Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T19:01:03.426Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tectonic, hydrogeologic, and climatic controls on Late Holocene dune formation, China Lake basin, Indian Wells Valley, California, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2021

Nicholas Lancaster Open the ORCID record for Nicholas Lancaster [Opens in a new window] ,
Steven N. Bacon ,
Thomas F. Bullard ,
Christina M. Neudorf ,
Amanda K. Keen-Zebert ,
David L. Decker  and
Matthew L. Boggs
Nicholas Lancaster*
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, Naval Earth Science and Engineering Program, Reno, Nevada, USA
Steven N. Bacon
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, Naval Earth Science and Engineering Program, Reno, Nevada, USA
Thomas F. Bullard
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, Naval Earth Science and Engineering Program, Reno, Nevada, USA
Christina M. Neudorf
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, Naval Earth Science and Engineering Program, Reno, Nevada, USA
Amanda K. Keen-Zebert
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, Naval Earth Science and Engineering Program, Reno, Nevada, USA
David L. Decker
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, Naval Earth Science and Engineering Program, Reno, Nevada, USA
Matthew L. Boggs
Affiliation:
Naval Air Warfare Center—Weapons Division, U.S. Navy, China Lake, California, USA
*
*Corresponding author email address: <nick@dri.edu> <nick.lancaster@dri.edu>
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Analysis of patterns of faulting and hydrogeology, stratigraphic and sedimentologic studies, and luminescence dating of aeolian deposits in China Lake basin provide new perspectives on the origins and development of Late Holocene dunes and sand ramps in the seismically active Indian Wells Valley of eastern California. Aeolian dune and sand sheet deposits were sourced from alluvial material derived from granitic rocks of the south-eastern Sierra Nevada and are concentrated in areas with sand-stabilizing phreatophyte vegetation influenced by high groundwater levels along the active oblique-normal Little Lake and Paxton Ranch faults, which locally form barriers to groundwater flow. Three episodes of sand accumulation are recognized (2.1 ± 0.1 to 2.0 ± 0.1 ka, 1.8 ± 0.2 to 1.6 ± 0.2 ka, and 1.2 ± 0.1 to 0.9 ± 0.1 ka) during conditions in which sediment supplied to the basin during periods of enhanced rainfall and runoff was subsequently reworked by wind into dunes and sand ramps at the transition to more arid periods. Understanding the role tectonics plays in influencing the hydrogeology of seismically active lake basins provides insights to accurately interpret landscape evolution and any inferences made on past hydroclimate variability in a region.

Keywords

Mojave DesertChina LakeAeolianHoloceneTectonicsGroundwater hydrology
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 106 , March 2022 , pp. 11 - 27
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2021

