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AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Lake Michigan Beach-Ridge and Dune Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John Lichter
John Lichter*
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108; and The University of Michigan Biological Station, Pellston, Michigan, 49769
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Abstract

Strandplains of shore-parallel beach ridges bordering the Great Lakes are valuable for reconstructing histories of climate-related lake-level fluctuations. However, imprecise radiocarbon dates of ridge formation have frustrated development of dependable chronologies from which information about variation in the frequency of ridge formation and inferred climate fluctuations can be obtained. The resolution and precision of radiocarbon chronologies can be improved with AMS 14C dates of roots and rhizomes of plant species associated with the formation and growth of the sand-dune caps of breach ridges. These dates reliably estimate the timing of shore progradation when the base of the previously established beach ridge becomes inundated by the water table. An AMS radiocarbon chronology of beach-ridge formation in northern Lake Michigan shows that information about variation in the frequency of ridge formation is important for paleoclimatic interpretation.

Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , July 1997 , pp. 137 - 140
Copyright
University of Washington

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