
Sheryl K. Filby
Affiliation:
Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455
Sharon M. Locke
Affiliation:
University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine, 04104
Mark A. Person*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405
Thomas C. Winter
Affiliation:
United States Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado, 80225
Donald O. Rosenberry
Affiliation:
United States Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado, 80225
John L. Nieber
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108
William J. Gutowski
Affiliation:
Department of Atmospheric and Geological Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50011
Emi Ito
Affiliation:
Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455
*
1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: maperson@indiana.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A hydrologic model of the Shingobee Watershed in north-central Minnesota was developed to reconstruct mid-Holocene paleo-lake levels for Williams Lake, a surface-water body located in the southern portion of the watershed. Hydrologic parameters for the model were first estimated in a calibration exercise using a 9-yr historical record (1990–1998) of climatic and hydrologic stresses. The model reproduced observed temporal and spatial trends in surface/groundwater levels across the watershed. Mid-Holocene aquifer and lake levels were then reconstructed using two paleoclimatic data sets: CCM1 atmospheric general circulation model output and pollen-transfer functions using sediment core data from Williams Lake.

Calculated paleo-lake levels based on pollen-derived paleoclimatic reconstructions indicated a 3.5-m drop in simulated lake levels and were in good agreement with the position of mid-Holocene beach sands observed in a Williams Lake sediment core transect. However, calculated paleolake levels based on CCM1 climate forcing produced only a 0.05-m drop in lake levels. We found that decreases in winter precipitation rather than temperature increases had the largest effect on simulated mid-Holocene lake levels. The study illustrates how watershed models can be used to critically evaluate paleoclimatic reconstructions by integrating geologic, climatic, limnologic, and hydrogeologic data sets.

Keywords

Groundwater waterpaleohydrologypollen transfer functionspaleolimnologyclimate change
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , November 2002 , pp. 246 - 254
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

