Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T23:55:31.925Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paleowind velocity and paleocurrents of pluvial Lake Manly, Death Valley, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

Jeffrey R. Knott ,
Joanna M. Fantozzi ,
Kelly M. Ferguson ,
Summer E. Keller ,
Khadija Nadimi ,
Carolyn A. Rath ,
Jennifer M. Tarnowski  and
Michelle L. Vitale
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pluvial lake deposits are found throughout western North America and are frequently used to reconstruct regional paleoclimate. In Death Valley, California, USA, we apply the beach particle technique (BPT) of Adams (2003), Sedimentology, 50, 565–577 and Adams (2004), Sedimentology, 51, 671–673 to Lake Manly deposits at the Beatty Junction Bar Complex (BJBC), Desolation Canyon, and Manly Terraces and calculate paleowind velocities of 14–27 m/s. These wind velocities are within the range of present-day wind velocities recorded in the surrounding area. Sedimentary structures and clast provenance at Desolation Canyon and the Manly Terraces indicate sediment transport from north to south. Lake level, based on the elevation of constructional features, indicates that the hill west of the BJBC was an island and that the BJBC spits formed during simple lake regression. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the present wind regime (velocity and direction) formed the pluvial Lake Manly features.

Keywords

Lake ManlyPaleogeographyQuaternary geologyPaleowind
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 78 , Issue 2 , September 2012 , pp. 363 - 372
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, K.D. Estimating palaeowind strength from beach deposits. Sedimentology 50, (2003). 565–577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, K.D. Estimating palaeowind strength from beach deposits — reply. Sedimentology 51, (2004). 671–673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, K.D., and Wesnousky, S.G. Shoreline processes and the age of the Lake Lahontan highstand in the Jessup embayment, Nevada. Geological Society of America Bulletin 110, (1998). 1318–1332.Google Scholar
Berry, E.X., Hauser, R.K., and Lane, W.G. A wind energy assessment of Southern California. Project Windesert Final Report. (1981). California Energy Commission, Google Scholar
Blackwelder, E. Lake Manly, an extinct lake of Death Valley. Geographical Review 23, (1933). 464–471.Google Scholar
Blackwelder, E. Pleistocene lakes and drainage in the Mojave region, Southern California. Jahns, R.H. Geology of Southern California. California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 170, (1954). 35–40.Google Scholar
Blair, T. Sedimentology of the debris-flow-dominated Warm Spring Canyon alluvial fan, Death Valley, California. Sedimentology 46, (1999). 941–956.Google Scholar
Brogan, G.E., Kellogg, K.S., Slemmons, D.B., and Terhune, C. Late Quaternary faulting along the Death Valley–Furnace Creek fault system. California and Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. (1991). 23 Google Scholar
Caskey, S., Lackey, H.G., Klinger, R.E., Wan, E., and Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M. Age and elevations of high-level OIS2 pluvial Lake Manly shorelines, northern and central Death Valley: implications for lacustrine sequence stratigraphy in southern Death Valley and the OIS6 pluvial lake level. Eos — Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 87, (2006). Google Scholar
Clements, T., and Clements, L. Evidence of Pleistocene man in Death Valley, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 64, (1953). 1189–1204.Google Scholar
Galvin, C., and Klinger, R.E. Lake Manly beach ridges at Beatty Junction, Death Valley, California. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 28, (1996). 458 Google Scholar
Hunt, C.B., and Mabey, D.R. Stratigraphy and structure Death Valley, California. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 494-A. (1966). 162 Google Scholar
Klinger, R.E. Road log for day A. Machette, M.N., Johnson, M.L., and Slate, J.L. Quaternary and Late Pliocene Geology of the Death Valley Region: Recent Observations on Tectonics, Stratigraphy, and Lake Cycles (Guidebook for the 2001 Pacific Cell — Friends of the Pleistocene Fieldtrip). U S Geological Survey Open-File Report 01–051 (2001). 6–20.Google Scholar
Knott, J.R., and Machette, M.N. Lacustrine gravel in Desolation Canyon. Machette, M.N., Johnson, M.L., and Slate, J.L. Quaternary and Late Pliocene Geology of the Death Valley Region: Recent Observations on Tectonics, Stratigraphy, and Lake Cycles (Guidebook for the 2001 Pacific Cell — Friends of the Pleistocene Fieldtrip). U S Geological Survey Open-File Report 01–051 (2001). 112–114.Google Scholar
Knott, J.R., Tinsley, J.C. III, and Wells, S.G. Are the benches at Mormon Point, Death Valley, California, USA, scarps or strandlines?. Quaternary Research 58, (2002). 352–360.Google Scholar
Laity, J.E. Topographic effects on ventifact development, Mojave Desert, California. Physical Geography 8, (1987). 113–132.Google Scholar
Lorenz, R.D., Jackson, B.K., Barnes, J.W., Spitale, J.N., Radebaugh, J., and Baines, K.H. Meteorological conditions at Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park: implications for rock production and transport. Journal of Applied Meteorology 50, (2011). 2361–2375.Google Scholar
Machette, M.N., Klinger, R.E., and Knott, J.R. Questions about Lake Manly's age, extent, and source. Machette, M.N., Johnson, M.L., and Slate, J.L. Quaternary and Late Pliocene Geology of the Death Valley region: Recent Observations on Tectonics, Stratigraphy, and Lake Cycles (Guidebook for the 2001 Pacific Cell — Friends of the Pleistocene Fieldtrip). U S Geological Survey Open-File Report 01–051 (2001). 143–149.Google Scholar
Matsubara, Y., and Howard, A.D. A spatially explicit model of runoff, evaporation, and lake extent: application to modern and late Pleistocene lakes in the Great Basin region, western United States. Water Resources Research 45, (2009). http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007WR00593 Google Scholar
Noble, L.F. Note on a colemanite deposit near Shoshone, Calif., with a sketch of the geology of a part of Amargosa Valley. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 785, (1926). 63–73.Google Scholar
Orme, A.J., and Orme, A.R. Relict barrier beaches as paleoenvironmental indicators in the California desert. Physical Geography 12, (1991). 334–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, L.A., Frankel, K.L., Knott, J.R., Reynhout, S., Finkel, R.C., Dolan, J.F., and Lee, J. Beryllium-10 terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating of Quaternary landforms in Death Valley. Geomorphology (2010). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2010.10.024 Google Scholar
Peterson, C.D., Stock, E., Hart, R., Percy, D., Hostetler, S.W., and Knott, J.R. Holocene coastal dune fields used as indicators of net littoral transport: West Coast, USA. Geomorphology 116, (2010). 115–134.Google Scholar
Phillips, F.M., and Zreda, M.G. Chlorine-36 ages of pluvial shoreline features in the Death Valley/Panamint Valley area. Slate, J.L. Proceedings of Conference on Status of Research and Mapping, Death Valley National Park. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99–153 (1999). 117 Google Scholar
Sharp, R.P., and Glazner, A.F. Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Owens Valley. (1997). Mountain Press, 319 Google Scholar
Wright, L.A., Troxel, B.W., (1993). Geologic map of the central and northern Funeral Mountains and adjacent areas, Death Valley region, Southern California. U.S. Geological Survey Map I-2305 1:48,000.Google Scholar