Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T20:52:57.235Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Reassessment of U-Th and14C Ages for Late-Glacial High-Frequency Hydrological Events at Searles Lake, California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jo C. Lin ,
Wallace S. Broecker ,
Sidney R. Hemming ,
Irena Hajdas ,
Robert F. Anderson ,
George I. Smith ,
Maxwell Kelley  and
Georges Bonani
Jo C. Lin
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964
Wallace S. Broecker
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964
Sidney R. Hemming
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964
Irena Hajdas
Affiliation:
Institut für Teilchenphysik, ETH Honggerberg, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
Robert F. Anderson
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964
George I. Smith
Affiliation:
United States Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, 94025
Maxwell Kelley
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964
Georges Bonani
Affiliation:
Institut für Teilchenphysik, ETH Honggerberg, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

U-Th isochron ages of tufas formed on shorelines suggest that the last pluvial event in Lake Lahontan and Searles Lake was synchronous at about 16,500 cal yr B.P. (equivalent to a radiocarbon age of between 14,000 and 13,500 yr B.P.), whereas the timing of this pluvial event determined by radiocarbon dating is on the order of 1000 yr younger. The timing of seven distinct periods of near desiccation in Searles Lake during late-glacial time has been reinvestigated for U-Th age determination by mass spectrometry. U-Th dating of evaporite layers in the interbedded mud and salt unit called the Lower Salt in Searles Lake was hampered by the uncertainty in assessing the initial 230Th/232Th of the samples. The resulting ages, corrected by a conservative range of initial 230Th/232Th ratios, suggest close correlation of the abrupt changes recorded in Greenland ice cores (Dansgaard-Oeschger events) and wet–dry conditions in Searles Lake between 35,000 and 24,000 cal yr B.P.

Keywords

radiocarbon datingU-Th datingGreat Basinwestern USpluvial lakeshydrological balancelate Pleistocene abrupt climate changesjet stream westerlies
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 1998 , pp. 11 - 23
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

Allen, B.D., Anderson, R.Y., 1993. Evidence from Western North America for Rapid shifts in climate during the last glacial maximum. Science. 260 191–194.Google Scholar
Bard, E., Arnold, M., Fairbanks, R., Hamelin, B., 1993. 230 234 14 . Radiocarbon. 35 191–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behl, R.J., Kennett, J.P., 1996. Brief interstadial events in the Santa Barbra basin, NE Pacific, during the past 60 kyr. Nature. 379 243–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, L.V., 1993. Factors affecting14 . Quaternary Research. 39 163–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, L., Thompson, R.S., 1987. The physical record of lakes in the Great Basin. North America and Adjacent Oceans During the Last Deglaciation. The Geological Society of America, Boulder, p. 241–260.Google Scholar
Benson, L., Currey, D.R., Dorn, R.I., Lajoie, K.R., Oviatt, C.G., Robinson, S.W., Smith, G.I., Stine, S., 1990. Chronology of expansion and contraction of four Great Basin lake systems during the past 35,000 years. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology. 78 241–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, V.L., James, W.B., Kashgarian, M., Lund, S.P., Phillips, F.M., Rye, R.O., 1996. Climatic and hydrologic oscillations in the Owens Lake Basin and Adjacent Sierra Nevada, California. Science. 274 746–749.Google Scholar
Bond, G., Heinrich, H., Broecker, W., Labeyrie, L., McManus, J., Andrews, J., Huon, S., Jantschik, R., Clasen, S., Simet, C., Tedesco, K., Klas, M., Bonani, G., Ivy, S., 1992. Evidence for massive discharges of icebergs into the North Atlantic ocean during the last glacial period. Nature. 360 245–249.Google Scholar
