Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T22:58:30.742Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Estimating the regional climate signal in a late Pleistocene and early Holocene lake-sediment δ18O record from Vermont, USA.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Maximilian Benedict Mandl ,
Bryan Nolan Shuman ,
Jeremiah Marsicek  and
Laurie Grigg
Maximilian Benedict Mandl*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Dept. 3006, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071, USA ETH Zuerich, Institut fuer Geochemie und Petrologie, Clausiusstrasse 25, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Bryan Nolan Shuman
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Dept. 3006, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071, USA
Jeremiah Marsicek
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Dept. 3006, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071, USA
Laurie Grigg
Affiliation:
Earth and Environmental Science, Norwich University, 158 Harmon Drive, Northfield, VT 05663, USA
*
* ETH Zuerich, Institut fuer Geochemie und Petrologie, Clausiusstrasse 25, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland. maximilian.mandl@erdw.ethz.ch (M.B. Mandl)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We present a new oxygen isotope (δ18O) record from carbonate-rich lake sediments from central Vermont. The record from Twin Ponds spans from 13.5 cal ka BP (1950 AD) to present, but contains a 6 ka long hiatus starting shortly after 7.5 cal ka BP. We compare the record for ca. 13.5–7.5 cal ka BP with published δ18O data from the region after using a Bayesian approach to produce many possible chronologies for each site. Principal component analysis then identified chronologically-robust, multi-site oxygen isotope signals, including negative values during the Younger Dryas, but no significant deviations from the early Holocene mean of the regional records. However, differences among sites indicate significant trends that likely relate to interacting changes in the regional gradients of seasonal temperatures and precipitation as well as moisture sources, moisture pathways, and aridity that were controlled by large-scale climatic controls such as insolation, the progressive decline of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, and changes in oceanic circulation. Centennial shifts punctuate these trends at ca. 9.3 and 8.2 cal ka BP, and reveal that the local character of these short-lived features requires a detailed understanding of lake hydrology and regional isotopic gradients to yield reliable information for regional climate reconstructions.

Keywords

HoloceneOxygen isotopeCarbonateVermontLakeYounger DryasBchronPrincipal component analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 86 , Issue 1 , July 2016 , pp. 67 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © American Quaternary Association 2016 

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, R.B., Ágústsdóttir, A.M., 2005. The 8k event: cause and consequences of a major Holocene abrupt climate change. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, 1123–1149.Google Scholar
Alley, R.B., Mayewski, P.A., Sowers, T., Stuiver, M., Taylor, K.C., Clark, P.U., 1997. Holocene climatic instability: a prominent, widespread event 8200 yr ago. Geology 25, 483–486.Google Scholar
Anchukaitis, K.J., Tierney, J.E., 2013. Identifying coherent spatiotemporal modes in time-uncertain proxy paleoclimate records. Climate Dynamics 41, 1291–1306.Google Scholar
Barber, D.C., Dyke, A., Hillaire-Marcel, C., Jennings, A.E., Andrews, J.T., Kerwin, M.W., Bilodeau, G., McNeely, R., Southon, J., Morehead, M.D., Gagnon, J.-M., 1999. Forcing of the cold event of 8200 years ago by catastrophic drainage of Laurentide lakes. Nature 400, 344–348.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P., Anderson, K., Anderson, P., Edwards, M., Mock, C., Thompson, R., Webb, R., Webb III, T., Whitlock, C., 1998. Paleoclimate simulations for North America over the past 21,000 years: features of the simulated climate and comparisons with paleoenvironmental data. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, 549–585.Google Scholar
