Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T23:16:36.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Pleistocene and Late Holocene Lake Highstands in the Pyramid Lake Subbasin of Lake Lahontan, Nevada, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Richard W. Briggs ,
Steven G. Wesnousky  and
Kenneth D. Adams
Richard W. Briggs*
Affiliation:
Center for Neotectonic Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Steven G. Wesnousky
Affiliation:
Center for Neotectonic Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Kenneth D. Adams
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV 89512, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:briggs@seismo.unr.edu (R.W. Briggs).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Shoreline geomorphology, shoreline stratigraphy, and radiocarbon dates of organic material incorporated in constructional beach ridges record large lakes during the late Pleistocene and late Holocene in the Pyramid Lake subbasin of Lake Lahontan, Nevada, USA. During the late Holocene, a transgression began at or after 3595 ± 35 14C yr B.P. and continued, perhaps in pulses, through 2635 ± 40 14C yr B.P., resulting in a lake as high as 1199 m. During the latest Pleistocene and overlapping with the earliest part of the Younger Dryas interval, a lake stood at approximately 1212 m at 10,820 ± 35 14C yr B.P. and a geomorphically and stratigraphically distinct suite of constructional shorelines associated with this lake can be traced to 1230 m. These two lake highstands correspond to periods of elevated regional wetness in the western Basin and Range that are not clearly represented in existing northern Sierra Nevada climate proxy records.

Keywords

Pyramid LakeLake LahontanShorelinesHoloceneYounger Dryas
Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , September 2005 , pp. 257 - 263
Copyright
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

