Mono Basin climate changes correlative with
North Atlantic Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillations
Susan Zimmerman
Lawrence Livermore Nat’l. Lab.
Corinne Hartin
RSMAS- U Miami
Crystal Pearl
Queens College,CUNY
Stephanie Searle
Columbia University
Sidney Hemming
Columbia/LDEO
Gary Hemming
Queens College, CUNY
Dennis Kent
Rutgers U/LDEO
Wilson Creek Formation Type Section
Talk outline:
1. Mono Basin, California
2. Lake-level indicators
•
Low-resolution: physical stratigraphy
•
High-resolution: CaCO3
3. Wilson Creek Formation Age Control
4. Correlation to regional & global records
•
Santa Barbara Basin
•
Greenland
N
Mono Lake
Owens
Lake
Mono Lake, CA
-salinity 80g/L, pH ~10
-unusually isolated
hydrological basin
-direct water and
sediment input from
Sierras
-excellent exposures of
the late Pleistocene deeplake sediments ( )
-19 ash layers for intrabasin correlation
Late Pleistocene Wilson Creek Formation
~ 7 m total height
Laminated silts:
Ostracodes:
Dropstones:
SEM photos:
Neil Tibert, U Mary Wash.
Alluvial gravels below unconformity
Lajoie’s Mono Lake:
Total: 68 stratigraphic columns, plus Paoha Island
B
A
E
D
Three periods of generally higher lake level:
Marker Sequences D/E, C, A
But, a relatively
low-resolution
record...
Lajoie (1968)
at Mono Lake, high CaCO3 deposition = high lake level
Benson et al. (1998)
weight % CO3
O-isotopes
N
Owens Lake
closed
spilling
Bischoff et al. (1997)
Owens Lake sill height = 60 m
Mono Lake sill height = 300 m
Tufa tower near modern spring
at Mono Lake
at Mono Lake, high CaCO3 deposition = high lake level
Spliced from
South Shore
Benson et al. (1998)
Key
question:
When??
CaCO3
(generally) a
whole-lake
signal –
confirmed
with replicate
sections at
South Shore
and Warm
Springs
stratigraphic height (cm)
Radiocarbon and Ar/Ar constraints
700
650
600
550
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Ashes:
Radiocarbon:
Lajoie (1968)-
radiocarbon
leached radiocarbon
Ar/Ar
2 14C dates (ostracodes)
Benson et al. (1990)–
13+ 14C dates (ostracodes,
tufa, crusts, nodules)
Kent et al. (2002) –
17 14C leaches (crusty &
clean ostracodes, nodules)
Ar/Ar:
Chen et al. (1996) –
40Ar/39Ar
dates (sanidines in
Ashes 5 & 12)
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
age (calendar ka)
Kent et al. (2002) 40Ar/39Ar
dates sanidines in
Ashes 8, 15, 16
Mono Basin paleointensity-based age model
(Zimmerman et al. 2006, EPSL)
•Relative paleointensity
(NRM/IRM) measured on type
and South Shore outcrops
•“stacked” record constrained
by radiometric ages
•Base <74 ka (MIS 5-4
boundary)
•Correlation to GLOPIS =
GISP2 chronology w/errors
estimated
Control of lake level by large-scale climate
variations:
What about correlatives to
millennial-scale events??
Martinson et al. (1974)
Berger (1978)
Lajoie (1968)
Benson et al. (1998)
Bischoff et al. (1997)
Dansgaard-Oeschger correlatives at Mono Lake?
Global D-O correlatives
warmer
Greenland
wetter
Venezuela
warmer
Pacific
CB –Peterson et al.
(2000)
SBB – Hendy and
Kennett (2000)
wetter
Mono Basin
Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
as D-O teleconnector
http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8q_1.html
¾Correlation of the excursions at Mono Lake and
Laschamp does not exclude a directional
excursion at 34 ka
¾Paleointensity lows/
cosmogenic nuclide
peaks do not require a
directional excursion!
ODP 919 (Irminger Basin) Channell (2006)
St-Onge et al. (2003)
Estimation of error:
•3 stacks + 3 records;
all on GISP2 age model
•10 of 14 Mono-GLOPIS
tie-points identified
•2-sigma deviation of
each point in six curves
Lajoie’s stratigraphy with Benson’s data:
high lake = high carbonate
unlike at
weight % CO3
O-isotopes
Owens Lake…
Owens Lake
closed
spilling
Bischoff et al. (1997)
Lajoie (1968)
Benson et al. (1998)
Mono Lake
paleointensity stack:
Zimmerman et al. (2006) EPSL
1. South Shore (SS)
correlated to Wilson
Creek (WC)
2. 5-point running mean
calculated
3. Error bars =
standard deviation of
five points
4. Comparison to
Liddicoat & Coe
(1979)
VADM
20
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
25
30
35
GISP2 age (ka)
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
GLOPIS
2.5
Mono
2
1
RPI
1.5
0.5
35
30
sed rate (cm/kyr)
0
RPI tie-points
Wilson Creek
South Shore
25
-0.5
20
15
10
5
0
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
GISP2 age (ka)
55
60
65
70
A
2155m 2195m
Elevation (masl)
Lundy
Lee
Vining
Bloody
Parker
Rush/
Reversed
Creek
Correlation of Mono Lake to GLOPIS:
RPI chronology:
n Wilson Creek (c
weight
% CO3
Oisotopes
Laschamp
500
450
400
Mono Lake350
300
•Deposition begins
~67 ka
•Sedimentation rates
Lake (proxy
6-34Owens
cm/kyr
recordsCflux-corrected)
residue
14
•ML excursion =
Laschamp
5-7
8
9-14
Control of lake level by 100-kyr and 20-kyr climate cycles:
Martinson et al. (1987)
Laskar (1990)
Lajoie (1968)