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Paleoclimatic Inferences from a 120,000-Yr Calcite Record of Water-Table Fluctuation in Browns Room of Devils Hole, Nevada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Barney J. Szabo ,
Peter T. Kolesar ,
Alan C. Riggs ,
Issac J. Winograd  and
Kenneth R. Ludwig
Barney J. Szabo
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, Denver, Colorado 80225
Peter T. Kolesar
Affiliation:
Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84332
Alan C. Riggs
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, Denver, Colorado 80225
Issac J. Winograd
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, National Center, MS 432, Reston, Virginia 22092
Kenneth R. Ludwig
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, Denver, Colorado 80225
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Abstract

The petrographic and morphologic differences between calcite precipitated below, at, or above the present water table and uranium-series dating were used to reconstruct a chronology of water-table fluctuation for the past 120,000 yr in Browns Room, a subterranean air-filled chamber of Devils Hole fissure adjacent to the discharge area of the large Ash Meadows groundwater flow system in southern Nevada. The water table was more than 5 m above present level between about 116,000 and 53,000 yr ago, fluctuated between about +5 and +9 m during the period between about 44,000 and 20,000 yr ago, and declined rapidly from +9 to its present level during the past 20,000 yr. Because the Ash Meadows groundwater basin is greater than 12,000 km2 in extent, these documented water-table fluctuations are likely to be of regional significance. Although different in detail, water-level fluctuation recorded by Browns Room calcites generally correlate with other Great Basin proxy palcoclimatic data.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 1994 , pp. 59 - 69
Copyright
University of Washington

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