A Holocene pollen record of persistent droughts from Pyramid Lake, Nevada, USA

Pollen and algae microfossils preserved in sediments from Pyramid Lake, Nevada, provide evidence for periods of persistent drought during the Holocene age. We analyzed one hundred nineteen 1-cm-thick samples for pollen and algae from a set of cores that span the past 7630 years. The early middle Holocene, 7600 to 6300 cal yr B.P., was found to be the driest period, although it included one short but intense wet phase. We suggest that Lake Tahoe was below its rim for most of this period, greatly reducing the volume and depth of Pyramid Lake. Middle Holocene aridity eased between 5000 and 3500 cal yr B.P. and climate became variable with distinct wet and dry phases. Lake Tahoe probably spilled intermittently during this time. No core was recovered that represented the period between 3500 and 2600 cal yr B.P. The past 2500 years appear to have had recurrent persistent droughts. The timing and magnitude of droughts identified in the pollen record compares favorably with previously published δ¹⁸O data from Pyramid Lake. The timing of these droughts also agrees with the ages of submerged rooted stumps in the Eastern Sierra Nevada and woodrat midden data from central Nevada. Prolonged drought episodes appear to correspond with the timing of ice drift minima (solar maxima) identified from North Atlantic marine sediments, suggesting that changes in solar irradiance may be a possible mechanism influencing century-scale drought in the western Great Basin.     

Holocene environmental and climatic changes inferred from Wulungu Lake in northern Xinjiang, China

Sedimentological, geochemical and palynological data from Wulungu Lake in northern Xinjiang, China, are used to reconstruct environmental and climate changes since 9550 cal yr BP. High abundance of Sparganium and Poaceae, low Md (median diameter) and δ¹³C_organic values indicate aridity between 9550 and 6730 cal yr BP. High Md and δ¹³C_organic values, and the prevalence of desert-steppe and steppe vegetation between 4200 and 560 cal yr BP, indicate that effective moisture increased after 6730 cal yr BP, peaking at 4200 and 560 cal yr BP. Low Md values, a negative excursion of δ¹³C_org, and the transition from steppe to desert vegetation since 560 cal yr BP reflect a decrease in effective moisture during the latest Holocene. Late Holocene human activities were indicated by sharp increase in the abundance of Pediastrum then. Variations in carbonate contents indicate that temperature was generally high between 9550 and 7740 cal yr BP, low between 7740 and 6730 cal yr BP, intermediate between 6730 and 560 cal yr BP, and low during the last 560 yr. Regional comparison indicates that the Asian monsoon did not extend to Wulungu Lake and westerlies were the main factor in determining the moisture availability during the Holocene.     

Tripartite climate reversal in Central Europe 5600-5300 years ago

The history of variations in water level of Lake Constance, as reconstructed from sediment and pollen analysis of a sediment sequence from the archaeological site of Arbon-Bleiche 3, shows an abrupt rise in lake level dendrochronologically dated to 5375 yr ago (5320 yr relative to AD 1950). This event, paralleled by the destruction of the Neolithic village by fire, provoked the abandonment of this prehistoric lake-shore location established in the former shallow bay of Arbon-Bleiche, and was the last of a series of three episodes of successively higher lake level, the first occurring at 5600-5500 cal yr B.P. The dendrochronologically dated rise event was synchronous with an abrupt increase in atmospheric ¹⁴C. This supports the hypothesis of an abrupt climate change forced by varying solar activity. Moreover, the three successive episodes of higher lake level between 5600 and 5300 cal yr B.P. at Arbon-Bleiche 3 coincided with climatic cooling and/or changes in moisture conditions in various regions of both hemispheres. This period corresponds to the mid-Holocene climate transition (onset of the Neoglaciation) and suggests inter-hemispheric linkages for the climate variations recorded at Arbon-Bleiche 3. This mid-Holocene climate reversal may have resulted from complex interactions between changes in orbital forcing, ocean circulation and solar activity. Finally, despite different seasonal hydrological regimes, the similarities between lake-level records from Lake Constance and from Jurassian lakes over the mid-Holocene period point to time scale as a crucial factor in considering the possible impact of climate change on environments.     

