Mono Basin climate changes correlative withNorth Atlantic Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillations

Susan ZimmermanLawrence Livermore Nat’l. Lab.

Corinne HartinRSMAS- U Miami

Crystal PearlQueens College,CUNY

Stephanie SearleColumbia University

Sidney HemmingColumbia/LDEO

Gary HemmingQueens College, CUNY

Dennis KentRutgers U/LDEO Wilson Creek Formation Type Section

Talk outline:1. Mono Basin, California2. Lake-level indicators

• Low-resolution: physical stratigraphy• High-resolution: CaCO3

3. Wilson Creek Formation Age Control4. Correlation to regional & global records

• Santa Barbara Basin• Greenland

N

Owens Lake

Mono 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 deep-lake sediments ( )

-19 ash layers for intra-basin correlation

Late Pleistocene Wilson Creek Formation~

7 m

tota

l hei

ght

Alluvial gravels below unconformity

Laminated silts:Dropstones:Ostracodes:

SEM photos: Neil Tibert, U Mary Wash.

Lajoie’s Mono Lake:

Total: 68 stratigraphic columns, plus Paoha Island

ED

AB

Three periods of generally higher lake level:Marker Sequences D/E, C, A

Lajoie (1968)

But, a relatively low-resolution record...

at Mono Lake, high CaCO3 deposition = high lake level

Benson et al. (1998)

Nw

eigh

t % C

O3

O-is

otop

es

closed

spilling

Bischoff et al. (1997)

Owens Lake

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

Benson et al. (1998)

Spliced from South Shore

Key question:When??

CaCO3(generally) a whole-lake

signal –confirmed

with replicate sections at

South Shore and Warm

Springs

Radiocarbon and Ar/Ar constraintsRadiocarbon:

Lajoie (1968)-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)

Kent et al. (2002) -40Ar/39Ar dates sanidines in Ashes 8, 15, 16

050

100150200250300350400450500550600650700

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70age (calendar ka)

stra

tigra

phic

hei

ght (

cm)

radiocarbonleached radiocarbonAr/Ar

Ashes:

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) Bischoff et al. (1997)Benson et al. (1998)

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

Correlation of the excursions at Mono Lake and Laschamp does not exclude a directional excursion at 34 ka

ODP 919 (Irminger Basin) Channell (2006)

Paleointensity lows/ cosmogenic nuclide peaks do not require a directional excursion!

Paleointensity lows/ cosmogenic nuclide peaks do not require a directional excursion!

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

wei

ght %

CO

3O

-isot

opes

closed

spilling

Bischoff et al. (1997)

Owens Lake

unlike at

Owens Lake…

Lajoie (1968) Benson et al. (1998)

Mono Lake paleointensity stack:

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)

Zimmerman et al. (2006) EPSL

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70GISP2 age (ka)

sed

rate

(cm

/kyr

)

RPI tie-pointsWilson CreekSouth Shore

Mono

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

RPI

GLOPIS

-202468

10121416

20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70GISP2 age (ka)

VAD

M

A

Elevation (masl)

2155m 2195m

Lundy

Lee Vining

Bloody

Parker

Rush/ Reversed

Creek

Correlation of Mono Lake to GLOPIS:

Laschamp

Mono Lake300350400450500

n W

ilson

Cre

ek (c 14C residue

5-7

89-14

wei

ght

% C

O3

O-

isot

opes

Owens Lake

RPI chronology:

•Deposition begins ~67 ka

•Sedimentation rates 6-34 cm/kyr (proxy records flux-corrected)

•ML excursion = Laschamp

Control of lake level by 100-kyr and 20-kyr climate cycles:

Martinson et al. (1987) Laskar (1990) Lajoie (1968)