Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T21:01:20.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hydrologic changes in Colorado during the mid-Holocene and Younger Dryas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Bryan N. Shuman ,
Paul Pribyl  and
Jacob Buettner
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The stratigraphy of Upper Big Creek Lake (UBC), an overflowing lake in northern Colorado, indicates that the lake responded to a series of hydroclimatic changes over the past ~ 13,000 years. Modern sediments in eight comparator lakes from across Wyoming and Colorado facilitate the stratigraphic interpretation by showing that littoral sediments have exponentially higher sand content, lower loss-on-ignition (LOI), and lower net accumulation rates than off-shore sediments. Sand layers in two near-shore cores from UBC share the characteristics of the modern littoral sediments (> 80% sand, < 5% LOI, and < 10 cm/ka accumulation rates), and indicate that UBC was > 1.9 m below its outlet from 12,500 to 11,300 and from 7500 to 2100 cal yr BP. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) profiles consistent with the low-water episodes show correlative sand layers and submerged wave-cut scarps around the lake margin. The stratigraphic features correlate with those formed in the comparator lakes during extensive droughts at > 11,300, 6900–6000, and 4800–3400 cal yr BP as well as a series of north-south anti-phased droughts between 5800 and 1200 cal yr BP. Lake closure at UBC amplified the local changes, and demonstrates that climate changes can increase the extent of intermittent streamflow in the Rocky Mountains relative to today.

Keywords

HoloceneYounger DryasPaleohydrologyDroughtLakesColoradoRocky Mountains
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 84 , Issue 2 , September 2015 , pp. 187 - 199
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

Abbott, M.B. Finney, B.P. Edwards, M.E. Kelts, K.R. Lake-level reconstruction and paleohydrology of Birch Lake, Central Alaska, based on seismic reflection profilds and core transects Quaternary Research 53 2000 154–166 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, K.D. Goebel, T. Graf, K. Smith, G.M. Camp, A.J. Briggs, R.W. Rhode, D. Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene lake-level fluctuations in the Lahontan Basin, Nevada: Implications for the distribution of archaeological sites Geoarchaeology 23 2008 608–643 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahlbrandt, T.S. Andrews, S. Distinctive sedimentary features of cold-climate eolian deposits, North Park, Colorado Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 25 1978 327–351 Google Scholar
Almendinger, J.E. A groundwater model to explain past lake levels at Parkers Prairie, Minnesota, USA The Holocene 3 1993 105–115 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/095968369300300202Google Scholar
Almquist-Jacobson, H. Lake-level fluctuations at Ljustjärnen, central Sweden and their implications for the Holocene climate of Scandinavia Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 118 1995 269–290 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(95)00002-2Google Scholar
Anderson, L. Holocene record of precipitation seasonality from lake calcite d18O in the central Rocky Mountains, United States Geology 39 2011 211–214 http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/g31575.1Google Scholar
Anderson, L. Rocky Mountain hydroclimate: Holocene variability and the role of insolation, ENSO, and the North American Monsoon Global and Planetary Change 92–93 2012 198–208 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2012.05.012Google Scholar
Asmerom, Y. Polyak, V.J. Burns, S.J. Variable winter moisture in the southwestern United States linked to rapid glacial climate shifts Nature Geoscience 3 2010 114–117 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo754CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bacon, S.N. Burke, R.M. Pezzopane, S.K. Jayko, A.S. Last glacial maximum and Holocene lake levels of Owens Lake, eastern California, USA Quaternary Science Reviews 25 2006 1264–1282 Google Scholar
Barnett, T.P. Pierce, D.W. When will Lake Mead go dry? Water Resources Research 44 2008 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barron, J.A. Anderson, L. Enhanced Late Holocene ENSO/PDO expression along the margins of the eastern North Pacific Quaternary International 235 2009 3–12 Google Scholar