Millennial-scale climate changes on South Georgia, Southern Ocean

The location of South Georgia (54°S, 36°W) makes it a suitable site for the study of the climatic connections between temperate and polar environments in the Southern Hemisphere. Because the mass balance of the small cirque glaciers on South Georgia primarily responds to changes in summer temperature they can provide records of changes in the South Atlantic Ocean and atmospheric circulation. We use grey scale density, weight-loss-on-ignition, and grain size analyses to show that the proportion of glacially eroded sediments to organic sediments in Block Lake was highly variable during the last 7400 cal yr B.P. We expect that the glacial signal is clearly detectable above noise originating from nonglacial processes and assume that an increase in glacigenic sediment deposition in Block Lake has followed Holocene glacier advances. We interpret proglacial lake sediment sequences in terms of summer climate warming and cooling events. Prominent millennial-scale features include cooling events between 7200 and 7000, 5200 and 4400, and 2400 and 1600 cal yr B.P. and after 1000 cal yr B.P. Comparison with other terrestrial and marine records reveals that the South Georgian record captures all the important changes in Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate. Our results reveal a tentative coupling between climate changes in the South Atlantic and North Atlantic because the documented temperature changes on South Georgia are anti-phased to those in the North Atlantic.     

Rhone River flood deposits in Lake Le Bourget: a proxy for Holocene environmental changes in the NW Alps, France

The Holocene evolution of Rhone River clastic sediment supply in Lake Le Bourget is documented by sub-bottom seismic profiling and multidisciplinary analysis of well-dated sediment cores. Six high-amplitude reflectors within the lacustrine drape can be correlated to periods of enhanced inter- and underflow deposition in sediment cores. Based on the synthesis of major environmental changes in the NW Alps and on the age-depth model covering the past 7500 years in Lake Le Bourget, periods of enhanced Rhone River flood events in the lake can be related to abrupt climate changes and/or to increasing land use since c. 2700 cal. yr BP. For example, significant land use under rather stable climate conditions during the Roman Empire may be responsible for large flood deposits in the northern part of Lake Le Bourget between AD 966 and 1093. However, during the Little Ice Age (LIA), well-documented major environmental changes in the catchment area essentially resulted from climate change and formed basin-wide major flood deposits in Lake Le Bourget. Up to five 'LIA-like' Holocene cold periods developing enhanced Rhone River flooding activity in Lake Le Bourget are documented at c. 7200, 5200, 2800, 1600 and 200 cal. yr BP. These abrupt climate changes were associated in the NW Alps with Mont Blanc glacier advances, enhanced glaciofluvial regimes and high lake levels. Correlations with European lake level fluctuations and winter precipitation regimes inferred from glacier fluctuations in western Norway suggest that these five Holocene cooling events at 45°N were associated with enhanced westerlies, possibly resulting from a persistent negative mode of the North Atlantic Oscillation.     

A record of Holocene climate change from lake geochemical analyses in southeastern Arabia

Lacustrine sediments from southeastern Arabia reveal variations in lake level corresponding to changes in the strength and duration of Indian Ocean Monsoon (IOM) summer rainfall and winter cyclonic rainfall. The late glacial/Holocene transition of the region was characterised by the development of mega-linear dunes. These dunes became stabilised and vegetated during the early Holocene and interdunal lakes formed in response to the incursion of the IOM at approximately 8500 cal yr BP with the development of C3 dominated savanna grasslands. The IOM weakened ca. 6000 cal yr BP with the onset of regional aridity, aeolian sedimentation and dune reactivation and accretion. Despite this reduction in precipitation, the lake was maintained by winter dominated rainfall. There was a shift to drier adapted C4 grasslands across the dune field. Lake sediment geochemical analyses record precipitation minima at 8200, 5000 and 4200 cal yr BP that coincide with Bond events in the North Atlantic. A number of these events correspond with changes in cultural periods, suggesting that climate was a key mechanism affecting human occupation and exploitation of this region.     

