Introduction to “Holocene water levels and paleo-hydrology of the Laurentian Great Lakes”

Abstract

The glacial Great Lakes in central eastern North America co-existed with the recession of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) from *14.0 to 9.5 (17.0 to 10.9 cal) ka BP as the ice margin receded from south of the Lake Erie basin (\41 N) to north of the Lake Superior basin ([49 N). Until recent decades the conventional view of the post-glacial Great Lakes was that of a long period of relatively stable water levels controlled by their outflow at basin outlet sills. In this collection of papers, evidence and understanding of the Holocene post-glacial Great Lakes are advanced mainly in terms of their responses to Holocene changes in climate, and to inflow and drainage from upstream water bodies still in contact with the residual LIS. Lake levels as a function of climate