Bartlein, P.J. Anderson, K.H. Anderson, P.M. Edwards, M.E. Mock, C.J. Thompson, R.S. Webb, R.S. Webb, T. III Whitlock, C. 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 1998 549–586 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, L. Madole, R. Landis, G. Gosse, J. New data for Late Pleistocene Pinedale alpine glaciation from southwestern Colorado Quaternary Science Reviews 24 2005 49–65 Google Scholar
Benson, L. Madole, R. Kubik, P. McDonald, R. Surface-exposure ages of Front Range moraines that may have formed during the Younger Dryas, 8.2 cal ka, and Little Ice Age events Quaternary Science Reviews 26 2007 1638–1649 Google Scholar
Brikowski, T.H. Doomed reservoirs in Kansas, USA? Climate change and groundwater mining on the Great Plains lead to unsustainable surface water storage Journal of Hydrology 354 2008 90–101 Google Scholar
Briles, C.E. Whitlock, C. Meltzer, D.J. Last glacial–interglacial environments in the southern Rocky Mountains, USA and implications for Younger Dryas-age human occupation Quaternary Research 77 2012 96–103 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2011.10.002Google Scholar
Calder, W.J. Stopka, C.J. Shuman, B.N. High-elevation fire regimes in subalpine ribbon forests during the Little Ice Age and Medieval Period along the Continental Divide, Colorado, U.S.A Rocky Mountain Geology 49 2014 75–90 http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gsrocky.49.1.75Google Scholar
Carrara, P.E. Deglaciation and postglacial treeline fluctuation in the northern San Juan Mountains Colorado U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1782 2011 Google Scholar
Conroy, J.L. Overpeck, J.T. Cole, J.E. Shanahan, T.M. Steinitz-Kannan, M. Holocene changes in eastern tropical Pacific climate inferred from a Galápagos lake sediment record Quaternary Science Reviews 27 2008 1166–1180 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Core Development Team, R. R: A language and environment for statistical computing 2009 R Foundation for Statistical Computing Vienna, Austria Google Scholar
Craig, H. The measurement of oxygen isotope paleotemperatures. Stable isotopes in oceanographic studies and paleotemperatures 1965 Laboratory of Nuclear Geology at the University of Pisa 23 Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W. Stable isotopes in precipitation Tellus 16 1964 436–468 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1964.tb00181.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dettinger, M.D. Cayan, D.R. Diaz, H.F. Meko, D.M. North-South precipitation patterns in Western North American on interannual-to-decadal time scales Journal of Climate 11 1998 3095–3111 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diffenbaugh, N.S. Ashfaq, M. Shuman, B. Williams, J.W. Bartlein, P.J. Summer aridity in the United States: Response to mid-Holocene changes in insolation and sea surface temperature Geophysical Research Letters 33 2006 L22712 Google Scholar
Digerfeldt, G. The Post-Glacial Development of Lake Trummen. Regional vegetation history, water level changes, and palaeolimnology Folia Limnologica Scandinavica 16 1972 1–96 Google Scholar
Digerfeldt, G. Studies on past lake-level fluctuations Berglund, B.E. Handbook of Holocene palaeoecology and palaeohydrology 1986 John Wiley and Sons Chichester, U. K. 127–142 Google Scholar
Digerfeldt, G. Reconstruction and regional correlation of Holocene lake-level fluctuations in Lake Bysjön, South Sweden Boreas 17 1988 165–182 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.1988.tb00544.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donovan, J.J. Smith, A.J. Panek, V.A. Engstrom, D.R. Ito, E. Climate-driven hydrologic transients in lake sediment records: Calibration of groundwater conditions using 20th century drought Quaternary Science Reviews 21 2002 605–624 Google Scholar
Engels, S. Cwynar, L.C. Rees, A.B.H. Shuman, B.N. Chironomid-based water depth reconstructions: an independent evaluation of site-specific and local inference models Journal of Paleolimnology 48 2012 693–709 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10933-012-9638-xGoogle Scholar
Fall, P.L. Timberline fluctuations and late Quaternary paleoclimates in the Southern Rocky Mountains, Colorado Geological Society of America Bulletin 109 1997 1306–1320 Google Scholar