Almendinger, J. E. 1989, Lake and groundwater paleohydrology; use of groundwater flow theory to explain past lake levels in west-central Minnesota, Technical Report—Water Resources Research Center, University of Minnesota, 129, 82.Google Scholar
Averett, R. C., and Winter, T. C. (1997). History and status of the U.S. Geological Survey Interdisciplinary Research Initiative in the Shingobee River Headwaters Area.. In Hydrological and Biogeochemical Research in the Shingobee River Headwaters Area, North-Central MinnesotaT. C. Winter, Ed., pp. 1–2. US Geological Survey Water Resource Investigations Report 96-4215.Google Scholar
Baker, G. B, Nelson, W. W, and Kuenast, E. L. 1979, The hydrologic cycle and soil water, Climate of Minnesota, Technical Bulletin 322.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P., and Webb, T. III. (1985). Mean July Temperature at 6000 yr. B.P. in Eastern North America: Regression equations for estimates from fossil pollen data.. In Climatic change in Canada 5: Critical periods in the Quaternary climatic history of northern North America Harrington, D. R., Ed. Syllogeus 55, 301–342.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P., and Whitlock, C. Paleoclimate interpretation of the Elk Lake pollen record. Bradbury, J.P., and Dean, W.E. Elk Lake, Minnesota: Evidence for Rapid Climate Change in the North-Central United States. (1993). Boulder, Colorado. 275 293.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P., Webb, T. III, and Fleri, E. Holocene climatic change in the northern Midwest: Pollen-derived estimates. Quaternary Research 22, (1984). 361 374.Google Scholar
Bernabo, J.C., Webb, T. III Changing patterns in the Holocene pollen record of northeastern North America: A mapped summary. Quaternary Research 8, (1977). 64 96.Google Scholar
Cheng, X., and Anderson, M.P. Numerical simulation of ground-water interaction with lakes allowing for fluctuating lake levels. Ground Water 31, (1993). 929 933.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Science 241, (1988). 1043 1052.Google Scholar
Cross, S.L., Baker, P.A., Seltzer, G.O., Fritz, S.C., and Dunbar, R.B. Late Quaternary climate and hydrology of tropical South America inferred from an isotopic and chemical model of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia and Peru. Quaternary Research 56, (2001). 1 9.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E., Bradbury, J.P., Anderson, R.Y., and Barnosky, C.W. The variability of Holocene climatic change: Evidence from varved lake sediments. Science 226, (1984). 1191 1194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dingman, S.L. Physical hydrology. (1994). Macmillan, Co, New York.Google Scholar
Freeze, R.A., and Witherspoon, P.A. Theoretical analysis of regional ground water flow: Z. Effect of water table configuration and subsurface permeability variation. Water Resource Research 3, (1967). 623 634.Google Scholar
Fritz, S.C., Ito, E., Yu, Z., Laird, K., and Engstrom, D.R. Hydrologic variation in the Northern Great Plains during the last two millennia. Quaternary Research 53, (2000). 175 184.Google Scholar
Gerla, P.J. Estimating the ground-water contribution in wetlands using modeling and digital terrain analysis. Wetlands 19, (1999). 394 402.Google Scholar
Harrison, S.P., Jolly, D., Laarif, F., Abe-Ouchi, A., Dong, B., Herterich, K., Hewitt, C., Joussaume, S., Kutzbach, J.E., Mitchell, J., de Noblet, N., and Valdes, P. Intercomparison of simulated global vegetation distributions in response to 6 kyr BP orbital forcing. Journal of Climate 11, (1998). 2721 2742.Google Scholar
Karls, R.M. A ground water model of the Williams Lake Watershed, Hubbard County, Minnesota. (1982). University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J., Gallimore, R., Harrison, S., Behling, P., Selin, R., and Laarif, F. (1998). Climate and biome simulations for the past 21,000 years. Late Quaternary climates; data synthesis and model experiments Webb, T. III Ed. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, 473–506.Google Scholar
Laird, K., Fritz, S.C., Maasch, K.A., and Cummings, B.F. Greater drought intensity and frequency, before A.D. 1200 in the Northern Great Plains, USA. Nature 384, (1996). 552 554.Google Scholar
Locke, S.M. A paleohydrologic model applied to the Holocene sediment stratigraphy of two lakes in north-central Minnesota. (1995). University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.Google Scholar
Locke, S.M., and Schwalb, A. Sediment stratigraphy and paleolimnological characteristics of Williams and Shingobee Lakes. Winter, T.C. Hydrological and Biogeochemical Research in the Shingobee River Headwaters Area, North-Central Minnesota. (1997). 187 192.Google Scholar
McDonald, M.G., and Harbaugh, A.W. A modular three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater flow model. Techniques of Water—Resources Investigations. (1988). Google Scholar
Olcott, P.G. Ground water atlas of the United States; Segment 9, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. U.S. Geological Survey. Hydrologic Investigations Atlas (1992). J1 J31.Google Scholar
Prudic, D. E. 1989, Documentation of a computer program to simulate stream–aquifer relations using a modular, finite–difference, ground-water flow model. Open-File Report 88-729, U.S. Geological Survey.Google Scholar
Richards, L.A. Capillary conduction of liquids in porous mediums. Physics 1, (1931). 318 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberry, D.O., Striegl, R.G., and Hudson, D.C. Plants as indicators of focused ground water discharge to a northern Minnesota Lake. Ground Water 38, (2000). 296 303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selker, J.S., Keller, C.K., and McCord, J.T. Vadose Zone Processes. (1999). Lewis, New York.Google Scholar
Webb, T. III, Anderson, K.H., Bartlein, P.J., and Webb, R.S. Late Quaternary climate change in eastern North America; A comparison of pollen-derived estimates with climate model results. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, (1998). 587 606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, T. III, Bartlein, P. J., and Kutzbach, J. E. (1987). Climate change in eastern North America during the past 18,000 years; Comparisons of pollen data with model results.. In North America and Adjacent Oceans during the last deglaciationW. F. Ruddiman and H. E. Wright, Jr., Eds. Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, K-3, pp. 447–462.Google Scholar
Winter, T.C. Delineation of buried glacial-drift aquifers. Journal of Research, U.S. Geological Survey 3, (1975). 137 148.Google Scholar
Winter, T. C. 1997, Hydrological and biogeochemical research in the Shingobee River headwaters area, north-central Minnesota. US Geological Survey Water Resource Investigations Report 96-4215.Google Scholar
Wright, H. E. (1972). Physiography of Minnesota.. In Geology of Minnesota; A Centennial Volume, P. K. Sims and G. B. Morey, Eds., pp. 561–578. Minnesota Geological Society.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr., Winter, T.C., and Patten, H.L. Two pollen diagrams from southeastern Minnesota; problems in the regional late-glacial and post-glacial vegetation history. Geological Society of America Bulletin 74, (1963). 1371 1396.Google Scholar
Wright, H. E, Kutzbach, J. E, Webb, T. III, Ruddiman, W. F, Street-Perrott, F. A, and Bartlein, P. J. Eds, 1993, Global climates since the last glacial maximum, Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.Google Scholar