Hydrologic Closure Research Articles

Lithological and Geochemical Characteristics of Miocene Lacustrine Stromatolites from the Wudaoliang Formation in the Hoh Xil Basin, Northern Tibetan Plateau: Implications for the Paleo-environment

Miocene is an important period for the development of global stromatolites. The petrological and geochemical characteristics of stromatolite (dense and porous) laminae record the changes in paleo-environment, from a drilling hole, ZK-1 at Wudaoliang in the Hoh Xil Basin, Northern Tibetan Plateau. Based on the drilling core observations, these lacustrine stromatolites are hummocky, stratiform, or domelike in shape. The stromatolites consist of dense laminae (microspar-rich) and porous laminae (microcrystalline). The oxygen isotopes suggest that these stromatolites in the Wudaoliang Formation formed in a relatively warm environment which was suitable for stromatolite growth. The isotopic variation of lacustrine stromatolites indicates the periodic hydrological closure and opening of the Miocene Hoh Xil Basin. Most of the trace elements (Ba, Pb, Th, U, Hf, Y, V, Cr, Cu, Co, Ni, and Zn) are relatively depleted in the upper continental crust. And, the rare earth elements (REE) show a slight negative Eu anomaly. The Sr/Ba and B/Ga ratios are used as paleo-salinity proxy as well, together with the results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), showing that the stromatolites tended to exist in the condition of decreased salinity. Meanwhile, the arid-dominated climate of the Miocene is more suitable for stromatolite development during the Cenozoic.

Geological evolution of a tectonic and climatic transition zone: the Beyşehir-Suğla basin, lake district of Turkey

Central-west Turkey is a transition zone both tectonically and climatically between the quite different central and western regions of Anatolia. Central Anatolia represents the seismically quiet part of the otherwise highly active Turkey. On the other hand, this region has some of the lowest precipitation and highest evaporation ratios of Turkey. Conversely, west Anatolia is one of the most rapidly extending regions of the world and seismically very active. The climate is very different from the central part of Turkey and more humid. The zone between these two regions is also known geologically as the Isparta Angle. This reverse-V-shaped fold and thrust belt has several lake basins today, which have archived the geological and geomorphological history of this tectonic and climatic transition zone. The Beysehir-Sugla basin is located on the eastern part of this zone. This NW–SE trending basin includes the largest natural freshwater lake of the Mediterranean region: Lake Beysehir. Lakes Beysehir and Sugla are located in this tectonic depression that discharge into an incised river gorge opening to the Konya closed basin. In order to shed light on the development of the Beysehir-Sugla basin, our study was mainly conducted within the Neogene and Quaternary units of the region. Our structural results indicate that the depression was probably formed by a transtensional regime in the middle Miocene, which is controlled by extensional tectonics since the early Quaternary. Also, the current depression has mainly embodied the structures that are the products of these tectonic phases. According to our sedimentary data and palaeoecological interpretation of available palaeontological data, the Beysehir-Sugla basin was developed initially under a humid and warm climate in the middle Miocene; then since the late Miocene-Pliocene it was controlled by a relatively more arid and, at times, humid climate more like the central Anatolian basins. Although the Beysehir-Sugla basin is hydrologically connected to the Konya closed basin in central Anatolia, it was protected from arid climatic conditions for over millions of years as evidenced by the lack of evaporites in the studied basin and surrounding basins located in the interior part of the Isparta Angle. While the regional climate seems to have changed consistently with the geomorphic response to large-scale tectonics (i.e. orographic barrier development), the Beysehir-Sugla basin seems to be protected from hydrological closure by the existence of karstic features in the surrounding carbonate basement rocks.

