Fish Remains from Homestead Cave and Lake Levels of the Past 13,000 Years in the Bonneville Basin

A late Quaternary ichthyofauna from Homestead Cave, Utah, provides a new source of information on lake history in the Bonneville basin. The fish, represented by 11 freshwater species, were accumulated between 11,200 and 1000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. by scavenging owls. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of Lake Bonneville varied with its elevation; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values of fish from the lowest stratum of the cave suggest they grew in a lake near the terminal Pleistocene Gilbert shoreline. In the lowest deposits, a decrease in fish size and an increase in species tolerant of higher salinities or temperatures suggest multiple die-offs associated with declining lake levels. An initial, catastrophic, post-Provo die-off occurred at 11,300–11,200 ¹⁴C yr B.P. and was followed by at least one rebound or recolonization of fish populations, but fish were gone from Lake Bonneville sometime before 10,400 ¹⁴C yr B.P. This evidence is inconsistent with previous inferences of a near desiccation of Lake Bonneville between 13,000 and 12,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Peaks in Gila atraria frequencies in the upper strata suggest the Great Salt Lake had highstands at 3400 and 1000 ¹⁴C yr B.P.