Early Holocene Great Salt Lake
Shorelines and surficial deposits (including buried forest-floor mats and organic-rich wetland sediments) show that Great Salt Lake did not rise higher than modern lake levels during the earliest Holocene (11.5–10.2 cal ka BP; 10–9 14C ka BP). During that period, finely laminated, organic-rich muds (sapropel) containing brine-shrimp cysts and pellets and interbedded sodium-sulfate salts were deposited on the lake floor. Sapropel deposition was probably caused by stratification of the water column — a freshwater cap possibly was formed by groundwater, which had been stored in upland aquifers during the immediately preceding late-Pleistocene deep-lake cycle (Lake Bonneville), and was actively discharging on the basin floor. A climate characterized by low precipitation and runoff, combined with local areas of groundwater discharge in piedmont settings, could explain the apparent conflict between evidence for a shallow lake (a dry climate) and previously published interpretations for a moist climate in the Great Salt Lake basin of the eastern Great Basin.
Citation Information
Publication Year | 2015 |
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Title | Early Holocene Great Salt Lake |
DOI | 10.1016/j.yqres.2015.05.001 |
Authors | Charles G. Oviatt, David B. Madsen, David M. Miller, Robert S. Thompson, John P. McGeehin |
Publication Type | Article |
Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
Series Title | Quaternary Research |
Index ID | 70187424 |
Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |
USGS Organization | Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center |