Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T07:42:53.778Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holocene Fluctuations of a Meromictic Lake in Southern British Columbia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David J. Lowe ,
John D. Green ,
Tom G. Northcote  and
Ken J. Hall
David J. Lowe
Affiliation:
School of Science and Technology, and Geochronology Research Unit, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand
John D. Green
Affiliation:
School of Science and Technology, and Geochronology Research Unit, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand
Tom G. Northcote
Affiliation:
Westwater Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1W5, Canada
Ken J. Hall
Affiliation:
Westwater Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1W5, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Holocene deposits of Mahoney Lake, a meromictic saline lake located in a closed basin in the semi-arid Okanagan Valley, contain evidence of frequent and marked changes in lake depth (up to >12 m/10014C yr) probably caused by short-term changes in effective precipitation. We studied a 5.45-m-long core comprising a basal layer of inorganic mud overlain by a succession of layers of calcareous laminated and nonlaminated organic mud, marl, and sand. We used Mazama tephra to adjust nine radiocarbon ages for the hardwater effect. Meromixis developed ca. 900014C yr B.P., and the lake has been episodically meromictic for about half the time since. Because of close linkages between sediments and depositional environments in meromictic and saline lakes, we infer that laminated sediments indicate meromictic conditions and high lake levels (>ca. 12 m water depth), whereas thick marl layers and nonlaminated sediments indicate nonmeromictic conditions and thus low lake levels (<ca. 8 m depth). Many of the inferred short-term climatic changes have not been identified in previous studies in northwestern North America, perhaps because of insensitive climatic proxies, inadequate temporal resolution, or discounting of anomalous findings.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , July 1997 , pp. 100 - 113
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

Alley, N.F., (1976). The palynology and palaeoclimatic significance of a dated core of Holocene peat, Okanagan Valley, southern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 13, 1131–1144.Google Scholar
Anderson, R.Y., Dean, W.E., (1988). Lacustrine varve formation through time. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 62, 215–235.Google Scholar
Anderson, R.Y., Dean, W.E., Bradbury, J.P., Love, D., (1985). Meromictic lakes and varved lake sediments in North America. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 1607. Google Scholar
Anderson, T.W., Mathewes, R.W., Schweger, C.E., (1989). Holocene climatic trends in Canada with special reference to the hypsithermal interval. Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland. The Geology of North America. K-1, Geological Society of America, p. 520–528.Google Scholar
Bacon, C.R., (1983). Eruptive history of Mount Mazama and Crater Lake caldera, Cascade Range, U.S.A. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 18, 57–115.Google Scholar
Case, R.A., MacDonald, G.M., (1995). A dendroclimatic reconstruction of annual precipitation on the western Canadian prairies since A.D. 1505 from Pinus flexilis James. Quaternary Research. 44, 267–275.Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., (1989). Quaternary geology of the Canadian Cordillera. Fulton, R.J., Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland. The Geology of North America, K-1, Geological Society of America, 17–95.Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., MacDonald, G.M., (1989). Paleoecology and paleoclimatology. Fulton, R.J., Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland. The Geology of North America K-1, Geological Society of America, 70–74.Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., Mathewes, R.W., Buhay, W.M., Edwards, T.W.D., (1992). Early Holocene climate at Castle Peak, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 95, 153–167.Google Scholar