Climate change in lowland Central America during the late deglacial and early Holocene

The transition from arid glacial to moist early Holocene conditions represented a profound change in northern lowland Neotropical climate. Here we report a detailed record of changes in moisture availability during the latter part of this transition (～11 250 to 7500 cal. yr BP) inferred from sediment cores retrieved in Lake Petén Itzá, northern Guatemala. Pollen assemblages demonstrate that a mesic forest had been largely established by ～11 250 cal. yr BP, but sediment properties indicate that lake level was more than 35 m below modern stage. From 11 250 to 10 350 cal. yr BP, during the Preboreal period, lithologic changes in sediments from deep‐water cores (>50 m below modern water level) indicate several wet–dry cycles that suggest distinct changes in effective moisture. Four dry events (designated PBE1‐4) occurred centred at 11 200, 10 900, 10 700 and 10 400 cal. yr BP and correlate with similar variability observed in the Cariaco Basin titanium record and glacial meltwater pulses into the Gulf of Mexico. After 10 350 cal. yr BP, multiple sediment proxies suggest a shift to a more persistently moist early Holocene climate. Comparison of results from Lake Petén Itzá with other records from the circum‐Caribbean demonstrates a coherent climate response during the entire span of our record. Furthermore, lowland Neotropical climate during the late deglacial and early Holocene period appears to be tightly linked to climate change in the high‐latitude North Atlantic. We speculate that the observed changes in lowland Neotropical precipitation were related to the intensity of the annual cycle and associated displacements in the mean latitudinal position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and Azores–Bermuda high‐pressure system. This mechanism operated on millennial‐to‐submillennial timescales and may have responded to changes in solar radiation, glacial meltwater, North Atlantic sea ice, and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC). Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Paleoecological and climatic changes of the Upper Lerma Basin, Central Mexico during the Holocene

The record of Almoloya Lake in the Upper Lerma basin starts with the deposition of the late Pleistocene Upper Toluca Pumice layer. The data from this interval indicate a period of climatic instability that lasted until 8500 cal yr B.P., when temperature conditions stabilized, although moisture fluctuations continued until 8000 cal yr B.P. Between 8500 and 5000 cal yr B.P. a temperate climate is indicated by dominance of Pinus. From 5000 to 3000 cal yr B.P. Quercus forest expanded, suggesting a warm temperate climate: a first indication of drier environmental conditions is an increase in grassland between 4200 and 3500 cal yr B.P. During the Late Holocene (3300 to 500 cal yr B.P.) the increase of Pinus and grassland indicates temperate dry conditions, with a considerable increase of Pinus between 1100 and 950 cal yr B.P. At the end of this period, humidity increased. The main tendency during the Holocene was a change from humid to dry conditions. During the Early Holocene, Almoloya Lake was larger and deeper; the changing humidity regime resulted in a fragmented marshland, with the presence of aquatic and subaquatic vegetation types.     

Hydrological changes in the European midlatitudes associated with freshwater outbursts from Lake Agassiz during the Younger Dryas event and the early Holocene

Recent studies of lake-level fluctuations during the last deglaciation in eastern France (Jura Mountains and Pre-Alps) and on the Swiss Plateau show distinct phases of higher water level developing at the beginning and during the latter part of Greenland Stade 1 (i.e., Younger Dryas event) and punctuating the early Holocene period at 11,250-11,050, 10,300-10,000, 9550-9150, 8300-8050, and 7550-7250 cal yr B.P. The phases at 11,250-11,050 and 8300-8050 cal yr B.P. appear to be related to the cool Preboreal Oscillation and the 8200 yr event assumed to be associated with deglaciation events. A comparison of this mid-European lake-level record with the outbursts from proglacial Lake Agassiz in North America suggests that, between 13,000 and 8000 cal yr B.P., phases of positive water balance were the response in west-central Europe to climate cooling episodes, which were induced by perturbation of the thermohaline circulation due to sudden freshwater releases to oceans. This probably was in response to a southward migration of the Atlantic Westerly Jet and its associated cyclonic track. Moreover, it is hypothesized that, during the early Holocene, varying solar activity could have been a crucial factor by amplifying or reducing the possible effects of Lake Agassiz outbursts on the climate.     