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

REFERENCES

Amos, C.B., Brownlee, S.J., Rood, D.H., Burch Fisher, G., Bürgmann, R., Renne, P.R., Jayko, A.S., 2013. Chronology of tectonic, geomorphic, and volcanic interactions and the tempo of fault slip near Little Lake, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 125, 1187–1202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, L.J., Roberts, R.G., 2009. Stochastic modelling of multi-grain equivalent dose (De) distributions: implications for OSL dating of sediment mixtures. Quaternary Geochronology 4, 204–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bacon, S.N., Bullard, T.F., Adams, K.D., Decker, D.L., 2019. Geomorphic Map of China Lake Basin Below 700 m Elevation, Inyo, Kern, and San Bernardino Counties, California. Prepared by Naval Earth Sciences and Engineering Program, Desert Research Institute for Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, China Lake. NAWCWD TP 8839, 1:50,000-scale.Google Scholar
Bacon, S.N., Jayko, A.S., Owen, L.A., Lindvall, S.C., Rhodes, E.J., Schumer, R.A., Decker, D.L., 2020. A 50,000-year record of lake-level variations and overflow from Owens Lake, eastern California, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 238, 106312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bacon, S.N., Lancaster, N., Stine, S., Rhodes, E.J., McCarley Holder, G.A., 2018. A continuous 4000-year lake-level record of Owens Lake, south-central Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Quaternary Research 90, 276–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bense, V.F., Gleeson, B.,T., Loveless, S.E., Bour, O., Scibek, J., 2013. Fault zone hydrogeology. Earth-Science Reviews 127, 171–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berenbrock, C., Martin, P., 1991. The ground-water flow system in the Indian Wells Valley, Kern, Inyo, and San Bernardino counties, California. U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 89-4191, 81 pp.Google Scholar
Blott, S.J., Pye, K., 2001. GRADISTAT: a grain size distribution and statistics package for the analysis of unconsolidated sediments. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 26, 1237–1248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloyd, R.M., Robson, S.G., 1971. Mathematical groundwater model of Indian Wells Valley, California. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 72-41, 36 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryant, W.A., Hart, E.W., 2007. Fault-rupture hazard zones in California. California Geological Survey Special Publication 42, 46 pp.Google Scholar
Bullard, T.F., Bacon, S.N., Adams, K.D., Decker, D.L., 2019. Geomorphic Map of the China Lake Basin Below 700 m in Support of Cultural Resource Management at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. Prepared by Naval Earth Sciences and Engineering Program, Desert Research Institute for Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, China Lake, NAWCWD TP 8839, 79 pp.Google Scholar
Caine, J.S., Evans, J.P., Forster, C.B., 1996. Fault zone architecture and permeability structure. Geology 24, 1025–1028.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, E.R., Seager, R., Heim, R.R. Jr., Vose, R.S., Herweijer, C., Woodhouse, C., 2010. Megadrought in North America: placing the IPCC projections of hydroclimate change in a long-term paleoclimate context. Journal of Quaternary Science 25, 48–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danskin, W.R., 1998. Evaluation of the hydrologic system and selected water-management alternatives in the Owens Valley, California. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2370, 175 pp.Google Scholar
Dokka, R.K., Travis, C.J., 1990. The role of the Eastern California shear zone in accommodating Pacific-North American plate motion. Geophysical Research Letters 17, 1323–1326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunne, G.C., Walker, J.D., 2004. Structure and evolution of the East Sierran thrust system, east central California. Tectonics 23, TC4012. https://doi.org/10.1029/2002TC001478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DuRoss, C.B., Gold, R.D., Dawson, T.E., Scharer, K. M., Kendrick, K.J., Akciz, S.O., Angster, S.J., et al. , 2020. Surface displacement distributions for the July 2019 Ridgecrest, California, earthquake ruptures. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 110, 1400–1418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutcher, L.C., Moyle, W.R. 1973. Geologic and hydrologic features of Indian Wells Valley, CA. U.S. Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 2007, 30 pp.Google Scholar
Elmore, A.J., Mustard, J.F., Manning, S.J., 2003. Regional patterns of plant community response to changes in water: Owens Valley, California. Ecological Applications 13, 443–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enzel, Y., Cayan, D.R., Anderson, R.Y., Wells, S.G., 1989. Atmospheric circulation during Holocene lake stands in the Mojave Desert: evidence of regional climate change. Nature 341, 44–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enzel, Y., Wells, S.G., 1997. Extracting Holocene paleohydrology and paleoclimatology information from modern extreme flood events: an example from southern California. Geomorphology 19, 203–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epps, T.M., Britten, H.B., Rust, R.W., 1998. Historical biogeography of Eusattis muricatus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidea) within the Great Basin, western North America. Journal of Biogeography 25, 947–968.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fryberger, S.G., Dean, G., 1979. Dune forms and wind regimes. In: McKee, E.D. (Ed.), A Study of Global Sand Seas. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1052, pp. 137–140.Google Scholar
