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

• Main Authors: Benson, Larry, Lund, Steve P., Burdett, James W., Kashgarian, Michaele, Rose, Timothy P., Smoot, Joseph P., Schwartz, Martha
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 1997
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Geology; Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology; Other Earth Sciences; Other Environmental Sciences; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usgsstaffpub/796; https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/usgsstaffpub/article/1805/viewcontent/Benson_QR_1998_Correlation.pdf

Oxygen-18 (18O) 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 14C yr B.P. During this interval, Mono Lake experienced four lowstands each lasting from 1000 to 2000 yr. The youngest low stand, which occurred between 15,500 and 14,000 14C yr B.P., was nearly synchronous with a desiccation of Owens Lake, California. Paleomagnetic secular variation (PSV) data indicate that three of four persistent low stands occurred at the same times as Heinrich events HI, H2, and H4. 18O data indicate the two highest lake levels occurred ~18,000 and ~13,100 14C 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 14C yr B.P. indicate glacial activity, corresponding to a time when summer insolation was much reduced.