猪野泽记录的季风边缘区全新世中期 气候环境演化历史*

通过季风边缘区石羊河古终端湖猪野泽QTL剖面年代学及沉积物粒度、碳酸盐、有机碳、碳氮比和有机质稳定同位素等多项气候代用指标的综合分析,建立了季风边缘区9~3cal.kaB.P. 的古气候演化序列。结果表明,9cal.kaB.P. 到7.8cal.kaB.P. 期间,流域的水分条件和温度逐渐上升,植被状况好转,此时气候逐渐转暖湿;而在7.8~7.5cal.kaB.P. 出现了显著的百年尺度的干旱事件,沉积物主要以砂质沉积为主,此时湖泊生产力显著下降;全新世期间最为暖湿的气候适宜期出现在7.5~5.0cal.kaB.P.;约5.0cal.kaB.P. 以来,该区域出现了较为明显的干旱化趋势。另外,对猪野泽地区的白碱湖的湖泊地貌学和年代学研究表明该区域在7.5~5.0cal.kaB.P. 出现了3次高湖面,并且湖岸堤时序变化指示了全新世后半期湖泊逐渐退缩的过程进而指示该区域出现了显著的干旱化趋势。     

New data on the stratigraphy and pedology of the Clovis and Plainview sites, Southern High Plains

The well known Clovis and Plainview archaeological sites of New Mexico and Texas have yielded new data on regional late Quaternary geologic, paleoclimatic, and pedologic histories. Eolian sedimentation at the Clovis site from about 10,000 to less than 8500 yr B.P. was followed by the formation of a cumulic soil between 8500 and 5000 yr B.P. Episodic eolian and slope wash deposition then culminated in massive eolian sedimentation about 5000 yr B.P. after which a Haplustalf formed then was subsequently buried by part of a dune system within the last 1000 yr. At the Plainview site, a basal stream gravel contains Plainview cultural material (ca. 10,000 yr B.P.), which is followed by a localized early Holocene lacustrine deposit, two eolian deposits (the younger dating to about 5000 yr B.P.), and a marsh deposit which slowly accreted as an Argiustoll formed in the younger eolian unit. The data indicate that on the Southern High Plains (1) between 12,000 and 8500 yr B.P. sedimentation varied from site to site, (2) there was a regional climate change toward warming and drying in the early Holocene, (3) two episodes of severe drought apparently occurred in the middle Holocene (6500 to 4500 yr B.P.), (4) between 4500 yr B.P. and the present an essentially modern climate existed, but with several shifts toward aridity within the last 1000 yr, (5) argillic horizons have developed in late Holocene soils, (6) clay illuviation can occur in calcareous soils, and (7) long-distance correlation of Holocene stratigraphy in the region is possible, particularly with the aid of soil morphology.     

末次冰消期晚期青藏高原东北部气候变化

我国最大的内陆封闭湖泊青海湖的沉积岩芯为研究末次冰期/全新世过渡期间青藏高原东北部的环境变化和季风降水演变提供了连续高分辨率环境档案。对两孔岩芯的多学科研究结果表明:大约14000～11600aB.P.期间气候干冷,湖泊的自生碳酸盐和有机质生产率远低于全新世;季节性入湖径流量在11600aB.P.突然增大;从10700aB.P.起,夏季蒸发量突然增大,干旱化作用导致碳酸盐滩湖环境;区域降水量在10000aB.P.的增大结束了滩湖环境,标志了早全新世温暖较湿气候的开始。全新世早期的青海湖水深比现在要浅20m左右,表明那时的有效湿度显然比现在要低很多。14000～10000aB.P.期间青海湖水深不超过6m,说明在末次冰消期的这一时段中,青藏高原东北部没有形成大规模冰融水。在10700～10000aB.P.期间突发的干旱事件与西欧的新仙女木事件(YoungerDryas)年代相当,但没有气候变冷的证据。青藏高原东北部末次冰消期的气候变化表现了明显的阶段性特征和有效湿度的突然改变。区域季风降水量和夏季温度的变化决定了该过渡期的这种变化格局     

