Quantifying Lake Athabasca (Canada) water level during the ‘Little Ice Age’ highstand from palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a transgressive barrier-beach complex
We combine multiproxy palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a barrier-beach complex to estimate the water level of a sustained Lake Athabasca (Canada) highstand during the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA; 1600—1900 CE). Palaeolimnological analyses on sediment cores from the lagoon behind the barrier...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/0959683610362816 2024-05-19T07:43:37+00:00 Quantifying Lake Athabasca (Canada) water level during the ‘Little Ice Age’ highstand from palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a transgressive barrier-beach complex Johnston, John W. Köster, Dörte Wolfe, Brent B. Hall, Roland I. Edwards, Thomas W.D. Endres, Anthony L. Martin, Margaret E. Wiklund, Johan A. Light, Caleb 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683610362816 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683610362816 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license The Holocene volume 20, issue 5, page 801-811 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 journal-article 2010 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683610362816 2024-05-02T09:40:19Z We combine multiproxy palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a barrier-beach complex to estimate the water level of a sustained Lake Athabasca (Canada) highstand during the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA; 1600—1900 CE). Palaeolimnological analyses on sediment cores from the lagoon behind the barrier indicate high water levels during the LIA, controlled by subsurface hydrological connection with Lake Athabasca. Key features in the LIA stratigraphic interval are sand laminations deposited by overwash events and low C/N ratios reflecting deposition of predominantly aquatic organic matter. Ground penetrating radar profiles of the barrier reveal a depositional transgression sequence composed of waterlain landward-dipping foreset beds and horizontal topset beds, overlain by aeolian deposits. Stratigraphic relations suggest that the LIA washover deposits in the lagoon formed as the barrier was actively translating landward, and were generated by high-water events on Lake Athabasca that overtopped the barrier. This indicates Lake Athabasca rose to at least the elevation defined by the contact between the waterlain and aeolian sediments in the barrier, which is >4 m above the historical daily average from gauged records available since 1930 and likely represents storm events during the highstand. Assuming a similar relation between daily average and maximum lake level as in the historical gauge record, our findings suggest that Lake Athabasca was on average 2.3 m higher during the LIA than present day. Extrapolation of this high-water plane into the adjacent Peace-Athabasca Delta indicates that 70% of the modern landscape was frequently and perennially flooded until very recently, consistent with palaeolimnological evidence from several lakes in the delta. Article in Journal/Newspaper Lake Athabasca SAGE Publications The Holocene 20 5 801 811 |
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English |
description |
We combine multiproxy palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a barrier-beach complex to estimate the water level of a sustained Lake Athabasca (Canada) highstand during the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA; 1600—1900 CE). Palaeolimnological analyses on sediment cores from the lagoon behind the barrier indicate high water levels during the LIA, controlled by subsurface hydrological connection with Lake Athabasca. Key features in the LIA stratigraphic interval are sand laminations deposited by overwash events and low C/N ratios reflecting deposition of predominantly aquatic organic matter. Ground penetrating radar profiles of the barrier reveal a depositional transgression sequence composed of waterlain landward-dipping foreset beds and horizontal topset beds, overlain by aeolian deposits. Stratigraphic relations suggest that the LIA washover deposits in the lagoon formed as the barrier was actively translating landward, and were generated by high-water events on Lake Athabasca that overtopped the barrier. This indicates Lake Athabasca rose to at least the elevation defined by the contact between the waterlain and aeolian sediments in the barrier, which is >4 m above the historical daily average from gauged records available since 1930 and likely represents storm events during the highstand. Assuming a similar relation between daily average and maximum lake level as in the historical gauge record, our findings suggest that Lake Athabasca was on average 2.3 m higher during the LIA than present day. Extrapolation of this high-water plane into the adjacent Peace-Athabasca Delta indicates that 70% of the modern landscape was frequently and perennially flooded until very recently, consistent with palaeolimnological evidence from several lakes in the delta. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Johnston, John W. Köster, Dörte Wolfe, Brent B. Hall, Roland I. Edwards, Thomas W.D. Endres, Anthony L. Martin, Margaret E. Wiklund, Johan A. Light, Caleb |
spellingShingle |
Johnston, John W. Köster, Dörte Wolfe, Brent B. Hall, Roland I. Edwards, Thomas W.D. Endres, Anthony L. Martin, Margaret E. Wiklund, Johan A. Light, Caleb Quantifying Lake Athabasca (Canada) water level during the ‘Little Ice Age’ highstand from palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a transgressive barrier-beach complex |
author_facet |
Johnston, John W. Köster, Dörte Wolfe, Brent B. Hall, Roland I. Edwards, Thomas W.D. Endres, Anthony L. Martin, Margaret E. Wiklund, Johan A. Light, Caleb |
author_sort |
Johnston, John W. |
title |
Quantifying Lake Athabasca (Canada) water level during the ‘Little Ice Age’ highstand from palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a transgressive barrier-beach complex |
title_short |
Quantifying Lake Athabasca (Canada) water level during the ‘Little Ice Age’ highstand from palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a transgressive barrier-beach complex |
title_full |
Quantifying Lake Athabasca (Canada) water level during the ‘Little Ice Age’ highstand from palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a transgressive barrier-beach complex |
title_fullStr |
Quantifying Lake Athabasca (Canada) water level during the ‘Little Ice Age’ highstand from palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a transgressive barrier-beach complex |
title_full_unstemmed |
Quantifying Lake Athabasca (Canada) water level during the ‘Little Ice Age’ highstand from palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a transgressive barrier-beach complex |
title_sort |
quantifying lake athabasca (canada) water level during the ‘little ice age’ highstand from palaeolimnological and geophysical analyses of a transgressive barrier-beach complex |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683610362816 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683610362816 |
genre |
Lake Athabasca |
genre_facet |
Lake Athabasca |
op_source |
The Holocene volume 20, issue 5, page 801-811 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683610362816 |
container_title |
The Holocene |
container_volume |
20 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
801 |
op_container_end_page |
811 |
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1799483359924060160 |