Lake basin closure and episodic inflow as recorded by radiogenic Sr isotopes: Eocene Green River Formation in the Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado

Lacustrine basins are excellent archives of lake evolution, and deposits record the uplift and weathering histories of the surrounding terrain. The application of Sr isotopes has been tested in several lacustrine basins, both modern and ancient, based on the premise that lakes are well mixed, and shifting Sr isotopes may suggest changes in lake provenance. In the Eocene lacustrine Green River Formation in the Piceance Creek Basin of Colorado, Sr isotope analysis of carbonate mudstones indicates that radiogenic Sr in the center of the Piceance lake decreased during the evolution of the lake, from 52.8–48.4 Ma. Because deposition in the basin center occurred away from the influence of episodic alluvial inflow at the basin margin, Sr isotope evolution in the Piceance lake after basin closure is recorded in the John Savage #24-1 core deposits, not the Anvil Points deposits. Sr isotope analysis of carbonate mudstones at Anvil Points below 55 m shows fluctuating radiogenic Sr values that record episodic inflow from the White River Uplift. This inflow is responsible for the difference in radiogenic Sr trends recorded between the basin center and margin. Above 55 m, fluctuating Sr isotope values at Anvil Points record episodic inflow from the White River Uplift, without inflow of Paleozoic and Mesozoic carbonates. The boundary at 55 m records the hydrologic closure of the Uinta and Piceance lakes around 52 Ma, when lake level lowered beneath the basin sill and the lakes were no longer connected across the Douglas Creek Arch. A significant increase in radiogenic Sr across the 55-m-boundary records this transition from open to closed hydrology, reflecting a loss of dissolved Sr sourced from Paleozoic and Mesozoic carbonates.

Ecohydrological evolution of Lake Naivasha (central Rift Valley, Kenya) during the past 1650 years, as recorded by ostracod assemblages and stable-isotope geochemistry

Lake Naivasha (central Rift Valley, Kenya) is regionally unique in having accumulated a continuous sediment record of climate-driven palaeohydrological change over the past 1650 years, attesting to dramatic shifts between freshwater high-stands and either fresh or saline low-stands. This study employs fossil ostracod assemblages and stable-isotope (δ18O and δ13C) signatures to disclose the lake's ecohydrological history and explain the evolving non-linearity between lake level and salinity. The original age model and lithology-based lake-level reconstruction are revised, and the diatom-inferred salinity reconstruction is expanded to the lower (pre-770 CE) part of the record. The stable-isotope time series showed limited coherence with the other proxies, probably due to complexities related to hydrological connections between different surface- and groundwater components shifting through time. Ostracod palaeoecological data indicate that between ca 350 and 1200 CE the system often veered towards hydrological closure, with frequent and high-amplitude shifts in lake level and salinity preventing long-term establishment of wetland vegetation. Low lake-level and saline conditions dominated between ca 900 and 1200 CE. After that time and particularly since the onset of more permanent Malewa River inflow ca 1430 CE, hydrologically open conditions prevailed. Salinity shifts exhibited lower amplitude and frequency, promoting the expansion of wetland vegetation and associated biota including benthivorous fish. With lake water balance strongly influenced by variation in river inflow, high-amplitude lake-level fluctuations continued throughout the freshwater phase of the past 600 years, notably creating a pronounced high-stand dated to ca 1600–1780 CE and the well-documented extreme low-stand of the early 1800s.

Extreme aridity prior to lake expansion deciphered from facies evolution in the Miocene Ili Basin, south‐east Kazakhstan

AbstractCentral Asia witnessed progressive aridification during the Miocene, commonly related to mountain uplift, the Paratethys retreat and global climate cooling. However, the formation of Miocene lakes in Central Asia seems to oppose drier conditions, suggesting that the precise timing, extent and forcing of the aridification is still not well constrained. This study presents a facies model for the alluvial–lacustrine part of the Middle to Late Miocene of the Ili Basin, obtained from two successions. The model enables the semi‐quantitative assessment of regional water level and salinity, and characterizes the control of water level on evaporite formation and diagenesis. Both the proximal Kendyrlisai and the distal Aktau successions show an overall increase in water availability from dry mudflat deposits to lacustrine sedimentation with a transitional playa phase. Increasing evaporation rates outpaced the water supply and caused groundwater salinization. Subsequent lake expansion coincided with a basin‐wide desalinization and required a shift to a positive water budget. A climatic control of the hydrological evolution is inferred due to abrupt salinization and a minor tectonic influence. The long‐term water accumulation is probably related to the hydrological closure of the basin in the early Middle Miocene (15·3 Ma). Starting at 14·3 Ma, the step‐wise salinization occurred simultaneously with the global cooling of the Miocene Climate Transition. The Miocene Climate Transition led to extreme aridity in the Ili Basin, highlighted by the early diagenetic formation of displacive anhydrite in the basin centre. The expansion of the freshwater lake (12·7 to 11·5 Ma) was possibly promoted by lower evaporation rates due to decreasing air temperatures in the Ili Basin after the Miocene Climate Transition. The extreme aridity in the Ili Basin is interpreted as a continental counterpart to the Badenian Salinity Crisis in the Central Paratethys. This emphasizes the role of atmospheric forcing on evaporite sedimentation across Eurasia during the Middle Miocene.