Bartlein, Patrick J., 1997. Past environmental changes: characteristic features of quaternary climate variations. In: Huntley, Brian, Cramer, Wolfgang, Morgan, Alan V., Prentice, Honor C., Allen, Judy R.M. (Eds.), Past and Future Rapid Environmental Changes: the Spatial and Evolutionary Responses of Terrestrial Biota, NATO ASI Series 147. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 11–29.Google Scholar
Bauer, E., Ganopolski, A., Montoya, M., 2004. Simulation of the cold climate event 8200 years ago by meltwater outburst from Lake Agassiz. Paleoceanography 19.Google Scholar
Berger, A., Loutre, M.-F., 1991. Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years. Quaternary Science Reviews 10, 297–317.Google Scholar
Bowen, Gabriel J., Revenaugh, Justin, 2003. Interpolating the isotopic composition of modern meteoric precipitation. Water Resources Research 39.Google Scholar
Bowen, G.J., Wilkinson, B., 2002. Spatial distribution of δ18O in meteoric precipitation. Geology 30, 315–318.Google Scholar
Broecker, Wallace S., Kennett, James P., Flower, Benjamin P., Teller, James T., Trumbore, Sue, Bonani, Georges, Wolfli, Willy, 1989. Routing of meltwater from the Laurentide ice sheet during the Younger Dryas cold episode. Nature 341, 318–321.Google Scholar
Bromwich, D.H., Toracinta, E.R., Wei, H., Oglesby, R.J., Fastook, J.L., Hughes, T.J., 2004. Polar MM5 simulations of the winter climate of the Laurentide ice sheet at the LGM*. Journal of Climate 17, 3415–3433.Google Scholar
Clark, P.U., Marshall, S.J., Clarke, G.K.C., Hostetler, S.W., Licciardi, J.M., Teller, J.T., 2001. Freshwater forcing of abrupt climate change during the last Glaciation. Science 293, 283–287.Google Scholar
Cwynar, L.C., Levesque, A.J., 1995. Chironomid evidence for late-glacial Climatic Reversals in Maine. Quaternary Research 43, 405–413.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W., 1964. Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16, 436–468.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E., 1974. Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition; comparison with other methods. Journal of Sedimentary Research 44, 242–248.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E., Fouch, T.D., 1983. Lacustrine Environment: Chapter 2: PART 1.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., 2004. An outline of North American deglaciation with emphasis on central and northern Canada. Developments in Quaternary Sciences 2, 373–424.Google Scholar
Fleitmann, D., Mudelsee, M., Burns, S.J., Bradley, R.S., Kramers, J., Matter, A., 2008. Evidence for a widespread climatic anomaly at around 9.2 ka before present. Paleoceanography 23.Google Scholar
Gat, J.R., 1995. Stable isotopes of fresh and saline lakes. In: Lerman, A., Imboden, D., Gat, J.R. (Eds.), Physics and Chemistry of Lakes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 139–165.Google Scholar
Gibson, J.J., Prepas, E.E., McEachern, P., 2002. Quantitative comparison of lake throughflow, residency, and catchment runoff using stable isotopes: modeling and results from a regional survey of Boreal lakes. Journal of Hydrology 262, 128–144.Google Scholar
Grafenstein, U.von, Erlenkeuser, H., Brauer, A., Jouzel, J., Johnsen, S.J., 1999. A Mid-European decadal isotope-climate record from 15,500 to 5000 years B.P. Science 284, 1654–1657.Google Scholar
Grafenstein, U. von, Erlenkeuser, H., Müller, J., Jouzel, J., Johnsen, S., 1998. The cold event 8200 years ago documented in oxygen isotope records of precipitation in Europe and Greenland. Climate Dynamics 14, 73–81.Google Scholar
Haslett, J., Parnell, A., 2008. A simple monotone process with application to radiocarbon-dated depth chronologies. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C Applied Statistics 57, 399–418.Google Scholar
Henderson, A.K., Nelson, D.M., Hu, F.S., Huang, Y., Shuman, B.N., Williams, J.W., 2010. Holocene precipitation seasonality captured by a dual hydrogen and oxygen isotope approach at Steel Lake, Minnesota. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 300, 205–214.Google Scholar
Henderson, A.K., Shuman, B.N., 2009. Hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions of lake water in the western United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin 121, 1179–1189.Google Scholar