Bond, G., Lotti, R., 1994. Iceberg discharge into the North Atlantic on Millennial time scales during the last glaciation. Science. 267 1005–1010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdon, B., 1994. Mass Spectrometric Measurements of U-Th Disequilibrium in Young Volcanics: Implications for Magmatic Processes. Columbia University.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Walton, A., 1959. The geochemistry of14 . Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 16 15–38.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Kaufman, A., 1965. Radiocarbon chronology of Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville II, Great Basin. Geological Society of American Bulletin. 76 537–566.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., 1994. Massive iceberg discharges as triggers for global climate change. Nature. 372 421–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, P.U., Bartlein, P.J., 1995. Correlation of late Pleistocene glaciation in the western United States with North Atlantic Heinrich events. Geology. 23 483–486.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chappellaz, J., Blunier, T., Raynaud, D., Barnola, J.M., Schwander, J., Stauffer, B., 1993. Synchronous changes in atmospheric CH4 . Nature. 366 443–445.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W., Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B., Dahl-Jensen, D., Gundestrup, N., Hammer, C.U., 1984. North Atlantic oscillations revealed by deep Greenland ice cores. Hansenand, J.E., Takahashi, T., Processes and Climate Sensitivity. 288–298.Google Scholar
Denton, G.H., Hendy, C.H., 1994. Younger Dryas age advance of Franz Josef glacier in the South Alps of New Zealand. Science. 264 1434–1437.Google Scholar
Garcia, J.F., Bischoff, J.L., Smith, G.I., Trimble, D., 1993. Uranium-series and radiocarbon dates on tufas from Searles Lake, California. U. S. Geological Survey, Open File Report. 93–311.Google Scholar
Gasse, F., Campo, E.V., 1994. Abrupt post-glacial climate events in West Asia and North Africa monsoon domains. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 126 435–456.Google Scholar
Grimm, E.C., Jocobson, G.L. Jr., Watts, W.A., Hansen, B.C.S., Maasch, K.A., 1993. Pollen record from Lake Tulane Florida. Science. 261 198–200.Google Scholar
Hamilton, K., Garcia, R.R., 1986. El Niño/Southern Oscillation events and their midaltitude teleconnections 1531–1841. Bulletin America Meteorological Society. 67 1354–1361.Google Scholar
Harrison, S.P., Dodson, J., 1993. Climate of Australia and New Guinea since 18,000 yr B.P. Wright, H.E. Jr., Kutzbuch, J.E., Webb, T. III, Ruddiman, W.F., Street-Perrott, F.A., Bartlein, P.J., Global Climates Since the Last Glacial Maximum. Univ. of Minnesota Press 265–293.Google Scholar
Houghton, J. G., Sakamoto, C. M., Gifford, R. O, 1975, Nevada's Weather and Climate, University of Nevada, Reno. Google Scholar
Hostetler, S., Benson, L.V., 1990. Paleoclimatic implications of the high stand of Lake Lahontan derived from models of evaporation and lake level. Climate Dynamics. 4 207–217.Google Scholar
Humphrey, J.D., Ferring, C.R., 1994. Stable isotopic evidence for Latest Pleistocene and Holocene climatic change in north-central Texas. Quaternary Research. 41 200–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B., Dansgaard, W., Fuhrer, K., Gundestrup, N., Hammer, C.U., Iversen, P., Jouzel, J., Stauffer, B., Steffensen, J.P., 1992. Irregular glacial interstadials recorded in a new Greenland ice core. Nature. 358 311–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, A., Broecker, W.S., 1965. Comparison of230 14 . Journal of Geophysical Research. 70 4039–4054.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kneller, M., Peteet, D., 1994. Late-Quaternary climate in the Ridge and Valley of Virginia, U.S.A.: Changes in vegetation and depositional environment. Quaternary Science Review. 12 613–628.Google Scholar
