Reconstruction of lake-level fluctuations from landform and outcrop evidence typically involves characterizing periods with relative high stands. We developed a new approach to provide water-level estimates in the absence of shoreline evidence for Owens Lake in eastern California by integrating landform, outcrop, and existing lake-core data with wind-wave and sediment entrainment modeling of lake-core sedimentology. We also refined the late Holocene lake-level history of Owens Lake by dating four previously undated shoreline features above the water level (1096.4 m) in AD 1872. The new ages coincide with wetter and cooler climate during the Neopluvial (~3.6 ka), Medieval Pluvial (~0.8 ka), and Little Ice Age (~0.35 ka). Dates from stumps below 1096 m also indicate two periods of low stands at ~0.89 and 0.67 ka during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. The timing of modeled water levels associated with 22 mud and sand units in lake cores agree well with shoreline records of Owens Lake and nearby Mono Lake, as well as with proxy evidence for relatively wet and dry periods from tree-ring and glacial records within the watershed. Our integrated analysis provides a continuous 4000-yr lake-level record showing the timing, duration, and magnitude of hydroclimate variability along the south-central Sierra Nevada.

The chemistry of the carbonate-free clay-size fraction of Owens Lake sediments supports the use of total organic carbon and magnetic susceptibility as indicators of stadial–interstadial oscillations. Owens Lake records of total organic carbon, magnetic susceptibility, and chemical composition of the carbonate-free, clay-size fraction indicate that Tioga glaciation began ∼24,500 and ended by ∼13,60014C yr B.P. Many of the components of glacial rock flour (e.g., TiO2, MnO, BaO) found in Owens Lake sediments achieved maximum values during the Tioga glaciation when valley glaciers reached their greatest extent. Total organic carbon and SiO2(amorphous) concentrations reached minimum values during Tioga glaciation, resulting from decreases in productivity that accompanied the introduction of rock flour into the surface waters of Owens Lake. At least 20 stadial–interstadial oscillations occurred in the Sierra Nevada between 52,600 and 14,00014C yr B.P. Total organic carbon data from a Pyramid Lake sediment core also indicate oscillations in glacier activity between >39,500 and ∼13,60014C yr B.P. Alpine glacier oscillations occurred on a frequency of ≤1900 yr in both basins, suggesting that millennial-scale oscillations occurred in California and Nevada during most of the past 52,600 yr.

Chemical analyses of the clay-sized fractions of 564 continuous sediment samples (200-yr resolution) from composite core OL90/92 allow quantification of an abundance of glacial rock flour. Rock flour produced during glacier advances is represented by clay-sized plagioclase, K-feldspar, and biotite in homogeneous internal composition. The abundance of rock flour is deemed proportional to the intensity of glacies advances. Age control for the composite section is provided by combining previously published radiocarbon dates on organics, U/Th dates on ostracode shells, and U/Th dates on saline minerals from nearby Searles Lake correlated to OL92 by pollen. The rock flour record displays three levels of variability: (1) a dominant one of about 20,000 yr related to summer insolation and precipitation; (2) an intermediate one of 3000–5000 yr, perhaps related to North Atlantic Heinrich events; and (3) a minor one of 1000–2000 yr, perhaps related to North Atlantic thermohaline-driven air-temperature variation.

Pollen and algae from Owens Lake in eastern California provide evidence for a series of climatic oscillations late in the last glaciation. Juniper woodland, which dominated the Owens Valley from 16,200 to 15,500 cal yr B.P., suggests much wetter conditions than today. Although still wetter and cooler than today, the area then became fairly warm and dry, with woodland being replaced by shrubs (mainly sagebrush) from 15,500 to 13,100 cal yr B.P. Next, Chenopodiaceae (shadscale) increased, woody species declined, and lake levels fell—all evidence for a brief (ca. 100–200 yr) drought about 13,000 cal yr B.P. The climate continued to oscillate between wet and dry from 13,000 to 11,000 cal yr B.P. After 11,000 cal yr B.P., low lake levels and the increased dominance of desert shrubs indicate the beginning of warm, dry Holocene conditions. The region's climate was unstable during the Younger Dryas but uncertainities in dating prevent identification of the Younger Dryas interval in the Owens Lake record. Comparison of the Owens Lake record with studies in the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin suggest that the climate was generally wetter between 13,000 and 11,000 cal yr B.P., with warmer summers, although no consistent pattern of climate change emerges.