Hou, J., Huang, Y., Oswald, W.W., Foster, D.R., Shuman, B., 2007. Centennial-scale compound-specific hydrogen isotope record of PleistoceneeHolocene climate transition from southern New England. Geophysical Research Letters 34.Google Scholar
Hou, J., Huang, Y., Shuman, B.N., Oswald, W.W., Foster, D.R., 2012. Abrupt cooling repeatedly punctuated early-Holocene climate in eastern North America. The Holocene 22, 525–529.Google Scholar
Huang, Y., Shuman, B., Wang, Y., Webb, T., 2002. Hydrogen isotope ratios of palmitic acid in Lacustrine sediments record late Quaternary climate variations. Geology 30, 1103–1106.Google Scholar
Huang, Y., Shuman, B., Wang, Y., Webb, T., 2004. Hydrogen isotope ratios of individual lipids in lake sediments as novel tracers of climatic and environmental change: a surface sediment test. Journal of Paleolimnology 31, 363–375.Google Scholar
Hurrell, J.W., Van Loon, H., 1997. Decadal variations in climate associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation. In: Climatic Change at High Elevation Sites. Springer, pp. 69–94.Google Scholar
Jones, M.D., Imbers, J., 2010. Modeling Mediterranean lake isotope variability. Global Planetary Change 71, 193–200.Google Scholar
Jouzel, J., Hoffmann, G., Koster, R.D., Masson, V., 2000. Water isotopes in precipitation:: data/model comparison for present-day and past climates. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, 363–379.Google Scholar
Kim, S.-T., O’Neil, J.R., 1997. Equilibrium and nonequilibrium oxygen isotope effects in synthetic carbonates. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 61, 3461–3475.Google Scholar
Kirby, M., Patterson, W., Mullins, H., Burnett, A., 2002a. Post-Younger Dryas climate interval linked to circumpolar vortex variability: isotopic evidence from Fayetteville Green Lake, New York. Climate Dynamics 19, 321–330.Google Scholar
Kirby, M.E., Mullins, H.T., Patterson, W.P., Burnett, A.W., 2002b. Late glacialeHolocene atmospheric circulation and precipitation in the northeast United States inferred from modern calibrated stable oxygen and carbon isotopes. Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, 1326–1340.Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J., Gallimore, R., Harrison, S., Behling, P., Selin, R., Laarif, F., 1998. Climate and biome simulations for the past 21,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, 473e506.Google Scholar
LeGrande, A.N., Schmidt, G.A., 2008. Ensemble, water isotopeeenabled, coupled general circulation modeling insights into the 8.2 ka event. Paleoceanography 23.Google Scholar
LeGrande, A.N., Schmidt, G.A., Shindell, D.T., Field, C.V., Miller, R.L., Koch, D.M., Faluvegi, G., Hoffmann, G., 2006. Consistent simulations of multiple proxy responses to an abrupt climate change event. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103, 837–842.Google Scholar
Levesque, A.J., Cwynar, Les C., Walker, Ian R., 1997. Exceptionally steep northesouth gradients in lake temperatures during the last Deglaciation. Nature 385, 423–426.Google Scholar
Liu, Y., Brewer, S., Booth, R.K., Minckley, T.A., Jackson, S.T., 2012. Temporal density of pollen sampling affects age determination of the mid-Holocene hemlock (Tsuga) decline. Quaternary Science Reviews 45, 54–59.Google Scholar
Marcott, S.A., Shakun, J.D., Clark, P.U., Mix, A.C., 2013. A reconstruction of regional and global temperature for the past 11,300 years. Science 339, 1198–1201.Google Scholar
Marsicek, J.P., Shuman, B., Brewer, S., Foster, D.R., Oswald, W.W., 2013. Moisture and temperature changes associated with the mid-Holocene Tsuga decline in the northeastern United States. Quaternary Science Reviews 80, 129–142.Google Scholar
Monnin, E., Indermühle, A., Dällenbach, A., Flückiger, J., Stauffer, B., Stocker, T.F., Raynaud, D., Barnola, J.-M., 2001. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the last glacial termination. Science 291, 112–114.Google Scholar
Monnin, E., Steig, E.J., Siegenthaler, U., Kawamura, K., Schwander, J., Stauffer, B., Stocker, T.F., Morse, D.L., Barnola, J.-M., Bellier, B., Raynaud, D., Fischer, H., 2004. Evidence for substantial accumulation rate variability in Antarctica during the Holocene, through synchronization of CO2 in the Taylor Dome, Dome C and DML ice cores. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 224, 45–54.Google Scholar