Dean, J.S., (1994). The Medieval Warm Period on the southern Colorado Plateau. Climatic Change. 26, 225–241.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E., Bradbury, J.P., Anderson, R.Y., Barnosky, C.W., (1984). The variability of Holocene climatic change: Evidence from varved lake sediments. Science. 226, 1191–1194.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E., Ahlbrandt, T.S., Anderson, R.Y., Bradbury, J.P., (1996). Regional aridity in North America during the middle Holocene. The Holocene. 6, 145–155.Google Scholar
Dickman, M.D., (1979). A possible varving mechanism for meromictic lakes. Quaternary Research. 11, 113–124.Google Scholar
Dickman, M.D., (1985). Seasonal succession and microlamina formation in a meromictic lake displaying varved sediments. Sedimentology. 32, 109–118.Google Scholar
Dorcey, A.H.J., Griggs, J.R., (1991). Water in Sustainable Development: Exploring our Common Future in the Fraser River Basin. University of British ColumbiaWestwater Research Centre, Vancouver. Google Scholar
Dwyer, T.R., Mullins, H.T., Good, S.C., (1996). Paleoclimatic implications of Holocene lake-level fluctuations, Owasco Lake, New York. Geology. 24, 519–522.Google Scholar
Eugster, H.P., Hardie, L.A., (1978). Saline lakes. Lerman, A., Lakes—Chemistry, Geology, Physics. Springer-Verlag, New York, 237–293.Google Scholar
Evans, M.S., (1993). Paleolimnological studies of saline lakes. Journal of Paleolimnology. 8, 97–101.Google Scholar
Froggatt, P.C., (1983). Toward a comprehensive Upper Quaternary tephra and ignimbrite stratigraphy in New Zealand using electron microprobe analysis of glass shards. Quaternary Research. 19, 188–200.Google Scholar
Nature. 364, (1993). 203–207.Google Scholar
Hammer, U.T., (1994). Life and times of five Saskatchewan saline meromictic lakes. Internationale Revue Gesamte Hydrobiologie. 79, 235–248.Google Scholar
Hebda, R., (1982). Postglacial history of southern British Columbia and adjacent regions. Nicholson, A.C., McLean, A., Baker, T.E., Grassland Ecology and Classification. British Columbia Ministry of Forests, 157–191.Google Scholar
Hebda, R.J., (1995). British Columbia vegetation and climate history with focus on 6 ka BP. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire. 49, 55–79.Google Scholar
Heinrichs, M. L., (1995). Chironomid-based paleosalinity reconstruction of three lakes in the south-central interior of British Columbia. Canada, Simon Fraser University. Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1960). Late-Pleistocene environments of North Pacific North America. American Geographical Society Special Publication. 35. Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., Heusser, L.E., Peteet, D.M., (1985). Late Quaternary climatic change on the American North Pacific coast. Nature. 315, 485–487.Google Scholar
Hickman, M., Klarer, D.M., (1981). Paleolimnology of Lake Isle, Alberta, Canada (including sediment chemistry, pigments and diatom stratigraphy). Archiv für Hydrobiologie. 91, 490–508.Google Scholar
Hickman, M., Schweger, C.E., (1991). A palaeoenvironmental study of Fairfax Lake, a small lake situated in the Rocky Mountain Foothills of west-central Alberta. Journal of Paleolimnology. 6, 1–15.Google Scholar
Hickman, M., Schweger, C.E., (1993). Late glacial-early Holocene palaeosalinity in Alberta, Canada—Climatic implications. Journal of Paleolimnology. 8, 149–161.Google Scholar
Hickman, M., Schweger, C.E., Habgood, T., (1984). Lake Wabamun, Alta.: A paleoenvironmental study. Canadian Journal of Botany. 62, 1438–1465.Google Scholar
Hogg, A.G., Lowe, D.J., Hendy, C.H., (1987). University of Waikato radiocarbon dates I. Radiocarbon. 29, 263–301.Google Scholar
Hughes, M.K., Diaz, H.F., (1994). Was there a ‘Medieval Warm Period’, and if so, where and when?. Climatic Change. 26, 109–142.Google Scholar
