Evidence of mid-Holocene climate instability from variations in carbon burial in Seneca Lake, New York

Abstract

The amounts and types of carbon delivered to the sediments Seneca Lake, New York, have varied since the middle Holocene. Concentrations of CaCO3 first fluctuate between 14 and 6% around 7 ka before decreasing erratically until about 5 ka and then remain 2% in younger sediments. Because the amount of calcite that precipitates in hard-water lakes is related to summertime thermal stratification, the carbonate fluctuations suggest that cyclic strengthening and weakening of seasonality at intervals of about three centuries accompanied the end of the Holocene Hypsithermal in northeast North America. Organic C/total N values record short, decade-long intervals of enhanced delivery of land-plant material during episodes of wetter climate that are independent of the temperature variations. Higher organic δ13C values indicate that recent fertilization of lake waters from soil disturbance and land-derived runoff has increased aquatic productivity.