Hinterland drainage closure and lake formation in response to middle Eocene Farallon slab removal, Nevada, U.S.A.

Hinterland basins can accumulate high resolution archives of orogenic processes and continental climate, but are challenging to reconstruct due to tectonic overprinting and the inherent complexity of their lithofacies assemblages. The Cordilleran hinterland of northeast Nevada has been interpreted to have overlain a flattened Farallon slab from the Late Cretaceous to Eocene. Slab removal and advection of asthenospheric mantle beneath Nevada have been invoked to explain a southwestward migrating wave of Eocene to Oligocene volcanism and proposed as a driver for topographic uplift. However, the timing of slab removal and possible subsequent delamination of North American lithospheric mantle can only ambiguously be related to the surface record. Subsequent Neogene extension and basin filling has complicated the correlation and interpretation of strata that record these events. Here we apply single crystal sanidine 40Ar/39Ar geochronology to 26 ash beds in northeast Nevada to reconstruct Paleogene geographic and hydrologic evolution. We use these ages and legacy geochronology to compare lithofacies and isotope proxy records of meteoric waters to regional tectonics and global climate, and assess competing tectonic interpretations for lake basin formation. Lakes formed locally prior to ca. 48.7 Ma in northeast Nevada, coeval with foreland lakes of the Green River Formation. The most expansive phase of lacustrine deposition resulted in onlap onto locally derived fluvial deposits and folded Paleozoic bedrock, and occurred between ca. 43.4 and ca. 40.8 Ma. Elko Formation strata exhibit a basin-wide transition from fluvial-lacustrine to fluctuating profundal lithofacies at ca. 42.7 Ma, suggesting a shift towards regional hydrologic closure. The stromatolitic upper Elko Formation is intercalated with ash fall tuffs and several partially welded to unwelded ignimbrites from increasingly proximal volcanism. Elko Formation deposition ended by ca. 40.4 Ma. 40Ar/39Ar ages for seven ash beds in the Dead Horse Formation at Copper Basin in northern Elko County indicate intermittent ash bed deposition between 45.2 Ma and 38.6 Ma, and an episode of lacustrine deposition between 39.8 Ma and 38.6 Ma that post-dates the main phase of Lake Elko. δD values of volcanic glass sampled from dated ash beds reflect changes in the hydrogen isotope compositions of local Eocene waters, and systematically vary by 80–102‰ according to their depositional environment. The Elko Formation and overlying volcanic strata are overlain regionally by a pronounced unconformity of ∼20 m.y. In the Copper Basin area, deposition continued locally into the Oligocene in the hanging wall of a ductile detachment. The geochronologic and isotopic framework presented here permits reanalysis of the Piñon Range carbonate proxy record that was previously interpreted to record both regional uplift and the middle Eocene climatic optimum. New data suggest instead that isotope values of hydration waters within the Elko Formation were strongly influenced by evaporation, and a change from lacustrine to non-lacustrine conditions can account for the δ18O shift that was interpreted to reflect regional uplift. Moreover, the end of Elko Formation deposition predated the middle Eocene climatic optimum. We interpret the overall record of drainage ponding and paleovalley inundation, progressively more evaporative lacustrine conditions, increasingly proximal volcanism, and subsequent prolonged unconformity to reflect the surface effects of progressive NE to SW removal of the Farallon slab.