Forman, S.L. Oglesby, R. Markgraf, V. Thomas, S. Paleoclimatic significance of late Quaternary eolian deposition on the Peidmont and High Plains, Central United States Global and Planetary Change 11 1995 35 Google Scholar
Gonzales, L.M. Grimm, E.C. Synchronization of late-glacial vegetation changes at Crystal Lake, Illinois, USA with the North Atlantic Event Stratigraphy Quaternary Research 72 2009 234–245 Google Scholar
Goring, S. Williams, J.W. Blois, J.L. Jackson, S.T. Paciorek, C.J. Booth, R.K. Marlon, J.R. Blaauw, M. Christen, J.A. Deposition times in the northeastern United States during the Holocene: establishing valid priors for Bayesian age models Quaternary Science Reviews 48 2012 54–60 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.05.019Google Scholar
Granger, C. Investigating causal relations by econometric models and cross-spectral methods Econometrica 37 1969 424–438 Google Scholar
Hakanson, L. Jansson, M. Principles of lake sedimentology 1983 Springer-Verlag Heidelberg Google Scholar
Harrison, S.P. Digerfeldt, G. European lakes as palaeohydroloigical and palaeoclimatic indicators Quaternary Science Reviews 12 1993 233–248 Google Scholar
Harrison, S.P. Kutzbach, J.E. Liu, Z. Bartlein, P.J. Otto-Bliesner, B. Muhs, D. Prentice, I.C. Thompson, R.S. Mid-Holocene climates of the Americas: a dynamical response to changed seasonality Climate Dynamics 20 2003 663–688 Google Scholar
Haslett, J. Parnell, A. A simple monotone process with application to radiocarbon-dated depth chronologies Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C: Applied Statistics 57 2008 399–418 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9876.2008.00623.xGoogle Scholar
Henderson, A.K. Shuman, B. Hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions of lake water in the western United States Geological Society of America Bulletin 121 2009 1179–1189 Google Scholar
Hubeny, J.B. McCarthy, F.M.G. Lewis, J. Drljepan, M. Morissette, C. King, J.W. Cantwell, M. Hudson, N.M. Crispo, M.L. The paleohydrology of Sluice Pond, NE Massachusetts, and its regional significance Journal of Paleolimnology 1–17 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10933-015-9824-8Google Scholar
Jimenez-Moreno, G. Anderson, R.S. Atudorei, V. Toney, J.L. A high-resolution record of climate, vegetation, and fire in the mixed conifer forest of northern Colorado, USA Geological Society of America Bulletin 123 2011 240–254 http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/b30240.1Google Scholar
Karnauskas, K.B. Smerdon, J.E. Seager, R. González-Rouco, J.F. A pacific centennial oscillation predicted by coupled GCMs Journal of Climate 25 2012 5943–5961 http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00421.1Google Scholar
Kelly, R.L. Surovell, T.A. Shuman, B. Smith, G.M. A Continuous Climatic Impact on Holocene Human Population in the Rocky Mountains Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 110 2013 443–447 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1201341110Google Scholar
Lavoie, M. Richard, P.J.H. Postglacial water-level changes of a small lake in southern Quebec, Canada The Holocene 10 2000 621 Google Scholar
Lundqvist, G. Utvecklingshistoriska insjostudier i Sydsverige 1925 Google Scholar
Lyle, M. Heusser, L. Ravelo, C. Yamamoto, M. Barron, J. Diffenbaugh, N.S. Herbert, T. Andreasen, D. Out of the Tropics: The Pacific, Great Basin Lakes, and Late Pleistocene Water Cycle in the Western United States Science 337 2012 1629–1633 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1218390Google Scholar
Ma, Z.-B. Cheng, H. Tan, M. Edwards, R.L. Li, H.-C. You, C.-F. Duan, W.-H. Wang, X. Kelly, M.J. Timing and structure of the Younger Dryas event in northern China Quaternary Science Reviews 41 2012 83–93 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.03.006Google Scholar
Markgraf, V. Scott, L. Lower timberline in central Colorado during the past 15,000 yr Geology 9 1981 231–234 Google Scholar
Marsicek, J.P. Shuman, B. Brewer, S. Foster, D.R. Oswald, W.W. Moisture and temperature changes associated with the mid-Holocene Tsuga decline in the northeastern United States Quaternary Science Reviews 80 2013 129–142 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.09.001Google Scholar