Morrill, C., Jacobsen, R.M., 2005. How widespread were climate anomalies 8200 years ago? Geophysical Research Letters 32.Google Scholar
Morrill, C., LeGrande, A.N., Renssen, H., Bakker, P., Otto-Bliesner, B.L., 2013. Model sensitivity to North Atlantic freshwater forcing at 8.2 ka. Climate of the Past 9, 955–968.Google Scholar
Newby, P.E., Donnelly, J.P., Shuman, B.N., MacDonald, D., 2009. Evidence of centennial-scale drought from southeastern Massachusetts during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 1675–1692.Google Scholar
Newby, P.E., Killoran, P., Waldorf, M.R., Shuman, B.N., Webb, R.S., Webb, T. III, 2000. 14,000 years of sediment, vegetation, and water-level changes at the Makepeace Cedar Swamp, Southeastern Massachusetts. Quaternary Research 53, 352–368.Google Scholar
Newby, P.E., Shuman, B.N., Donnelly, J.P., Karnauskas, K.B., Marsicek, J., 2014. Centennial-to-millennial hydrologic trends and variability along the North Atlantic Coast, USA, during the Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters 41, 4300–4307.Google Scholar
Newby, P.E., Shuman, B.N., Donnelly, J.P., MacDonald, D., 2011. Repeated century-scale droughts over the past 13,000 yr near the Hudson River watershed, USA. Quaternary Research 75, 523–530.Google Scholar
Parnell, A., 2014. Bchron: Radiocarbon Dating, Age-depth Modelling, Relative Sea Level Rate Estimation, and Non-parametric Phase Modelling. R package version 3.1. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package¼Bchron/.Google Scholar
Parnell, A.C., Haslett, J., Allen, J.R.M., Buck, C.E., Huntley, B., 2008. A flexible approach to assessing synchroneity of past events using Bayesian reconstructions of sedimentation history. Quaternary Science Reviews 27, 1872-1885.Google Scholar
Team, R Core, 2013. R: a Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-900051-07-0. http://www.R-project.org/.Google Scholar
Ratcliffe, N.M., Stanley, R.S., Gale, M.H., Thompson, P.J., Walsh, G.J., 2011. Bedrock Geologic Map of Vermont. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map, 3184, 3 sheets, Scale 1:100,000.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, S.O., Andersen, K.K., Svensson, A.M., Steffensen, J.P., Vinther, B.M., Clausen, H.B., Siggaard-Andersen, M.-L., Johnsen, S.J., Larsen, L.B., Dahl-Jensen, D., Bigler, M., Röthlisberger, R., Fischer, H., Goto-Azuma, K., Hansson, M.E., Ruth, U., 2006. A new Greenland ice core chronology for the last glacial termination. Journal of Geophysical Research 111.Google Scholar
Reimer, P., 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51, 1111-1150.Google Scholar
Renssen, H., Seppä, H., Heiri, O., Roche, D.M., Goosse, H., Fichefet, T., 2009. The spatial and temporal complexity of the Holocene thermal maximum. Nat. Geosci 2, 411–414.Google Scholar
Ridge, J.C., 2003. Chapter 3: the last Deglaciation of the northeastern United States: a combined varve, paleomagnetic, and calibrated 14C chronology. New York State Museum Bulletin 497, 15–45.Google Scholar
Rind, D., Peteet, D., Broecker, W., McIntyre, A., Ruddiman, W., 1986. The impact of cold North Atlantic sea surface temperatures on climate: implications for the Younger Dryas cooling (11–10k). Climate Dynamics 1, 3–33.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F., McIntyre, A., 1981. The North Atlantic Ocean during the last deglaciation. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 35, 145–214.Google Scholar
Sachs, J.P., 2007. Cooling of Northwest Atlantic slope waters during the Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters 34.Google Scholar
Schmidt, G.A., LeGrande, A.N., Hoffmann, G., 2007. Water isotope expressions of intrinsic and forced variability in a coupled ocean-atmosphere model. Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres 112, 2156–2202.Google Scholar
Shuman, B., Bartlein, P., Logar, N., Newby, P., Webb, T. III, 2002. Parallel climate and vegetation responses to the early Holocene collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 1793–1805.Google Scholar
Shuman, B., Bartlein, P.J., Webb, T., 2007. Response to “Comments on: the magnitude of millennial- and orbital-scale climatic change in eastern North America during the Late-Quaternary’ by Shuman et al.” Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 268–273.Google Scholar