Irwin, H., Curtis, C., Coleman, M., (1977). Isotopic evidence for source of diagenetic carbonates formed during burial of organic-rich sediments. Nature. 269, 209–213.Google Scholar
Jones, R., Dickman, M.D., Mott, R.J., Ouellet, M., (1984). Late Quaternary diatom and chemical profiles from a meromictic lake in Quebec, Canada. Chemical Geology. 44, 267–286.Google Scholar
Kennedy, K.A., (1994). Early-Holocene geochemical evolution of saline Medicine Lake, South Dakota. Journal of Paleolimnology. 10, 69–84.Google Scholar
Kelts, K., Hsü, K.J., (1978). Freshwater carbonate sedimentation. Lerman, A., Lakes—Chemistry, Geology, Physics. Springer-Verlag, New York, 295–323.Google Scholar
King, R. H., (1986). Weathering of Holocene airfall tephras in the southern Canadian Rockies, Rates of Chemical Weathering of Rocks and Minerals. Colman, S. M., Dethier, D. P., 239, 264, Academic Press, Orlando. Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J.E., Webb, T. III, (1993). Conceptual basis for understanding Late-Quaternary climates. Wright, H.E., Global Climates of the Last Glacial Maximum. Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 5–23.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.F., Gasse, F., Benkaddour, A., El Hamouti, N., van der Kaars, S., Perkins, W.T., Pearce, N.J., Roberts, C.N., (1995). Relation between century-scale Holocene arid intervals in tropical and temperate zones. Nature. 373, 134–137.Google Scholar
Larsen, C.P.S., MacDonald, G.M., (1993). Lake morphometry, sediment mixing and the selection of sites for fine resolution palaeoecological studies. Quaternary Science Reviews. 12, 781–792.Google Scholar
Larsen, E., Sejrup, H.P., Johnsen, S.J., Knudsen, K.L., (1995). Do Greenland ice cores reflect NW European interglacial climate variations?. Quaternary Research. 43, 125–132.Google Scholar
Last, W.M., Schweyen, T.H., (1985). Late Holocene history of Waldsea Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada. Quaternary Research. 24, 219–234.Google Scholar
Last, W.M., Slezak, L.A., (1986). Paleohydrology, sedimentology, and geochemistry of two meromictic saline lakes in southern Saskatchewan. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire. 40, 5–15.Google Scholar
Last, W.M., Slezak, L.A., (1988). The salt lakes of western Canada: A paleolimnological overview. Hydrobiologia. 158, 301–316.Google Scholar
Latif, M., Barnett, T.P., (1994). Causes of decadal climate variability over the North Pacific and North America. Science. 266, 634–637.Google Scholar
Lehman, S., (1993). Flickers within cycles. Nature. 361, 404–405.Google Scholar
Luckman, B.H., (1993). Glacier fluctuations and tree-ring records for the last millenium in the Canadian Rockies. Quaternary Science Reviews. 12, 441–450.Google Scholar
Luckman, B.H., (1994). Evidence for climatic conditions between ca. 900–1300 A.D. in the southern Canadian Rockies. Climatic Change. 26, 171–182.Google Scholar
Luckman, B.H., Holdsworth, G., Osborn, G.D., (1993). Neoglacial glacier fluctuations in the Canadian Rockies. Quaternary Research. 39, 144–153.Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M., (1989). Postglacial palaeoecology of the subalpine forest–grassland ecotone of southwestern Alberta: New insights on vegetation and climate change in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and adjacent foothills. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 73, 155–173.Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M., Beukens, R.P., Kieser, W.E., (1991). Radiocarbon dating of limnic sediments: A comparative analysis and discussion. Ecology. 72, 1150–1155.Google Scholar
Mack, R.N., Rutter, N.W., Valastro, S., Bryant, V.M. Jr., (1978). Late Quaternary vegetation history at Waits Lake, Colville River Valley, Washington. Botanical Gazette. 139, 499–506.Google Scholar
Mathewes, R.W., (1985). Paleobotanical evidence for climatic change in southern British Columbia during late-glacial and Holocene time. Harington, C.R., Climatic Change in Canada 5, Critical Periods in the Quaternary Climatic History of Northern North America. Syllogeus Series, 55, National Museums of CanadaNational Museum of Natural Sciences, 397–422.Google Scholar