Spatial and temporal variability of lake ontogeny in south-western Greenland

Holocene palaeolimnological records of diatoms and β carotene (a proxy for aquatic production) from four lakes in the low Arctic region of south-western Greenland were used to investigate the role of climate on lake ontogeny. Two of the lakes are located in the maritime, coastal region near Sisimiut and two inland close to the head of Kangerlussuaq fjord, where there is a more continental climate. Diatom records from the four lakes (AT1, AT4, SS1381, SS8) had similar long-term ontogeny trends, independent of climatic setting and the changes are interpreted as responses to first order weathering controls on catchment/lake chemistry. Short-term excursions from these broad trends occurred in one coastal site (AT4) caused by intense erosion of the steep catchment, and at inland sites where temporary hydrological closure and lake level decline occurred during the mid-Holocene (∼8000 – 5000 cal a BP). Algal production (as β carotene) was more closely and consistently correlated with climatic changes; it peaked during the mid-Holocene, the warmest period of the Holocene, at all sites and there were transient increases in production in inland lakes during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age because of fertilization through increased aeolian dust deposition. A synthesis of seven palaeolimnological records from this region identified that only the mid-Holocene was correlated with diatom stratigraphic zones and there was considerable among-site variability in later Holocene lake response to climate forcing in this area. Comparable long-term trends in species assemblage turnover (DCA/CA axis 1 scores) clearly demonstrate that lakes have predictable ontogeny trends in this region, characterised by maximum alkalinity and nutrient availability in the first few millennia followed by progressive oligotrophication and alkalinity loss. However, individual lake and catchment characteristics (lake morphology, catchment geomorphology), when modified by climatic change (vegetation cover, erosion, weathering rates, aeolian dust deposition, lake level) can diverge from this ontogeny template leading to complex ecological transitions in lakes from this region.

Paleoproductivity and organic matter sources in Late Quaternary Lake Ontario

Abstract We have examined δ 13 C of ostracode valves and clam shells, carbon and nitrogen mass accumulation rates (C- and N-MAR), atomic C/N and δ 13 C OM from Lake Ontario since ~ 16,000 cal BP to evaluate the impacts of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) and regional paleohydrology on primary lacustrine productivity and sources of OM. Samples were obtained from piston cores from each of the Niagara, Mississauga and Rochester basins, which geographically span Lake Ontario from west to east. During the glacial period, variations in inputs directly from the LIS versus up-stream glacial Lake Algonquin and (or) ancient Lake Erie controlled the DIC pool in ancestral Lake Ontario. Cold and dry conditions limited primary productivity in the Ontario basin (low C/N ~ 7.5). Increased contributions of glacial meltwater from glacial Lake Algonquin during the latter stages of deglaciation provided a uniform supply of DIC to ancestral Lake Ontario and other lakes then occupying the Huron and Erie basins, stabilizing the δ 13 C DIC pool at ~− 4‰ (VPDB). Upon hydrologic closure of early Lake Ontario at the onset of post-glacial conditions (12,300 cal BP), a growing divergence between the δ 13 C of ostracode valves (decreases to − 6‰) and clam shells (increases to + 1‰) indicates differences in summer versus spring DIC pools. The end of glacial meltwater input to early Lake Ontario also made it possible to detect changes in primary lacustrine productivity using the isotopic and C/N proxies. Increasing δ 13 C OM (from ~− 29 to − 27.5‰) and low C/N (

Paleogeographic record of Eocene Farallon slab rollback beneath western North America