Adams, D.K. Comrie, A.C. (1997). The North American monsoon. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 78, 2197–2213. Google Scholar
Adams, K.D. Wesnousky, S.G. (1998). Shoreline processes and the age of the Lake Lahontan highstand in the Jessup embayment, Nevada. Geological Society of America Bulletin 110, 1318–1332. Google Scholar
Benson, L. (1999). Records of millennial-scale climate change from the Great Basin of the Western United States. Clark, P.U. Webb, R.S. Keigwin, L.D. Mechanisms of Global Climate Change at Millennial Time Scales Geophysical Monograph vol. 112, American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC. 203–225. Google Scholar
Benson, L.V. Thompson, R.V. (1987). Lake level variation in the Lahontan basin for the past 50,000 years. Quaternary Research 28, 69–85. Google Scholar
Benson, L.V. 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. Google Scholar
Benson, L. Currey, D. Lao, Y. Hostetler, S. (1992). Lake-size variations in the Lahontan and Bonneville basins between 13,000 and 9000 14C yr B.P.. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 95, 19–32. Google Scholar
Benson, L. Kashgarian, M. Rubin, M. (1995). Carbonate deposition, Pyramid Lake subbasin, Nevada: 2. Lake levels and polar jet stream positions reconstructed from radiocarbon ages and elevations of carbonates (tufas) deposited in the Lahontan basin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 117, 1–30. Google Scholar
Benson, L. Kashgarian, M. Rye, R. Lund, S. Paillet, F. Smoot, J. Kester, C. Mensing, S. Meko, D. Lindstrom, S. (2002). Holocene multidecadal and multicentennial droughts affecting northern California and Nevada. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 659–682. Google Scholar
Born, S.M. (1972). Late Quaternary history, deltaic sedimentation, and mudlump formation at Pyramid Lake. University of Nevada, Desert Research Institute, Nevada.97 pGoogle Scholar
Brennan, R. Quade, J. (1997). Reliable Late-Pleistocene stratigraphic ages and shorter groundwater travel times from 14C in fossil snail from the southern Great Basin. Quaternary Research 47, 329–336. Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S. Orr, P.C. (1958). Radiocarbon chronology of Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville. Geological Society of America Bulletin 69, 1009–1032. Google Scholar
Clark, D.H. Gillespie, A.R. (1997). Timing and significance of late-glacial and Holocene cirque glaciation in the Sierra Nevada, California. Quaternary International 38�"9, 21–38. Google Scholar
Enzel, Y. Cayan, D.R. Anderson, R.Y. Wells, S.G. (1989). Atmospheric circulation during Holocene lake stands in the Mojave Desert: evidence of regional climate change. Nature 341, 44–47. Google Scholar
Harding, S.T. (1965). Recent variations in the water supply of the western Great Basin: Water Resources Center Archives, no. 16. University of California, 226 pGoogle Scholar
Harvey, A.M. Wigand, P.E. Wells, S.G. (1999). Response of alluvial fan systems to the late Pleistocene to Holocene climatic transition: contrasts between the margins of pluvial Lakes Lahontan and Mojave, Nevada and California, USA. Catena 36, 255–281. Google Scholar
Hattori, E.M. (1982). The archaeology of Falcon Hill, Winnemucca Lake, Washoe County, Nevada. Nevada State Museum anthropological papers vol. 18, Google Scholar
Hostetler, S.W. Bartlein, P.J. (1999). Simulation of the potential responses of regional climate and surface processes in western North America to a canonical Heinrich event. Clark, P.U. Webb, R.S. Keigwin, L.D. Mechanisms of Global Climate Change at Millennial Time Scales Geophysical Monograph vol. 112, American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC. 313–327. Google Scholar
Jones, J.C. (1933). Itinerary, Reno to Pyramid Lake and return, in Middle California and western Nevada (Excursion C-1). Jenkins, O.P. International Geological Congress, XVI session Guidebook vol. 16, U.S. Gov. Print. Off., Washington, DC. 102–108. Google Scholar
Konrad, S.K. Clark, D.H. (1998). Evidence for an early neoglacial glacier advance from rock glaciers and lake sediments in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Arctic and Alpine Research 30, 272–284. Google Scholar
Lagoni, R. (1985). The geomorphology of the Truckee River delta, at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, and implications on the decline of Lake Lahontan [M.S. thesis]: Reno, Nevada. University of Nevada, Reno.,94 p.Google Scholar
Licciardi, J.M. (2001). Chronology of latest Pleistocene lake-level fluctuations in the pluvial Lake Chewaucan basin, Oregon, USA. Journal of Quaternary Science 16, 545–553. Google Scholar
Mensing, S.A. Benson, L.V. Kashgarian, M. Lund, S. (2004). A Holocene pollen record of persistent droughts from Pyramid Lake. Quaternary Research 62, 29–38. Google Scholar
Meyer, G.A. Wells, S.G. Jull, A.J.T. (1995). Fire and alluvial chronology in Yellowstone National Park: Climatic and intrinsic controls on Holocene geomorphic processes. Geological Society of America Bulletin 107, 1211–1230. Google Scholar
Porinchu, D.F. MacDonald, G.M. Bloom, A.M. Moser, K.A. (2003). Late Pleistocene and early Holocene climate and limnological changes in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA inferred from midges (Insecta: Diptera; Chironomidae). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 198, 403–422. Google Scholar
Reheis, M. (1999). Extent of Pleistocene Lakes in the Western Great Basin: USGS Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2323.Google Scholar
Russell, I.C. (1885). Geological history of Lake Lahontan: a Quaternary lake of northwestern Nevada. U.S. Geological Survey Monograph 11, 288 Google Scholar
Smoot, J.P. (1993). Field Trip Guide: Quaternary-Holocene lacustrine sediments of Lake Lahontan, Truckee River Canyon north of Wadsworth.Nevada: USGS Open-File Report 93-689.Google Scholar
Stine, S. (1990). Late Holocene fluctuations of Mono Lake, Eastern California. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 78, 330–381. Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. Polach, H.A. (1977). Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19, 3 355–363. Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. Reimer, P.J. (1993). Extended C-14 database and revised CALIB 3.0 C-14 age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, 1 215–230. Google Scholar
Thelin, G.P. R.J., Pike (1991). Landforms of the Conterminous United States�"A Digital Shaded-Relief Portrayal: U.S.. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-2206.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S. Benson, L. Hattori, E.M. (1986). A revised chronology for the last Pleistocene lake cycle in the central Lahontan Basin. Quaternary Research 25, 1–9. Google Scholar
Wigand, P.E. (1987). Diamond pond, Harney County, Oregon: vegetation history and water table in the Eastern Oregon Desert. Great Basin Naturalist 47, 427–458. Google Scholar
Wigand, P.E. Mehringer, P.J. (1985). Pollen and seed analysis, chapter 9. Thomas, D.H. The Archaeology of Hidden Cave, Nevada Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History vol. 61, 108–124. Google Scholar