Shuman, B., Bravo, J., Kaye, J., Lynch, J.A., Newby, P., Webb, T. III, 2001. Late quaternary water-level variations and vegetation history at crooked pond, Southeastern Massachusetts. Quaternary Research 56, 401–410.Google Scholar
Shuman, B., Donnelly, J.P., 2006. The influence of seasonal precipitation and temperature regimes on lake levels in the northeastern United States during the Holocene. Quaternary Research 65, 44–56.Google Scholar
Shuman, B., Huang, Y., Newby, P., Wang, Y., 2006. Compound-specific isotopic analyses track changes in seasonal precipitation regimes in the Northeastern United States at ca 8200 cal yr BP. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 2992–3002.Google Scholar
Shuman, Bryan N., Newby, Paige, Donnelly, Jeffrey P., 2009. Abrupt climate change as an important agent of ecological change in the Northeast U.S. throughout the past 15,000 Years. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 1693–1709.Google Scholar
Steinman, B.A., Abbott, M.B., 2013. Isotopic and hydrologic responses of small, closed lakes to climate variability: hydroclimate reconstructions from lake sediment oxygen isotope records and mass balance models. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 105, 342–359. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2012.11.027.Google Scholar
Steinman, B.A., Abbott, M.B., Nelson, D.B., Stansell, N.D., Finney, B.P., Bain, D.J., Rosenmeier, M.F., 2013. Isotopic and hydrologic responses of small, closed lakes to climate variability: comparison of measured and modeled lake level and sediment core oxygen isotope records. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 105, 455–471. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2012.11.026.Google Scholar
Steinman, B.A., Abbott, M.B., Mann, M.E., Ortiz, J.D., Pompeani, D.P., Stansell, N.D., Anderson, L., Finney, B.P., Bird, B.W., 2014. Ocean-atmosphere forcing of centennial hydroclimate variability in the Pacific Northwest. Geophysical Research Letters 41, 2553–2560.Google Scholar
Steinman, B.A., Rosenmeier, M.F., Abbott, M.B., Bain, D.J., 2010. The isotopic and hydrologic response of small, closed basin lakes to climate forcing from predictive models: application to paleoclimate studies in the upper Columbia River basin. Limnological Oceanography 55, 2231–2245.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Grootes, P.M., Braziunas, T.F., 1995. The GISP2 δ18O climate record of the past 16,500 years and the role of the sun, ocean, and volcanoes. Quaternary Research 44, 341–354.Google Scholar
Teller, J.T., Leverington, D.W., Mann, J.D., 2002. Freshwater outbursts to the oceans from glacial Lake Agassiz and their role in climate change during the last Deglaciation. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 879–887.Google Scholar
Vinther, B.M., Clausen, H.B., Johnsen, S.J., Rasmussen, S.O., Andersen, K.K., Buchardt, S.L., Dahl-Jensen, D., Seierstad, I.K., Siggaard-Andersen, M.-L., Steffensen, J.P., Svensson, A., Olsen, J., Heinemeier, J., 2006. A synchronized dating of three Greenland ice cores throughout the Holocene. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 111.Google Scholar
Webb, T. III, Anderson, K.H., Bartlein, P.J., Webb, R.S., 1998. Late quaternary climate change in eastern North America: a comparison of pollen-derived estimates with climate model results. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, 587–606.Google Scholar
Webb, R.S., Anderson, K.H., Webb III, T., 1993. Pollen response-surface estimates of late-quaternary changes in the moisture balance of the Northeastern United States. Quaternary Research 40, 213–227.Google Scholar
Yu, S.-Y., Colman, S.M., Lowell, T.V., Milne, G.A., Fisher, T.G., Breckenridge, A., Boyd, M., Teller, J.T., 2010. Freshwater outburst from lake superior as a trigger for the cold event 9300 years ago. Science 328, 1262–1266.Google Scholar
Zhao, C., Yu, Z., Ito, E., Zhao, Y., 2010. Holocene climate trend, variability, and shift documented by Lacustrine stable-isotope record in the northeastern United States. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 1831–1843.Google Scholar