Eocene terrestrial strata in western North America are now dated with sufficient precision to examine the hypothesis that rollback of the Farallon flat-slab created a trenchward-migrating wave of dynamic and thermal topography. We use patterns of accumulation and unconformity, lake-type stratigraphy, and physical and isotopic provenance tools to track its migration across the Laramide foreland between 53 Ma and 47 Ma. Hydrologic ponding and coincident unconformity development began at 53 Ma, culminating at 51.8 Ma in the hydrologic closure of an ∼900,000 km2 area between the Cordilleran and Rocky Mountain divides. Four subsequent stream diversions and a southwest-expanding regional unconformity record trenchward migration of uplift. From 50 to 47 Ma, volcaniclastic detritus from magmatic centers coincident with the uplifted region progressively filled the Green River Formation lakes from north to south. These findings are consistent with recent numerical and conceptual models of slab rollback that predict initial dynamic subsidence above the slab hinge, followed by uplift and volcanism triggered by influx of asthenosphere beneath the overriding plate. Based on the surface record, rollback proceeded systematically at a rate of ∼6 cm/yr across the Wyoming craton from 53 to 47 Ma, resulting in removal of the entire Shatsky-conjugate oceanic plateau from the base of the North American lithosphere.

Early Pleistocene lake formation and hominin origins in the Turkana–Omo rift

Prior research has correlated the formation of Plio-Pleistocene lakes in East Africa to global/regional climate changes and interpreted the lacustrine basins as significant settings of hominin evolution. Paleo-Lake Lorenyang from the Turkana–Omo rift is important to these issues, as its marginal deposits contain some of, if not the earliest currently known specimens of Acheulian stone tools and African Homo erectus. Magnetostratigraphic and sedimentological evidence indicates that the oldest preserved paleo-Lake Lorenyang deposits are dated at 2.148–2.128 Ma and derive from the NW Turkana basin, predating those from the Omo basin by ∼100 kyr and the NE Turkana basin by ∼190 kyr. Apparently, the lake expanded asynchronously in the rift, potentially due to a volcano-tectonic influence on the location of drainage networks, depositional slopes, or topographic elevation differences within and between the basins at the time of flooding. The onset of the lake temporally coincides with the eruption of basalt lava flows dated to 2.2–2.0 Ma that blocked the southeast outlet of the Turkana basin. This provides a plausible mechanism for hydrologic closure and lacustrine basin formation through volcano-tectonic impounding. It also points to a non-climatic cause for the initial formation of paleo-Lake Lorenyang at ∼2.14 Ma. First appearances for African H. erectus (∼1.87 Ma) and Acheulian tools (∼1.76 Ma) in the Turkana–Omo rift postdate the lake's initial formation by about 270 kyr and 380 kyr, respectively. Such timing differences contrast with studies that correlate all three to the 400-kyr-eccentricity maximum at 1.8 Ma. Although the Turkana–Omo rift is just one example, it does provide alternative insights to views that link climate, hominin evolution, and lake formation in East Africa.

Up-scaling short-term process-level understanding to longer timescales using a covariance-based approach

Abstract. General experience in hydrologic modelling suggests that the parameterisation of a model changes over different time and space scales. As a result, hydrologists often re-parameterise their models whenever different temporal or spatial resolutions are required. Here, we investigate theoretical aspects of this issue in a search for the cause(s) of the need for re-parameterisations. Based on Taylor series expansion, we present a mathematical approach for temporal up-scaling that involves covariance-based corrections. We apply the theory using a unique database of half-hourly pan evaporation measurements (comprising 237 days) and examine how the model parameters change when integrating from half-hour to daily and then monthly integration periods. We show that the model parameters change over different integration periods because of changes in the covariance between the model variables. In our model system, we find that the covariance-based correction is highly variable from day to day but settles down to a reasonably constant value over periods longer than about 15 days. The 15 days timescale is likely to be specific to our model system, nonetheless the underlying principle that there is a characteristic timescale for the covariance-based scaling correction of a particular hydrologic process might be general. If that proved true it would open up the possibility of systematically searching for characteristic integration periods for the key covariance-based scaling terms in other key hydrologic processes. That would in turn enable the development of more generalised hydrologic closure scheme(s).