Miao, X. Mason, J.A. Swinehart, J.B. Loope, D.B. Hanson, P.R. Goble, R.J. Liu, X. A 10,000 year record of dune activity, dust storms, and severe drought in the central Great Plains Geology 35 2007 119–122 Google Scholar
Miller, D.M. Oviatt, C.G. Mcgeehin, J.P. Stratigraphy and chronology of Provo shoreline deposits and lake-level implications, Late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, eastern Great Basin, USA Boreas 42 2013 342–361 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2012.00297.xGoogle Scholar
Minckley, T. Shriver, R.K. Shuman, B. Resilience and regime change in a southern Rocky Mountain ecosystem during the past 17000 years Ecological Monographs 82 2012 49–68 http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/11-0283.1Google Scholar
Moser, K.A. Kimball, J.P. A 19,000-year record of hydrologic and climatic change inferred from diatoms from Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho Geological Society of America Special Papers 450 2009 229–246 http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/2009.2450(10)Google Scholar
Moy, C.M. Seltzer, G.O. Rodbell, D.T. Anderson, D.M. Variability of El Nino/Southern Oscillation activity at millennial timescales during the Holocene epoch Nature 420 2002 162–165 Google Scholar
Newby, P. Shuman, B. Donnelly, J.P. Karnauskas, K.B. Marsicek, J.P. Centennial-to-Millennial Hydrologic Trends and Variability along the North Atlantic Coast, U.S.A., during the Holocene Geophysical Research Letters 41 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014GL060183CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parnell, A.C. Haslett, J. Allen, J.R.M. Buck, C.E. Huntley, B. A flexible approach to assessing synchroneity of past events using Bayesian reconstructions of sedimentation history Quaternary Science Reviews 27 2008 1872–1885 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.07.009Google Scholar
Pederson, G.T. Gray, S.T. Woodhouse, C.A. Betancourt, J.L. Fagre, D.B. Littell, J.S. Watson, E. Luckman, B.H. Graumlich, L.J. The Unusual Nature of Recent Snowpack Declines in the North American Cordillera Science 333 2011 332–335 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1201570Google Scholar
Polyak, V.J. Rasmussen, J.B.T. Asmerom, Y. Prolonged wet period in the southwestern United States through the Younger Dryas Geology 32 2004 5–8 http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G19957.1Google Scholar
Polyak, V.J. Asmerom, Y. Burns, S.J. Lachniet, M.S. Climatic backdrop to the terminal Pleistocene extinction of North American mammals Geology 40 2012 1023–1026 http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G33226.1Google Scholar
Pribyl, P. Shuman, B.N. A computational approach to Quaternary lake-level reconstruction applied in the central Rocky Mountains, Wyoming, USA Quaternary Research 82 2014 249–259 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2014.01.012Google Scholar
Reasoner, M.A. Jodry, M.A. Rapid response of alpine timberline vegetation to the Younger Dryas climate oscillation in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA Geology 28 2000 51–54 http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<51:rroatv>2.0.co;2Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J. Bard, E. Bayliss, A. Beck, J.W. Blackwell, P.G. Bronk Ramsey, C. Buck, C.E. Cheng, H. Edwards, R.L. Friedrich, M. Grootes, P.M. Guilderson, T.P. Haflidason, H. Hajdas, I. Hatté, C. Heaton, T.J. Hoffmann, D.L. Hogg, A.G. Hughen, K.A. Kaiser, K.F. Kromer, B. Manning, S.W. Niu, M. Reimer, R.W. Richards, D.A. Scott, E.M. Southon, J.R. Staff, R.A. Turney, C.S.M. van der Plicht, J. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon Age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP Radiocarbon vol. 55 4 2013 Google Scholar
Reynolds, L.V. Shafroth, P.B. LeRoy Poff, N. Modeled intermittency risk for small streams in the Upper Colorado River Basin under climate change Journal of Hydrology 523 2015 768–780 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.02.025Google Scholar
Rowan, D.J. Kalff, J. Rasmussen, J.B. Estimating the mud deposition boundary depth in lake from wave theory Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 49 1992 2490–2497 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlaepfer, D.R. Ewers, B.E. Shuman, B.N. Williams, D.G. Frank, J.M. Massman, W.J. Lauenroth, W.K. Terrestrial water fluxes dominated by transpiration: Comment Ecosphere 5 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES13-00391.1 (art61)Google Scholar