Mathewes, R.W., Heusser, L.E., (1981). A 12 000 year palynological record of temperature and precipitation trends in southwestern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Botany. 59, 707–710.Google Scholar
Mathewes, R.W., King, M., (1989). Holocene vegetation, climate, and lake-level changes in the Interior Douglas-fir Biogeoclimatic Zone, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 26, 1811–1825.Google Scholar
Mathewes, R.W., Westgate, J.A., (1980). Bridge River tephra: Revised distribution and significance for detecting old carbon errors in radiocarbon dates in limnic sediments in southern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 17, 1454–1461.Google Scholar
Mayewski, P.A., Twickler, M.S., Whitlow, S.I., Meeker, L.D., Yang, Q., Thomas, J., Kreutz, K., Grootes, P.M., Morse, D.L., Steig, E.J., Waddington, E.D., Saltzman, E.S., Whung, P.-Y., Taylor, K.C., (1996). Climate change during the last deglaciation in Antarctica. Science. 272, 1636–1638.Google Scholar
Mock, C.J., Bartlein, P.J., (1995). Spatial variability of Late-Quaternary paleoclimates in the western United States. Quaternary Research. 44, 425–433.Google Scholar
Northcote, T.G., (1992). Prediction and assessment of potential effects of global environmental change on freshwater sport fish habitat in British Columbia. GeoJournal. 28, 39–49.Google Scholar
Northcote, T.G., Hall, K.J., (1983). Limnological contrasts and anomalies in two adjacent saline lakes. Hydrobiologia. 105, 179–194.Google Scholar
Northcote, T.G., Hall, K.J., (1990). Vernal microstratification patterns in a meromictic saline lake: Their causes and biological significance. Hydrobiologia. 197, 105–114.Google Scholar
Northcote, T.G., Halsey, T.G., (1969). Seasonal changes in the limnology of some meromictic lakes in southern British Columbia. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada. 26, 1763–1787.Google Scholar
Osborn, G., (1982). Holocene glacier and climatic fluctuations in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains: A review. Striae. 18, 15–25.Google Scholar
Osborn, G., Luckman, B.H., (1988). Holocene glacier fluctuations in the Canadian Cordillera (Alberta and British Columbia). Quaternary Science Reviews. 7, 115–128.Google Scholar
O'Sullivan, P.E., (1983). Annually-laminated lake sediments and the study of Quaternary environmental changes—A review. Quaternary Science Reviews. 1, 245–313.Google Scholar
Overmann, J., Beatty, J.T., Hall, K.J., Pfennig, N., Northcote, T.G., (1991). Characterisation of a dense, purple sulfur bacterial layer in a meromictic salt lake. Limnology and Oceanography. 36, 846–859.Google Scholar
Overmann, J., Sandmann, G., Hall, K.J., Northcote, T.G., (1992). Fossil carotenoids and paleolimnology of meromictic Mahoney Lake, British Columbia, Canada. Aquatic Sciences. 54, 591–599.Google Scholar
Peglar, S.M., Fritz, S.C., Alapieti, T., Saarnisto, M., Birks, H.J.B., (1984). Composition and formation of laminated sediments in Diss Mere, Norfolk, England. Boreas. 13, 13–28.Google Scholar
Petersen, K.L., (1994). A warm and wet Little Climatic Optimum and a cold and dry Little Ice Age in the southern Rocky Mountains, U.S.A. Climatic Change. 26, 243–269.Google Scholar
Reasoner, M.A., Healy, R.E., (1986). Identification and significance of tephras encountered in a core from Mary Lake, Yoho National Park, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 23, 1991–1999.Google Scholar
Renaut, R.W., (1990). Recent carbonate sedimentation and brine evolution in the saline lake basins of the Cariboo Plateau, British Columbia, Canada. Hydrobiologia. 197, 67–81.Google Scholar
Renberg, I., (1981). Formation, structure and visual appearance of iron-rich, varved lake sediments. Verhandlungen der Internationalen Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie. 21, 94–101.Google Scholar
Renberg, I., (1982). Varved lake sediments—Geochronological records of the Holocene. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar. 104, 275–279.Google Scholar