Drought drove forest decline and dune building in eastern upper Michigan, USA, as the upper Great Lakes became closed basins

Current models of landscape response to Holocene climate change in midcontinent North America largely reconcile Earth orbital and atmospheric climate forcing with pollen-based forest histories on the east and eolian chronologies in Great Plains grasslands on the west. However, thousands of sand dunes spread across 12,000 km 2 in eastern upper Michigan (EUM), more than 500 km east of the present forest-prairie ecotone, present a challenge to such models. We use 65 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages on quartz sand deposited in silt caps (n = 8) and dunes (n = 57) to document eolian activity in EUM. Dune building was widespread ca. 10–8 ka, indicating a sharp, sustained decline in forest cover during that period. This decline was roughly coincident with hydrologic closure of the upper Great Lakes, but temporally inconsistent with most pollen-based models that imply canopy closure throughout the Holocene. Early Holocene forest openings are rarely recognized in pollen sums from EUM because faint signatures of non-arboreal pollen are largely obscured by abundant and highly mobile pine pollen. Early Holocene spikes in nonarboreal pollen are recorded in cores from small ponds, but suggest only a modest extent of forest openings. OSL dating of dune emplacement provides a direct, spatially explicit archive of greatly diminished forest cover during a very dry climate in eastern midcontinent North America ca. 10–8 ka.

Late Holocene paleohydrology of Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada

We have gained new insight into the dynamic late Holocene paleohydrology and paleolimnology of Kluane Lake by reconstructing lakewater δ18O using sediment cellulose as an oxygen-isotope archive. Our data suggest that the lake was regularly open hydrologically between 5000 and 1000 cal year BP, although with substantially lower water levels and with greater evaporative loss in relation to inflow than under contemporary conditions. During part of this period the lake was meromictic and may have undergone intermittent hydrologic closure, but southward drainage to the Pacific Ocean via the Alsek River system was generally maintained. Isotopic evidence confirms that Kluane Lake underwent complete hydrologic closure 430–300 cal year BP (AD 1520–1650) after a major advance of Kaskawulsh Glacier blocked southward drainage. Closure persisted as the lake overtopped the Duke River fan, initiating northward drainage to the Bering Sea via the Yukon River system. Although incision of the new outlet channel led to a rapid decline in lake level, northward discharge via the Kluane River has been maintained for the past three centuries because of abundant inflow from the Slims River. Substantial quantities of glacial meltwater and seasonal runoff continue to drain via the Slims River from Kaskawulsh Glacier and its catchment in the St. Elias Mountains. During this period Kluane River has also become an important route for migrating anadromous salmon. The modern isotope hydrology of Kluane Lake confirms that its current positive water balance is highly dependent on discharge from Slims River. Declining glacial meltwater contributions to Slims River will likely lead to lower water levels in Kluane Lake over the coming decades and possible re-establishment of intermittent or perennial hydrologic closure.

Early Holocene brackish closed basin conditions in Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada: microfossil (thecamoebian and pollen) evidence

Microfossils have been critical in unravelling the complex postglacial history of Georgian Bay. Thecamoebians (testate amoebae/rhizopods) record paleolimnological conditions, and pollen stratigraphy allows correlation across the basin, where sedimentation has been spatially and temporally discontinuous. Because parts of Georgian Bay have been non-depositional or erosional since the end of the Nipissing transgression (~5,000 (5,800 cal) BP), early Holocene features are exposed on the lakebed. Among these are shoreline features, such as submerged beaches and relict channels, associated with low-level Lake Hough that was driven far below the level of basin overflow. Cores taken throughout Georgian Bay record the existence of closed basin conditions that persisted several centuries around 7,500 (8,300 cal) BP, corresponding to the late Lake Hough lowstand. Evidence for hydrologic closure includes a low-diversity centropyxid-dominated thecamoebian fauna around the boundary between pollen subzones 2a and 2b in the Flowerpot Beach core, Flowerpot and Killarney basins, and in Severn Sound. This low-diversity centropyxid-dominated fauna is interpreted as recording the development of slightly brackish conditions as a result of a hydrologic deficit associated with relatively arid conditions in the Great Lakes basin during the early Holocene pine zone (~8,800–7,200 (9,900–8,050 cal) BP). The rest of the Holocene record in Georgian Bay (where it is preserved) is more diverse and dominated by difflugiid thecamoebians: predominantly Difflugia oblonga prior to human settlement, and Cucurbitella tricuspis since high-density human occupation and agriculture (and resulting eutrophication) began with the Wendat First Nations people around Severn Sound about 750 years ago. The implication that water budget fluctuations leading to discernible variations in lake level and water chemistry occurred in the relatively recent geologic past is significant to studies of global climate change and resource management in the Great Lakes, one of the world’s largest freshwater resources.