Rapid climatic changes during the Greenland stadial 1 (Younger Dryas) to early Holocene transition on the Norwegian Barents Sea coast

A pollen-based quantitative climate reconstruction from a lake-sediment core on the Norwegian Barents Sea coast provides insights about climatic change over the Greenland stadial 1 (GS-1) to early-Holocene transition. GS-1 was characterized by low July mean temperatures ( c . 6.0°C) and dry conditions probably resembling modern arctic deserts. The increase in July mean temperatures to the Holocene level (10.0-12.0°C) took place in a two-step pattern interrupted by a short cool period with July mean temperatures of c . 8.0°C during the early Preboreal at c . 11450-11200 cal. yr BP. The reconstruction also suggests two other early-Holocene coolings of c . 1.5°C, dating to 10900-10800 cal. yr BP and 10400-10200 cal. yr BP, synchronously with short-term decreases in δ18 O values in the Greenland ice cores. These results reflect the highly unstable nature of the early-Holocene climate in northernmost Fennoscandia. Apart from the cooling at 10900-10800 cal. yr BP, the reconstructed cold events correlate with fluxes of fresh water to the North Atlantic and related reductions of North Atlantic deep-water formation, suggesting that the rapid climate changes resulted from the dynamics of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation and oceanic energy transport during the GS-1 to early-Holocene transition.     

Holocene aridity and storm phases, Gulf and Atlantic coasts, USA

A bottomland flora that prevailed between 9900 and 6000 cal yr B.P. in a North Carolina stream valley may not reflect a regionally much wetter Atlantic climate, coeval with record drought in the Great Plains region and assumed dry Gulf coastal conditions. Such conditions were inferred for 6000 ± 1000 yr ago when the Bermuda High may have consistently occupied summer positions far to the NE. Arid episodes coeval with the Little River local wet interval are known from eolian sediments and pollen spectra in the Atlantic and the Gulf coastal plain. For multiple reasons, the regional extent, intensity, and duration of coastal aridity and alternating wet phases and the Bermuda High positions are not yet adequately constrained. The climate and edaphic causes for the steadily growing predominance of southern pines over hardwoods, achieved between 8900 and 4200 cal yr B.P. at different sites at different times are similarly still unresolved. New data from Shelby Lake, AL, reconfirms that no credible field or other proxy evidence exists for a previously postulated “catastrophic Gulf hurricane phase” in the late Holocene.     

Pollen- and Diatom-Inferred Climatic and Hydrological Changes in Sumxi Co Basin (Western Tibet) since 13,000 yr B.P.

Although the Tibetan Plateau greatly influences the atmospheric circulation of the Nortbern Hemisphere, few continuous paleoclimatic records are available from the plateau. A 13,000-yr pollen and diatom record from the Sumxi-Longmu Co basin in western Tibet gives information on major changes both in regional vegetation and in local hydrology. After the basin first filled ca. 13,000 yr B.P., a dry spell occurred about 10,500 yr B.P. within the interval spanned by the European Younger Dryas chronozone. A major environmental change occurred suddenly at ≈10,000 yr B.P., with the establishment of wet conditions, and was followed by a long-term trend toward maximum aridity, which lasted approximately 6000 yr. Short-term oscillations are superimposed on this general climatic change with a major reversal event about 8000 yr B.P. and a second wet pulse leading to a maximum lake volume ca. 7500-6000 yr B.P. Maximum aridity occurred 4300 yr B.P. The major environmental fluctuations recorded at Sumxi-Longmu Co appear in phase with climatic changes recognized in north tropical Africa, suggesting that the 8000 to 7000-yr-B.P. event was caused by an abrupt disequilibrium in the climatic system, as was the Younger Dryas and possibly the 4300-yr-B.P. event.     