Ricketts, R.D., Johnson, T.C., (1996). Climate change in the Turkana basin as deduced from a 4000 year long δ18 . Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 142, 7–17.Google Scholar
Ritchie, J.C., Harrison, S.P., (1993). Vegetation, lake levels, and climate in western Canada during the Holocene. Wright, H.E., Global Climates of the Last Glacial Maximum. Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 401–414.Google Scholar
Saarnisto, M., (1986). Annually laminated lake sediments. Berglund, B.E., Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology. Wiley, New York, 343–370.Google Scholar
Simola, H., (1992). Structural elements in varved lake sediments. Geological Survey of Finland, Special Paper. 14, 5–9.Google Scholar
Souch, C., (1994). A methodology to interpret downvalley lake sediments as records of neoglacial activity: Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada. Geografiska Annaler. 76A, 169–185.Google Scholar
Stihler, S.D., Stone, D.B., Begét, J.E., (1992). “Varve” counting vs. tephrochronology and137 210 . Geology. 20, 1019–1022.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Long, A., Kra, R.S., Radiocarbon. 35, (1993). 1–244.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Grootes, P.M., Braziunas, T.F., (1995). The GISP2 δ18 . Quaternary Research. 44, 341–354.Google Scholar
Taylor, K.C., Lamorey, G.W., Doyle, G.A., Alley, R.B., Grootes, P.M., Mayewski, P.A., White, J.C., Barlow, L.K., (1993). The ‘flickering switch’ of late Pleistocene climate change. Nature. 361, 432–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, R.S., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., Harrison, S.P., Spaulding, W.G., (1993). Climatic changes in the western United States since 18,000 yr B.P. Wright, H.E., Global Climates of the Last Glacial Maximum. Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 468–513.Google Scholar
Tracey, B., Lee, N., Card, V., (1996). Sediment indicators of meromixis: Comparison of laminations, diatoms, and sediment chemistry in Brownie Lake, Minneapolis, USA. Journal of Paleolimnology. 15, 129–132.Google Scholar
Turner, J.V., Fritz, P., Karrow, P.F., Warner, B.G., (1983). Isotopic and geochemical composition of marl lake waters and implications for radiocarbon dating of marl lake sediments. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 20, 599–615.Google Scholar
Valero-Garcés, B.L., Kelts, K.R., (1995). A sedimentary facies model for perennial and meromictic saline lakes: Holocene Medicine Lake Basin, South Dakota, USA. Journal of Paleolimnology. 14, 123–149.Google Scholar
Valero-Garcés, B.L., Kelts, K.R., Ito, E., (1995). Oxygen and carbon isotope trends and sedimentological evolution of a meromictic and saline lacustrine system: The Holocene Medicine Lake Basin, North American Great Plains, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 117, 253–278.Google Scholar
Vance, R.E., Clague, J.J., Mathewes, R.W., (1993). Holocene paleohydrology of a hypersaline lake in southeastern Alberta. Journal of Paleolimnology. 8, 103–120.Google Scholar
Vance, R.E., Beaudoin, A.B., Luckman, B.H., (1995). The paleoecological record of 6 ka BP climate in the Canadian prairie provinces. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire. 49, 81–98.Google Scholar
Van Stempvoort, D.R., Edwards, T.W.D., Evans, M.S., Last, W.M., (1993). Paleohydrology and paleoclimatic records in a saline prairie lake core: Mineral, isotope and organic indicators. Journal of Paleolimnology. 8, 135–147.Google Scholar
Ward, G.K., Wilson, S.R., (1978). Procedures for comparing and combining radiocarbon age determinations: A critique. Archaeometry. 20, 19–31.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., (1993). Spatial variations of Holocene climatic change in the Yellowstone region. Quaternary Research. 39, 231–238.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., Van Norman, K.J., (1995). Stability of Holocene climate regimes in the Yellowstone region. Quaternary Research. 43, 433–436.Google Scholar