Galbraith, R.F., Roberts, R.G., Laslett, G.M., Yoshida, H., Olley, J.M., 1999. Optical dating of single and multiple grains of quartz from Jinmium rock shelter, northern Australia: part I, experimental design and statistical models. Archaeometry 41, 339–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadley, D.R., Abrams, D.B., Roadcap, G.S., 2020. Modeling a large scale historic aquifer test: insight into the hydrogeology of a regional fault zone. Groundwater 58, 453–463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halfen, A.F., Lancaster, N., Wolfe, S.A., 2015. Interpretations and common challenges of aeolian records from North American dune fields. Quaternary International 410, 75–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hauksson, E., Hutton, K., Kanamori, H., Jones, L., Mori, J., Hough, S., Roquemore, G., 1995. Preliminary report on the 1995 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence in eastern California. Seismological Research Letters 66, 54–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollett, K.J., Danskin, W.R., McCaffrey, W.F., Walti, C.L., 1991. Geology and water resources of Owens Valley, California. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2370-B, B1–B77.Google Scholar
Huntley, D.J., Lamothe, M., 2001. Ubiquity of anomalous fading in K-feldspars and the measurement and correction for it in optical dating. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 38, 1093–1106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IWVGA [Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority], 2020. Groundwater Sustainability Plan for the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Basin. Bulletin 118 Basin No. 6-054, 366 pp.Google Scholar
Jewell, P.W., Nicoll, K., 2011. Wind regimes and aeolian transport in the Great Basin, U.S.A. Geomorphology 129, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kocurek, G., 1998. Aeolian system response to external forcing factors—a sequence stratigraphic view of the Saharan region. In: Alsharan, A.S., Glennie, K.W., Whittle, G.L., Kendall, C.G.S.C. (Eds.), Quaternary Deserts and Climatic Change. Balkema, Rotterdam/Brookfield, pp. 327–338.Google Scholar
Kocurek, G., Lancaster, N., 1999. Aeolian system sediment state: theory and Mojave Desert Kelso dune field example. Sedimentology 46, 505–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kunkel, F., Chase, G.F., 1969. Geology and ground water in Indian Wells Valley, California. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 69-329, 84 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lancaster, N., 2020. Dunefields of the Southwest Deserts. In: Lancaster, N., Hesp, P. (Eds.), Inland Dunes of North America. Springer International Publishing, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 311–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lancaster, N., Bacon, S.N., 2012. Late Holocene stratigraphy and chronology of the Keeler Dunes area. Report prepared by Desert Research Institute for Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, 24 pp. https://gbuapcd.org/Docs/OwensLake/KeelerDunes/OriginAndDevelopment/Lancaster%20and%20Bacon%202012a_Late%20Holocene%20stratigraphy%20and%20chronology_Final20121116.pdfGoogle Scholar
Lancaster, N., Baker, S., Bacon, S., McCarley-Holder, G., 2015. Owens Lake dune fields: composition, sources of sand, and transport pathways. CATENA 134, 41–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lancaster, N., Mahan, S.A., 2012. Holocene dune formation at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Area, Nevada. Quaternary Research 78, 266–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lancaster, N., Tchakerian, V.P., 1996. Geomorphology and sediments of sand ramps in the Mojave Desert. Geomorphology 17, 151–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lancaster, N., Tchakerian, V.P., 2003. Late Quaternary eolian dynamics, Mojave Desert, California, in: Enzel, Y., Wells, S.G., Lancaster, N. (Eds.), Paleoenvironments and Paleohydrology of the Mojave and Southern Great Basin Deserts. Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO, pp. 231–249.Google Scholar
Langford, R.P., Rose, J.M., White, D.E., 2009. Groundwater salinity as a control on development of eolian landscape: an example from the White Sands of New Mexico. Geomorphology 105, 39–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liritzis, I., Singhvi, A. K., Feathers, J. K., Wagner, G. A., Kadereit, A., Zacharias, N., Li, S.-H., 2013. Luminescence Dating in Archaeology, Anthropology, and Geoarchaeology – An Overview. Springer Briefs in Earth System Sciences. Springer, Heidelberg. 70 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallory, J.M., 1978. Water-level predictions for Indian Wells Valley ground-water basin. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-254.Google Scholar
Mensing, S.A., Sharpe, S.E., Tunno, I., Sada, D.W., Thomas, J.M., Starratt, S., Smith, J., 2013. The Late Holocene Dry Period: multiproxy evidence for an extended drought between 2800 and 1850 cal yr BP across the central Great Basin, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 78, 266–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, D.M., Schmidt, K.M., Mahan, S.A., McGeehin, J.P., Owen, L.A., Barron, J.A., Lehmkuhl, F., Lehrer, R., 2010. Holocene landscape response to seasonality of storms in the Mojave Desert. Quaternary International 215, 45–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monastero, F.C., Walker, J.D., Katzenstein, A.M., Sabin, A.E., 2002. Neogene evolution of the Indian Wells Valley, east-central California. In: Glazner, A.F., Walker, J.D., Bartley, J.M. (Eds.), Geologic Evolution of the Mojave Desert and Southwestern Basin and Range: Geological Society of America Memoir 195, 199–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, J.G., Moring, B.C., 2013. Range wide glaciation in the Sierra Nevada, California. Geosphere 9, 1804–1818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muhs, D.R., 2017. Evaluation of simple geochemical indicators of aeolian sand provenance: Late Quaternary dune fields of North America revisited. Quaternary Science Reviews 171, 260–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muhs, D.R., Lancaster, N., Skipp, G.L., 2017. A complex origin for the Kelso Dunes, Mojave National Preserve, California, USA: a case study using a simple geochemical method with global applications. Geomorphology 276, 222–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munroe, J.S., Gorin, A.L., Stone, N.N., Amidon, W.H., 2017. Properties, age, and significance of dunes near Snow Water Lake, Elko County, Nevada. Quaternary Research 87, 24–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, A.S., Wintle, A.G., 2000. Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radiation Measurements 32, 57–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, A.S., Wintle, A.G., 2003. The single-aliquot regenerative dose protocol: potential for improvements in reliability. Radiation Measurements 37, 377–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavlik, B.M., 1989. Phytogeography of sand dunes in the Great Basin and Mojave deserts. Journal of Biogeography 16, 227–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ponti, D.J., Blair, J.L., Rosa, C.M., Thomas, K., Pickering, A.J., Akciz, S., Angster, S., et. al., 2020. Documentation of surface fault rupture and ground deformation features produced by the Ridgecrest M6.4 and M7.1 earthquake sequence of July 4 and 5, 2019. Seismological Research Letters 91. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220190322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pye, K., Tsoar, H., 1990. Aeolian Sand and Sand Dunes. Unwin Hyman, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quade, J., 1986. Late Quaternary environmental changes in the upper Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. Quaternary Research 26, 340–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reitz, M.D., Jerolmack, D.J., Ewing, R.C., Martin, R.L., 2010. Barchan-parabolic dune pattern transition from vegetation stability threshold. Geophysical Research Letters 37, L19402. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL044957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhodes, E.J., 2015. Dating sediments using potassium feldspar single-grain IRSL: initial methodological considerations. Quaternary International 362, 14–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roquemore, G.R., Zellmer, J.T., 1987. Naval Weapons Center Active Fault Map Series, NWC TP-6828. Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, CA, 18 p., 14 maps, scale 1:24,000.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, J.S., Meyer, J., Palacios-Fest, M.R., Young, D.C., Ugan, A., Byrd, B.F., Gobalet, K., Giacomo, J., 2017. Paleohydrology of China Lake basin and the context of early human occupation in the northwestern Mojave Desert, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 167, 112–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowell, A.L.K., Thomas, D.S.G., Bailey, R.M., Holmes, P.J., 2018. Sand ramps as palaeoenvironmental archives: integrating general principles and regional contexts through reanalysis of the Klipkraal Sands, South Africa. Geomorphology 311, 103–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherrod, L.A., Dunn, G., Peterson, G.A., Kolberg, R.L., 2002. Inorganic carbon analysis by modified pressure-calcimeter method. Soil Science Society of America Journal 66, 299–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shiyuan, Z., Ju, L., Whiteman, C.D., Xindi, B., Wenqing, Y., 2008. Climatology of high wind events in the Owens Valley, California. Monthly Weather Review 136, 3536–3552.Google Scholar
St.-Amand, P., 1986. Water Supply of Indian Wells Valley, California. Naval Weapons Center Technical Publication 6404, 71 p.Google Scholar
Steinpress, M.G., Couch, R.F., McDonald, J., 1994. The China Lake barrier: a structural or stratigraphic hydrologic feature? Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 26, 95.Google Scholar
Stine, S., 1994. Extreme and persistent drought in the Sierra Nevada/Western Great Basin during Medieval time. Nature 369, 546–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson Jobe, J., Philibosian, B., Chupik, C., Dawson, T., Bennett, S.E.K., Gold, R., DuRoss, C., et al. , 2020. Evidence of previous faulting along the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake ruptures. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 110. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120200041.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomsen, K. J., Murray, A. S., Jain, M., Bøtter-Jensen, L., 2008. Laboratory fading rates of various luminescence signals from feldspar-rich sediment extracts. Radiation Measurements 43, 1474–1486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 2016. Quaternary Fault and Fold Database for the United States. https://www.usgs.gov/natural-hazards/earthquake-hazards/faults. [accessed May, 2016]Google Scholar
Wesnousky, S.G., 2005. Active faulting in the Walker Lane. Tectonics 24, TC3009. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004TC001645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, D.K., Forman, S.L., Waters, M.R., Ravesloot, J.C., 2011. Holocene eolian activation as a proxy for broad-scale landscape change on the Gila River Indian Community, Arizona. Quaternary Research 76, 10–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zellmer, J.T., Roquemore, G.R., 1997. Tectonic deformation of a supersonic naval ordnance research track, Indian Wells Valley, California. Environmental and Engineering Geoscience 3, 205–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Lancaster et al. supplementary material

Lancaster et al. supplementary material

Download Lancaster et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 3.2 MB