Early Holocene drought in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin caused hydrologic closure of Georgian Bay

Multiple proxies record aridity in the northern Great Lakes basin ~8,800–8,000 cal (8,000–7,200) BP when water levels fell below outlets in the Michigan, Huron and Georgian Bay basins. Pollen-climate transfer function calculations on radiocarbon-dated pollen profiles from small lakes from Minnesota to eastern Ontario show that a drier climate was sufficient to lower the Great Lakes, in particular Georgian Bay, to closed basins. The best modern climate analog for the early Holocene late Lake Hough stage in the Georgian Bay basin is Black Bass Lake near Brainerd MN. Modern annual precipitation at Brainerd is ~35% lower than at Huntsville ON, in the Georgian Bay catchment; warmer summers and colder, less snowy winters make Brainerd drier than the Georgian Bay snow belt. These values parallel transfer function reconstructions for the early Holocene from pollen records at five small lakes in the Georgian Bay drainage basin. Higher evaporation and evapotranspiration due to greater seasonality during the early Holocene produced a deficit in effective moisture in Georgian Bay that is recorded by the jack/red pine pollen zone that spanned ~8,800–8,200 cal (8,000–7,500) BP. This deficit drove late Lake Hough ~5 m below Lake Stanley in the Huron basin, following diversion of Laurentide Ice sheet meltwater from the Great Lakes basin. The level of Georgian Bay largely depends not on fluvial input from its own drainage basin, but rather from Lake Superior, where the early Holocene moisture deficit was greater. Reconstruction of paleoclimates in Minnesota, northwestern Ontario and Wisconsin produced a closed lake in the Superior basin, which removed the main water input to Georgian Bay. Once the inflow through the St. Marys River was reduced and inflow from other tributary streams was adjusted for isostatic and climatic differences, input was <5% of modern values. Consequent high evaporation rates produced a significant fall in lake level in the Georgian Bay basin and a negative water budget. This reduction in basin supply, together with the high conductivity of stagnant water in late Lake Hough inferred from microfossils in lowstand sediments, peaked at the end of the jack/red pine zone, ~8,300–8,200 (7,450 ± 90) BP. These major hydrologic changes resulting from climate change in the recent geologic past draw attention to possible declines of the Great Lakes under future climates.

Modeling Mediterranean lake isotope variability

Palaeorecords of lake oxygen isotope records across the Mediterranean basin show general regional trends but vary in the magnitude of variability and absolute isotope value. Theoretical models of lake isotope mass balance can help to understand and quantify these differences. Here, 5 sites from the WMO, 2004/WMO Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation, in varying climatological settings across the Mediterranean basin, are used to model the response of lakes with varying hydrology to common climate forcings. The effects of geographical location, hydrological closure, residence time and climate on lake water isotope values are investigated.

Validation and use of rainfall radar data to simulate water flows in the Rio Escondido basin

This paper presents a combined validation method of radar-sensed rainfall, using rain gauge data and hydrologic closure, with an application to the Rio Escondido basin (North-East of Mexico). The space–time scaling behavior of rainfall between rain gauge and radar scales is compared with the intrinsic variability of rainfall, for a statistical validation of space–time variability. For hydrological validation purposes, the CEQUEAU model is used to perform rainfall-runoff routing. It provides a basin-wide water balance, to be compared with the measured water flow at the Villa de Fuentes hydrometric station, for mean-value gauging closure. A good qualitative agreement in terms of hydrograph shape and timing is obtained between the simulated and the observed water flows, and a multiplicative correction factor of an initially proposed Z–R relationship is adopted for the watershed under study, which agrees approximately with other authors’ findings about that relationship. The results are considered particularly useful as a validation-and-correction methodology of radar rainfall estimates for areas sparsely covered by rain gauges.