Variations in Sediment Yield from the Upper Doubs River Carbonate Watershed (Jura, France) since the Late-Glacial Period

The Upper Doubs River Valley is a 910-km²watershed feeding into Lake Chaillexon. The lake was formed by a natural rockfall at the end of the Bølling Chronozone (around 14,250 cal yr B.P.) and since then has trapped material eroded from the watershed. The filling process and variations in sediment yield have been investigated by mechanical coring, seismic surveys, and electric soundings. The detrital sediment yield of the upstream watershed can be calculated by quantifying the sedimentary stocks for each climatic stage of the Late-Glacial period and Holocene Epoch and estimating the lake's entrapment capacity. This enables us to determine the intensity of the erosion processes in relation to climate and environmental factors. The Bølling–Allerød Interstade produced the greatest yields with mean values of 19,500 metric tons per calendar year (t/yr). The Younger Dryas Chronozone saw a sharp fall (8900 t/yr) that continued into the Preboreal (2100 t/yr). Clastic supply increased during the Boreal (4500 t/yr) before declining again in the Early Atlantic (2400 t/yr). Since then, yields have risen from 4500 t/yr in the Late Atlantic to 6800 t/yr in the Subboreal and 11,100 t/yr in the Subatlantic. Comparison of quantitative data with the qualitative analysis of the deposits and with the paleohydrologic curve of the watershed based on level fluctuations in lakes around Chaillexon shows that climate was the controlling factor of sediment yield until the Late Atlantic. From the Late Atlantic–Subboreal around 5400 cal yr B.P. (4700¹⁴C yr B.P.) and especially from the end of the Subboreal Chronozone and during the Subatlantic Chronozone (2770 cal yr B.P./2700¹⁴C yr B.P.–present) climatic constraints have been compounded by human activity related to forest clearing and land use.     

Late-glacial and Holocene vegetation and climatic history of the Cass Basin, central South Island, New Zealand

Lithology, pollen, macrofossils, and stable carbon isotopes from an intermontane basin bog site in southern New Zealand provide a detailed late-glacial and early Holocene vegetation and climate record. Glacial retreat occurred before 17,000 cal yr B.P., and tundra-like grassland–shrubland occupied the basin shortly after. Between 16,500 and 14,600 cal yr B.P., a minor regional expansion of forest patches occurred in response to warming, but the basin remained in shrubland. Forest retreated between 14,600 and 13,600 cal yr B.P., at about the time of the Antarctic Cold Reversal. At 13,600 cal yr B.P., a steady progression from shrubland to tall podocarp forest began as the climate ameliorated. Tall, temperate podocarp trees replaced stress-tolerant shrubs and trees between 12,800 and 11,300 cal yr B.P., indicating sustained warming during the Younger Dryas Chronozone (YDC). Stable isotopes suggest increasing atmospheric humidity from 11,800 to 9300 cal yr B.P. Mild (annual temperatures at least 1°C higher than present), and moist conditions prevailed from 11,000 to 10,350 cal yr B.P. Cooler, more variable conditions followed, and podocarp forest was completely replaced by montane Nothofagus forest at around 7500 cal yr B.P. with the onset of the modern climate regime. The Cass Basin late-glacial climate record closely matches the Antarctic ice core records and is in approximate antiphase with the North Atlantic.     

