Correlation of Late-Pleistocene Lake-Level Oscillations in Mono Lake, California, with North Atlantic Climate Events

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Benson, Larry V., Lund, Steve P., Burdett, James W., Kashgarian, Michaele, Rose, Timothy P., Smoot, Joseph P., Schwartz, Martha
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1998
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/qres.1997.1940; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589497919402?httpAccept=text/xml; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589497919402?httpAccept=text/plain; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033589400038771

Oxygen-18 ( 18 O) values of sediment from the Wilson Creek Formation, Mono Basin, California, indicate three scales of temporal variation (Dansgaard–Oeschger, Heinrich, and Milankovitch) in the hydrologic balance of Mono Lake between 35,400 and 12,900 14 C yr B.P. During this interval, Mono Lake experienced four lowstands each lasting from 1000 to 2000 yr. The youngest lowstand, which occurred between 15,500 and 14,000 14 C yr B.P., was nearly synchronous with a desiccation of Owens Lake, California. Paleomagnetic secular variation (PSV) data indicate that three of four persistent lowstands occurred at the same times as Heinrich events H1, H2, and H4. 18 O data indicate the two highest lake levels occurred ∼18,000 and ∼13,100 14 C yr B.P., corresponding to passages of the mean position of the polar jet stream over the Mono Basin. Extremely low values of total inorganic carbon between 26,000 and 14,000 14 C yr B.P. indicate glacial activity, corresponding to a time when summer insolation was much reduced.