Lao, Y., 1991. Transport and Burial Rates of231 10 . Columbia University.Google Scholar
Lau, N.-C., Nath, M.J., 1994. A modeling study of the relative roles of tropical and extratropical SST anomalies in the variability of the global atmosphere-ocean system. Journal of Climate. 7 1184–1207.Google Scholar
Lin, J.C., Broecker, W.S., Anderson, R.F., Hemming, S., Rubenstone, J., Bonani, G., 1996. New230 14 . Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 60 2817–2832.Google Scholar
Lowell, T.V., Heusser, C.J., Andersen, B.G., Moreno, P.I., Hauser, A., Heusser, L.E., Schluchter, C., Marchant, D.R., Denton, G.H., 1995. Interhemispheric correation of late Pleistocene Glacial Events. Science. 269 1541–1549.Google Scholar
Mayewski, P.A., Meeker, L.D., Whitlow, S., Twickler, M.S., Morrison, M.C., Bloomfield, P., Bond, G.C., Alley, R.B., Gow, A.J., Grootes, P.M., Meese, D.A., Ram, M., Taylor, K.C., Wumkes, W., 1994. Changes in atmospheric circulation and ocean ice cover over the North Atlantic during the last 41,000 years. Science. 263 1747–1751.Google Scholar
Oeschger, H., Beer, J., Siegenthaler, U., Stauffer, B., Dansgaard, W., Langway, C.C., 1984. Late glacial climate history from ice cores. Hansenand, J.E., Takahashi, T., Climate Processes and Climate Sensitivity. 299–306.Google Scholar
Oxburgh, R., Broecker, W.S., Wonninkhof, R.H., 1991. The carbon budget of Mono Lake. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 5 359–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, T.H., Goddard, J.G., Broecker, W.S., 1978. A direct comparison of14 230 . Quaternary Research. 9 319–329.Google Scholar
Porter, S., An, Z.S., 1995. Correlation between climate events in the North Atlantic and China during the last glaciation. Nature. 375 305–308.Google Scholar
Phillips, F.M., Campbell, A.R., Smith, G.I., Bischoff, J.L., 1994. Intersdadial climatic cycles: A link between western North America and Greenland?. Geology. 22 1115–1118.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, F.M., Zreda, M.G., Benson, L.V., Plummer, M.A., Elmore, D., Sharma, P., 1996. Chronology for fluctuations in Late Pleistocene Sierra Nevada glaciers and lakes. Science. 274 749–751.Google Scholar
Ropelewski, C.F., Halpert, M.S., 1986. North American precipitation and temperature patterns associated with El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Monthly Weather Review. 115 1606–1626.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seltzer, G.O., 1994. A lacustrine record of late Pleistocene climatic change in the subtropical Andes. BOREAS. 23 105–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegenthaler, U., Eicher, U., Oescheger, H., Dansgaard, W., 1984. Lake sediments as continental18 16 . Gold, L.W., Shneider, S.H., Macqueen, A.D., Proceedings of the Symposium on Ice and Climate Modeling. 149–152.Google Scholar
Smith, G.I., 1979. Subsurface Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Late Quaternary Evaporites, Searles Lake, California. Google Scholar
Smith, G. I, Late Cenozoic Geology of Searles Valley, Inyo and San Bernardino Counties, California, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper.Google Scholar
Smith, G.I., Street-Perrott, F.A., Porter, S.C., 1984. The Late Pleistocene. Univ. Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 190–212.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Smith, G.I., 1979. Radiocarbon ages of stratigraphic units. Subsurface Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Late Quaternary Evaporites, Searles Lake, California. p. 68–78.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., Harrison, S.P., Spaulding, W.G., 1993. Climatic changes in the western United States since 18,000 yr B.P. Wright, H.E. Jr., Kutzbach, J.E., Webb, T. III, Ruddiman, W.F., Street-Perrot, F.A., Bartlein, P.J., Global Climates Since the Last Glacial Maximum. Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 468–513.Google Scholar
Wonninkhof, R., 1987. Gas exchange on Mono Lake and Crowly Lake, California. Journal Geophysical Research. 92 567–580.Google Scholar