Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:13:13.078Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paleoclimatic Inferences from a 120,000-Yr Calcite Record of Water-Table Fluctuation in Browns Room of Devils Hole, Nevada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Barney J. Szabo ,
Peter T. Kolesar ,
Alan C. Riggs ,
Issac J. Winograd  and
Kenneth R. Ludwig
Barney J. Szabo
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, Denver, Colorado 80225
Peter T. Kolesar
Affiliation:
Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84332
Alan C. Riggs
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, Denver, Colorado 80225
Issac J. Winograd
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, National Center, MS 432, Reston, Virginia 22092
Kenneth R. Ludwig
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, Denver, Colorado 80225
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The petrographic and morphologic differences between calcite precipitated below, at, or above the present water table and uranium-series dating were used to reconstruct a chronology of water-table fluctuation for the past 120,000 yr in Browns Room, a subterranean air-filled chamber of Devils Hole fissure adjacent to the discharge area of the large Ash Meadows groundwater flow system in southern Nevada. The water table was more than 5 m above present level between about 116,000 and 53,000 yr ago, fluctuated between about +5 and +9 m during the period between about 44,000 and 20,000 yr ago, and declined rapidly from +9 to its present level during the past 20,000 yr. Because the Ash Meadows groundwater basin is greater than 12,000 km2 in extent, these documented water-table fluctuations are likely to be of regional significance. Although different in detail, water-level fluctuation recorded by Browns Room calcites generally correlate with other Great Basin proxy palcoclimatic data.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 1994 , pp. 59 - 69
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

Bard, E. Hamelin, B. Fairbanks, R. G., and Zindler, A. (1990). Calibration of the l4C timescale over the past 30,000 years using mass spectrometric U-Th ages from Barbados corals. Nature 345, 405–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, J. W., and Katzer, T, (1987). “Surficial Geology, Hydrology, and Late Quaternary Tectonics of the 1XL Canyon Area, Nevada as Related to the 1954 Dixie Valley Earthquake.” Nevada Bureau Mines and GeoJogy Bulletin 102.Google Scholar
Benson, L. V., (1991). Timing of the last high-stand of Lake Lahontan. Journal of Paleoltmnology 5 , 115–126.Google Scholar
Benson, L. V., and Thompson, R. S. (1987). The physical records of lakes in the Great Basin. In “North America and Adjacent Oceans during the Last Deglaciation” (Ruddiman, W. F. and Write, H. E. Jr., Eds.), pp. 241–260. The Geology of North America, K-3 , Geology Society of America, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Benson, L. V., and Klieforth, H. (1987). Stable isotopes in precipitation and groundwater in the Yucca Mountain region, Southern Nevada: Paleoclimatic implication. In “Aspects of Climate Variability in the Pacific and the Western Americas” (Peterson, D. H., Ed.), pp. 41–59. Geophysical Monograph 55, American Geophysical Union.Google Scholar
Benson, L. V. Currey, D. R. Dorn, R. I. Lajoie, K. R. Oviatt, C. G. Robins, S. W. Smith, G. I., and Sline, S. (1990). Chronology of expansion and contraction of four Great Basin lake systems during the past 35,000 years. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, and Paleoecology 78, 241–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, L. V. Meyers, P. A., and Spencer, R. J. (1991). Change in size of Walker Lake during the past 5,000 years. Paleogeography, Paleo-climatology, and Paleoecology 81, 189–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BischofF, J. L. Rosenbauer, R. J., and Smith, G. L. (1985). Uraniumseries dating of sediment from Searles Lakes: Differences between continental and marine climatic records. Science 227, 1222–1224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradbury, J. R Forester, R. M., and Thompson, R. S. (1989). Late Quaternary paleolimnology of Walker Lake, Nevada, Journal of Paleolimnology 1, 249–267.Google Scholar
Carr, W. J. (1988). “Geology of the Devils Hole Area, Nevada.” U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 87–560.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y. Brown, W, J. Anderson, R. V. McFadden, L. D., and Wells, S. G. (1992). Short-duration Holocene Lakes in the Mojave River drainage basins, southern California. Quaternary Research 38, 60–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, C. A. (1976). “Cave Minerals.” Alabama National Geological Society, Huntsville.Google Scholar
Hill, C. A., and Forti, P. (1986). “Cave Minerals of the World.” Alabama National Speleological Society, Huntsville.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. V. (1967). Quaternary geology of the Tule Springs area, Clark county, Nevada. In “Pleistocence Studies in Southern Nevada” (Wormington, H. M. and Ellis, D., Eds.), pp. 1–104. Nevada State Museum of Anthropology Paper 13, Carson City, NV.Google Scholar