Synorogenic evolution of large-scale drainage patterns: Isotope paleohydrology of sequential Laramide basins

In the past decade, we and others have compiled an extensive dataset of O, C and Sr isotope stratigraphies from sedimentary basins throughout the Paleogene North American Cordillera. In this study, we present new results from the Piceance Creek Basin of northwest Colorado, which record the evolving hydrology of the Eocene Green River Lake system. We then place the new data in the context of the broader Cordilleran dataset and summarize implications for understanding the synorogenic evolution of large-scale drainage patterns. The combined data reflect (1) a period of throughgoing foreland rivers heading in the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt and flowing east, (2) ponding of freshwater lakes in the foredeep as Laramide uplifts blocked drainage, (3) hydrologic closure that led to both intensive evaporation in the terminal sink of the Piceance Creek Basin and integration of catchments over length-scales &gt;1000 km, (4) infilling of basin accommodation by southward migrating magmatism in distal catchments, leading to the freshening and demise of intraforeland lakes that also stepped south over time.

δ13 C‐δ18 O Covariance: An Effective Indicator of Hydrological Closure for Lakes?

AbstractThe correlation between the δ13 C and δ18 0 in primary carbonates is affected by several factors such as hydrological balance, total CO2 concentrations, climatic condition and lake productivity. The influence of these factors on the δ13 C‐δ18 0 correlation may be different on different time scales. In this paper, two different‐type lakes in southwestern China, Lake Erhai and Lake Chenghai, are selected to investigate the influence of climatic pattern on the δ13 C‐δ18 0 correlation and to evaluate the reliability of the δ13 C‐δ18 0 covariance as an indicator of hydrological closure. The results show that there exists good correlation between the δ13 C and δ18 0 in Lake Erhai (overflowing open lake) and in Lake Chenghai (closed lake). This suggests that the δ13 C‐δ18 0 covariance may be not an effective indicator of hydrological closure for lakes, especially on short time scales. On the one hand, a hydrologically open lake may display covariant δ13 C and δ18 0 as a result of climatic influence. The particular alternate warm‐dry and cold‐wet climatic pattern in southwestern China may be the principal cause of the δ13 C‐δ18 0 covariance in Lake Erhai and Lake Chenghai. On the other hand, a hydrologically closed lake unnecessarily displays covariant trends between δ13 C and δ18 O because of the buffering effect of high CO2 concentration on the δ13 C shift in hyper‐alkaline lakes. We should be prudent when we use the covariance between δ13 C and δ18 O to judge the hydrological closure of lake.

Evolution of lakes in the Huron basin: Deglaciation to present

Water bodies, ancestral to the present lakes including Lake Huron, first appeared in the southern Great Lakes basin about 15,500 14C years (18,800 cal years) BP during the oscillatory northward retreat of the last (Laurentide) ice sheet from its maximum position south of the Great Lakes watershed. Glacial lakes, impounded by a retreating ice margin on their northern shores, were continuously present after 13,000 14C (15,340 cal) BP for 3000 14C (3900 cal) years. Drainage routings varied in time through the Erie and Michigan basins to the Mississippi River system, a probable source for colonizing aquatic organisms, then to the Ontario basin, and finally northeastward to the Ottawa River valley via the isostatically-depressed North Bay outlet by 10,000 14C (11,470 cal) BP. Water levels were generally low between 10,000 and 7500 14C (11,470 and 8300 cal) BP and may have risen several tens of metres for short periods due to overflow of meltwater from upstream subglacial reservoirs or from glacial lakes impounded by residual ice in the Hudson Bay watershed. About 8000 14C (8890 cal) BP glacial runoff bypassed the Great Lakes, and Huron basin waters descended into hydrologic closure under the influence of the early Holocene dry climate. With increasing precipitation and water supply about 7500 14C (8300 cal) BP the Huron water body again overflowed its North Bay outlet. Differential isostatic uplift (fastest to the north-northeast) raised this outlet and lake level relative to the rest of the basin. The lake finally overflowed southern outlets at Chicago and Port Huron-Sarnia by 5000 14C (5760 cal) BP (during the Nipissing highstand). Enhanced erosion of the latter outlet and continued differential uplift of the basin led to the present configuration of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.