Schnellmann, M. Anselmetti, F.S. Giardini, D. McKenzie, J.A. Ward, S.N. Prehistoric earthquake history revealed by lacustrine slump deposits Geology 30 2002 1131–1134 http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<1131:pehrbl>2.0.co;2Google Scholar
Shinker, J.J. Shuman, B.N. Minckley, T. Henderson, A. Climatic shifts in the availability of contested waters: a long-term perspective from the headwaters of the North Platte River Annals of the Association of American Geographers 100 2010 866–879 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shuman, B. Controls on loss-on-ignition variation in cores from two shallow lakes in the northeastern United States Journal of Paleolimnology 30 2003 371–385 Google Scholar
Shuman, B. Recent Wyoming temperature trends, their drivers, and impacts in a 14,000-year context Climatic Change 1–19 2012 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0223-5Google Scholar
Shuman, B. Donnelly, J.P. The Influence of Seasonal Precipitation and Temperature Regimes on Lake Levels in Northeastern United States during the Holocene Quaternary Research 65 2006 44–56 Google Scholar
Shuman, B.N. Bravo, J. Kaye, J. Lynch, J.A. Newby, P. Webb, T. Late-Quaternary water-level variations and vegetation history at Crooked Pond, southeastern Massachusetts Quaternary Research 56 2001 401 Google Scholar
Shuman, B. Henderson, A.K. Colman, S.M. Stone, J.R. Fritz, S.C. Stevens, L.R. Power, M.J. Whitlock, C. Holocene Lake-Level Trends in the Rocky Mountains, U.S.A Quaternary Science Reviews 28 2009 1861–1879 Google Scholar
Shuman, B. Henderson, A.K. Plank, C. Stefanova, I. Ziegler, S.S. Woodland-to-forest transition during prolonged drought in Minnesota after ca. AD 1300 Ecology 90 2009 2792–2807 http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/08-0985.1Google Scholar
Shuman, B. Pribyl, P. Minckley, T.A. Shinker, J.J. Rapid hydrologic shifts and prolonged droughts in Rocky Mountain headwaters during the Holocene Geophysical Research Letters 37 2010 L06701 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009GL042196Google Scholar
Shuman, B.N. Carter, G.E. Hougardy, D.D. Powers, K. Shinker, J.J. A north–south moisture dipole at multi century scales in the Central and Southern Rocky Mountains during the late Holocene Rocky Mountain Geology 49 2014 17–33 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A.J. Donovan, J.J. Ito, E. Engstrom, D.R. Panek, V.A. Climate-driven hydrologic transients in lake sediment records: multoproxy record of mid-Holocene drought Quaternary Science Reviews 21 2002 625 Google Scholar
Snyder, G.L. Geological Map of the Central Part of the Northern Park Range Jackson and Routt Counties Colorado 1980 Map I-1112Google Scholar
Steffensen, J¸.P. Andersen, K.K. Bigler, M. Clausen, H.B. Dahl-Jensen, D. Fischer, H. Goto-Azuma, K. Hansson, M. Johnsen, S.J. Jouzel, J. Masson-Delmotte, V. Popp, T. Rasmussen, S.O. Rothlisberger, R. Ruth, U. Stauffer, B. Siggaard-Andersen, M.-L. Sveinbjornsdottir, A.E. Svensson, A. White, J.W.C. High-resolution Greenland Ice core data show abrupt climate change happens in few years Science 321 2008 680–684 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1157707Google Scholar
Steinman, B.A. Abbott, M.B. 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 2013 342–359 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2012.11.027Google Scholar
Webb, R.S. Webb, T. III Rates of sediment accumulation in pollen cores from small lakes and mires of eastern North America Quaternary Research 30 1988 284–297 Google Scholar
Williams, J.W. Shuman, B. Bartlein, P.J. Rapid responses of the prairie-forest ecotone to early Holocene aridity in mid-continental North America Global and Planetary Change 66 2009 195–207 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winkler, M.G. Swain, A.M. Kutzbach, J.E. Middle Holocene dry period in the northern midwestern United States: lake levels and pollen stratigraphy Quaternary Research 25 1986 235–250 Google Scholar
Winter, T.C. Relation of streams, lakes, and wetlands to groundwater flow systems Hydrogeology Journal 7 1999 28–45 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s100400050178Google Scholar
Zdanowicz, C.M. Zielinski, G.A. Germani, M.S. Mount Mazama eruption; calendrical age verified and atmospheric impact assessed Geology 27 1999 621–624 Google Scholar