Mid-Holocene drying of the U.S. Great Basin recorded in Nevada speleothems
Lake level records point to dramatic changes in Great Basin water balance over the last 25 ka, but the timing and pace of Holocene drying in the region remains poorly documented. Here we present stable isotope and trace metal data from two Lehman Caves, NV speleothems that provide a well-dated recor...
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ftunisfloridatam:oai:digitalcommons.usf.edu:kip_articles-4281 2023-05-15T16:35:31+02:00 Mid-Holocene drying of the U.S. Great Basin recorded in Nevada speleothems Steponaitis, Elena Andrews, Alexandra McGee, David Quade, Jay Hsieh, Yu-Te 2015-01-01T08:00:00Z https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/3282 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.04.011 unknown Digital Commons @ University of South Florida https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/3282 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.04.011 KIP Articles Great Basin Holocene Speleothems U–Th Dating Paleoclimate text 2015 ftunisfloridatam https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.04.011 2022-10-27T17:50:26Z Lake level records point to dramatic changes in Great Basin water balance over the last 25 ka, but the timing and pace of Holocene drying in the region remains poorly documented. Here we present stable isotope and trace metal data from two Lehman Caves, NV speleothems that provide a well-dated record of latest Pleistocene to mid-Holocene hydroclimate in the U.S. Great Basin. Together the stalagmites span the interval between 16.4 ka and 3.8 ka, with a hiatus from 15.0 ka to 12.7 ka. Mg/Ca and δ13C covary throughout the records, consistent with control by the extent of degassing and prior calcite precipitation (PCP); measurements of modern cave and soil waters support PCP as the primary control on drip-water trace-element composition. We therefore interpret Mg/Ca and δ13C as reflecting infiltration rates, with higher values corresponding to drier periods. Both Mg/Ca and δ13C indicate a wet period at the beginning of the record (12.7–8.2 ka) followed by pronounced drying after 8.2 ka. This mid-Holocene drying is consistent with records from around the western United States, including a new compilation of Great Basin lake-level records. The strong temporal correspondence with the collapse of the Laurentide ice sheet over Hudson Bay suggests that this drying may have been triggered by northward movement of the winter storm track as a result of ice sheet retreat. However, we cannot rule out an alternative hypothesis that wet early Holocene conditions are related to equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature. Regardless, our results suggest that Great Basin water balance in the early Holocene was driven by factors other than orbital changes. Text Hudson Bay Ice Sheet Digital Commons University of South Florida (USF) Hudson Bay Pacific Hudson Basin Lake ENVELOPE(-71.750,-71.750,67.083,67.083) Quaternary Science Reviews 127 174 185 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Digital Commons University of South Florida (USF) |
op_collection_id |
ftunisfloridatam |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Great Basin Holocene Speleothems U–Th Dating Paleoclimate |
spellingShingle |
Great Basin Holocene Speleothems U–Th Dating Paleoclimate Steponaitis, Elena Andrews, Alexandra McGee, David Quade, Jay Hsieh, Yu-Te Mid-Holocene drying of the U.S. Great Basin recorded in Nevada speleothems |
topic_facet |
Great Basin Holocene Speleothems U–Th Dating Paleoclimate |
description |
Lake level records point to dramatic changes in Great Basin water balance over the last 25 ka, but the timing and pace of Holocene drying in the region remains poorly documented. Here we present stable isotope and trace metal data from two Lehman Caves, NV speleothems that provide a well-dated record of latest Pleistocene to mid-Holocene hydroclimate in the U.S. Great Basin. Together the stalagmites span the interval between 16.4 ka and 3.8 ka, with a hiatus from 15.0 ka to 12.7 ka. Mg/Ca and δ13C covary throughout the records, consistent with control by the extent of degassing and prior calcite precipitation (PCP); measurements of modern cave and soil waters support PCP as the primary control on drip-water trace-element composition. We therefore interpret Mg/Ca and δ13C as reflecting infiltration rates, with higher values corresponding to drier periods. Both Mg/Ca and δ13C indicate a wet period at the beginning of the record (12.7–8.2 ka) followed by pronounced drying after 8.2 ka. This mid-Holocene drying is consistent with records from around the western United States, including a new compilation of Great Basin lake-level records. The strong temporal correspondence with the collapse of the Laurentide ice sheet over Hudson Bay suggests that this drying may have been triggered by northward movement of the winter storm track as a result of ice sheet retreat. However, we cannot rule out an alternative hypothesis that wet early Holocene conditions are related to equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature. Regardless, our results suggest that Great Basin water balance in the early Holocene was driven by factors other than orbital changes. |
format |
Text |
author |
Steponaitis, Elena Andrews, Alexandra McGee, David Quade, Jay Hsieh, Yu-Te |
author_facet |
Steponaitis, Elena Andrews, Alexandra McGee, David Quade, Jay Hsieh, Yu-Te |
author_sort |
Steponaitis, Elena |
title |
Mid-Holocene drying of the U.S. Great Basin recorded in Nevada speleothems |
title_short |
Mid-Holocene drying of the U.S. Great Basin recorded in Nevada speleothems |
title_full |
Mid-Holocene drying of the U.S. Great Basin recorded in Nevada speleothems |
title_fullStr |
Mid-Holocene drying of the U.S. Great Basin recorded in Nevada speleothems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mid-Holocene drying of the U.S. Great Basin recorded in Nevada speleothems |
title_sort |
mid-holocene drying of the u.s. great basin recorded in nevada speleothems |
publisher |
Digital Commons @ University of South Florida |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/3282 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.04.011 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-71.750,-71.750,67.083,67.083) |
geographic |
Hudson Bay Pacific Hudson Basin Lake |
geographic_facet |
Hudson Bay Pacific Hudson Basin Lake |
genre |
Hudson Bay Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Hudson Bay Ice Sheet |
op_source |
KIP Articles |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/3282 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.04.011 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.04.011 |
container_title |
Quaternary Science Reviews |
container_volume |
127 |
container_start_page |
174 |
op_container_end_page |
185 |
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1766025746669633536 |