A 10,000-year high-resolution diatom record from Pilkington Bay, Lake Victoria, East Africa

A new diatom record from Lake Victoria’s Pilkington Bay, subsampled at 21- to 25-year intervals and supported by 20 AMS dates, reveals a ∼10,000 calendar year environmental history that is supported by published diatom and pollen data from two nearby sites. With their chronologies adjusted here to account for newly documented ancient carbon effects in the lake, these three records provide a coherent, finely resolved reconstruction of Holocene climate change in equatorial East Africa. After an insolation-induced rainfall maximum ca. 8800-8300 cal yr B.P., precipitation became more seasonal and decreased abruptly ca. 8200 and 5700 yr B.P. in apparent association with northern deglaciation events. Century-scale rainfall increases occurred ca. 8500, 7000, 5800, and 4000 yr B.P. Conditions after 2700 yr B.P. were generally similar to those of today, but major droughts occurred ca. 1200-600 yr B.P. during Europe’s Medieval Warm Period.     

Late-Glacial Vegetation and Climate Change in Western Oregon

Pollen records from two sites in western Oregon provide information on late-glacial variations in vegetation and climate and on the extent and character of Younger Dryas cooling in the Pacific Northwest. A subalpine forest was present at Little Lake, central Coast Range, between 15,700 and 14,850 cal yr B.P. A warm period between 14,850 and 14,500 cal yr B.P. is suggested by an increase inPseudotsugapollen and charcoal. The recurrence of subalpine forest at 14,500 cal yr B.P. implies a return to cool conditions. Another warming trend is evidenced by the reestablishment ofPseudotsugaforest at 14,250 cal yr B.P. Increased haploxylonPinuspollen between 12,400 and 11,000 cal yr B.P. indicates cooler winters than before. After 11,000 cal yr B.P. warm dry conditions are implied by the expansion ofPseudotsuga.A subalpine parkland occupied Gordon Lake, western Cascade Range, until 14,500 cal yr B.P., when it was replaced during a warming trend by a montane forest. A rise inPinuspollen from 12,800 to 11,000 cal yr B.P. suggests increased summer aridity.Pseudotsugadominated the vegetation after 11,000 cal yr B.P. Other records from the Pacific Northwest show an expansion ofPinusfrom ca. 13,000 to 11,000 cal yr B.P. This expansion may be a response either to submillennial climate changes of Younger Dryas age or to millennial-scale climatic variations.     

Late Quaternary stratigraphy and geochronology of the western Killpecker Dunes, Wyoming, USA

New stratigraphic and geochronologic data from the Killpecker Dunes in southwestern Wyoming facilitate a more precise understanding of the dune field’s history. Prior investigations suggested that evidence for late Pleistocene eolian activity in the dune field was lacking. However, luminescence ages from eolian sand of ∼15,000 yr, as well as Folsom (12,950-11,950 cal yr B.P.) and Agate Basin (12,600-10,700 cal yr) artifacts overlying eolian sand, indicate the dune field existed at least during the latest Pleistocene, with initial eolian sedimentation probably occurring under a dry periglacial climate. The period between ∼13,000 and 8900 cal yr B.P. was characterized by relatively slow eolian sedimentation concomitant with soil formation. Erosion occurred between ∼8182 and 6600 cal yr B.P. on the upwind region of the dune field, followed by relative stability and soil formation between ∼5900 and 2700 cal yr B.P. The first of at least two latest Holocene episodes of eolian sedimentation occurred between ∼2000 and 1500 yr, followed by a brief (∼500 yr) episode of soil formation; a second episode of sedimentation, occurring by at least ∼700 yr, may coincide with a hypothesized Medieval warm period. Recent stabilization of the western Killpecker Dunes likely occurred during the Little Ice Age (∼350-100 yr B.P.). The eolian chronology of the western Killpecker Dunes correlates reasonably well with those of other major dune fields in the Wyoming Basin, suggesting that dune field reactivation resulted primarily due to departures toward aridity during the late Quaternary. Similar to dune fields on the central Great Plains, dune fields in the Wyoming Basin have been active under a periglacial climate during the late Pleistocene, as well as under near-modern conditions during the latest Holocene.