Jannik, N. O. Phillips, F. M. Smith, G. I., and Elmore, D. (1991). a 36C1 chronology of lacustrine sedimentation in the Pleistocene Owens River system. Geological Society America Bulletin 203, 1146–1159.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ludwig, K. R. Simmons, K. R. Szabo, B. J. Winograd, I, J. Landwehr, J. M. Riggs, A. C., and Hoffman, R. J. (1992). Massspectrometric 230Th/234U-238U dating of the Devils Hole calcite vein. Science 258, 284–287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCoy, W. D. (1987). Quaternary aminostratigraphy of the Bonneville basin, western United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin 98, 99–112.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mifflin, M. D. Wheat, D. D. (1979). “Pluvial Lakes and Estimated Pluvial Climates of Nevada.” Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 94, University of Nevada, Reno.Google Scholar
Morrison, R. B. (1991). Quaternary stratigraphic, hydrologic, and climatic history of the Great Basin, with emphasis on Lakes Lahontan, Bonneville, and Tecopa. In “Quaternary Nonglacial Geology: Conterminous U.S.” (Morrison, R. B., Ed.), pp. 283–320. The Geology of North America, K-2 , Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Oviatt, C. G. McCoy, W. D., and Reider, R. G. (1987). Evidence fora shallow early or middle Wisconsin-age lake in the Bonneville Basin, Utah. Quaternary Research 21, 248–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, F. M. Zreda, M. G. Smith, S. S.. Elmore, D. Rubik, P. W., and Sharma, P. (1990). Cosmogenic chlorine-36 chronology for glacial deposits at Bloody Canyon, eastern Sierra Nevada. Science 248, 1529–1532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quade, J. (1986). Late Quaternary environmental changes in the upper Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. Quaternary Research 26, 340–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quade, J., and Pratt, W. L. (1989). Late Wisconsin groundwater discharge environments of the southwestern Indian Springs Valley, southern Nevada. Quaternary Research 31, 351–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riggs, A. C. Kolesar, P. T., and Hoffman, R. J. unpublished data.Google Scholar
Rogstaczer, S., and Wolf, S. (1992). Permeability changes associated with large earthquakes: An example from Lomo Prieto, CA. Geology 20, 211–214.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G. I. (1984). Paleohydrologic regimes in the southwestern Great Basin 0-3.2 myr ago, compared with other long records of “global” climate.” Quaternary Research 22, 1–17.Google Scholar
Smith, G. I. Barczaks, V. J. Mounton, G. F., and Liddicoat, J. C. (1983). Core KM-3, a surface-to-bedrock record of late Cenozoic sedimentation in Searles Valley, CA. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1256.Google Scholar
Smith, G. L, and Street-Perrott, F. A. (1983). Pluvial lakes of the western United States. In “Late Quaternary Environments of the United States” (Wright, H. E. Jr., Ed.), pp. 190–212. In “The Late-Pleistocene” (Porter, S. C., Ed.), Vol. I. Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Spaulding, W. G. (1985). Vegetation and climates of the last 45,000 years in the vicinity of the Nevada Test Site, south-central Nevada. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szabo, B, J. (1990). Age of travertine deposits in eastern Grand Canyon National Park, AZ. Quaternary Research 34, 24–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szabo, B. J. Carr, W. J., and Gottschall, W. C. (1981). Uraaiumthorium dating of Quaternary carbonate accumulations in the Nevada Test Site Region, southern Nevada. U.S. Geological Survey OpenFile Report 81–119.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. S. (1992). Late Quaternary environments in Ruby Valley, Nevada. Quaternary Research 37, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Devender, T. R. Thompson, R. S., and Betancourt, J. L. (1987). Vegetation history of the deserts of southwestern North America: The nature and timing of the Late WisconsinHolocene Transition. In “North America and Adjacent Oceans during the Last Deglaciation” (Ruddiman, W. F. and Write, H. E. Jr., Eds.), pp. 323–352. The Geology of North America, K-3, Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Winograd, I. J. Coplen, T. B. Landwehr, J. M. Riggs, A. C. Ludwig, K. R. Szabo, B. J. Kolesar, P. T., and Revesz, K. M. (1992). Continuous 500,000-year climate record from vein calcite in Devils Hole, Nevada. Science 258, 255–260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winograd, I. J., and Doty, D. C. (1980). Paleohydrology of the southern Great Basin with special reference to water table fluctuations beneath the Nevada Test Site during the late (?) Pleistocene. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winograd, I. J., and Szabo, B. J. (1988). Water-table decline in the south-central Great Basin during the Quaternary: Implications for toxic waste disposal. In “Geologic and Hydrologic Investigations of a Potential Nuclear Waste Disposal Site at Yucca Mountain, Southern Nevada” (Carr, M. D. and Younts, J. C., Eds.), U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1790, pp. 147–152.Google Scholar
Winograd, I. J. Szabo, B. J. Coplen, T. B., and Riggs, A. C. (1988). A 250,000 year climatic record from Great Basin vein calcite: Implications for Milankovitch theory. Science 242, 1275–1280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winograd, I. J., and Thordarson, W. (1975). “Hyrdogeologic and Hydrochemical Framework. South-Central Great Basin, Nevada-California, with Special Reference to the Nevada Test Site.” U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 712-C.Google Scholar