A 180,000-year pollen record from Owens Lake, CA: terrestrial vegetation change on orbital scales

Abstract

Pollen from the upper 90 m of core OL-92 from Owens Lake is a climatically sensitive record of vegetation change that indicates shifts in the plant associations representing warm and cold desertscrub, pinyon–juniper woodland, and pine–fir forest during the past 180,000 years. These changes are synchronized with glacial–interglacial cycles. During glacial and stadial climates, juniper woodland expanded downslope and replaced warm desert shrubs while upper montane and subalpine forests in the arid Inyo Mountains also expanded, and those in the Sierra Nevada were displaced by the ice cap and periglacial conditions. Conversely, during interglacial and interstadial climates, warm desert plants expanded their range in the lowlands, juniper and sagebrush retreated upslope, and montane and subalpine forests expanded in the Sierra Nevada. The reconstructed vegetation history demonstrates a regional climatic response, and the congruence of the pollen sequence with marine and ice cap oxygen isotope stratigraphies suggests a link between regional vegetation and global climate change at orbital scales.

Glacial-interglacial climate changes recorded by debris flow fan deposits, Owens Valley, California

“…Juniperus abundance in particular is highly correlated with orbital climate 298 shifts captured by δ 18 O records (Woolfenden, 2003) and is shown in Fig. 5d.…”

“…Owens Lake cores, Juniperus and other tree pollen dominate from 26 to 18 ka, before 296 declining from 18 to 10 ka as the drying climate allowed desert scrub to dominate 297 (Woolfenden, 2003). Juniperus abundance in particular is highly correlated with orbital climate 298 shifts captured by δ 18 O records (Woolfenden, 2003) and is shown in Fig.…”

“…Temperatures may also have been ~10 °C lower than 305 modern averages (Quade et al, 2003). This was followed by a rapid decrease in Juniperus 306 pollen in Owens Lake cores between 126-130 ka (Woolfenden, 2003), and a rise in 307 temperature indicated by the Devil's Hole δ 18 O curve, placing the local last interglacial at 120 308 to 130 ka (Winograd et al, 2006). 309 therefore have distinct gravel channels bound by coarse, boulder-rich lateral levees exhibiting 330 upward-coarsening (Fig.…”

Climate and hillslope degradation vary in concert; 85 ka to present, eastern Sierra Nevada, CA, USA

“…In the present case study it was found that current erosion rates reflect the lowest sediment mobility in the 85 ka lifespan of the Mono Basin moraine as shown through the results of the substitution method. However, due to evidence in published literature from proxy climate records in the broader region (Owen et al, 2003;Woolfenden, 2003;Licciardi et al, 2004;Thackray, 2008;Reheis et al, 2014), past climate shifts at the glacial/interglacial scale affected regional landscapes at different times and with different impacts. Therefore, time-dependent diffusivities vary by region as well.…”

Summary of the Snowmastodon Project Special VolumeA high-elevation, multi-proxy biotic and environmental record of MIS 6–4 from the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site, Snowmass Village, Colorado, USA

“…Among others, these include Bear Lake, Owens Lake, Carp Lake, Clear Lake, Hybla Valley, and several marine sites off the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts (Adam et al, 1981;Adam and Robinson, 1988;Whitlock and Bartlein, 1997;Heusser, 2000;Lyle et al, 2001;Pisias et al, 2001;Heusser and Oppo, 2003;Woolfenden, 2003 2013). These studies generally found a correlation of terrestrial climate and ecological-proxy data, particularly the pollen records, with data from the deep-sea and ice-core records.…”