Holocene multidecadal and multicentennial droughts affecting Northern California and Nevada

Abstract

Continuous, high-resolution d 18 O records from cored sediments of Pyramid Lake, Nevada, indicate that oscillations in the hydrologic balance occurred, on average, about every 150 years (yr) during the past 7630 calendar years (cal yr). The records are not stationary; during the past 2740 yr, drought durations ranged from 20 to 100 yr and intervals between droughts ranged from 80 to 230 yr. Comparison of tree-ring-based reconstructions of climate change for the past 1200 yr from the Sierra Nevada and the El Malpais region of northwest New Mexico indicates that severe droughts associated with Anasazi withdrawal from Chaco Canyon at 820 cal yr BP (calendar years before present) and final abandonment of Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and the Kayenta area at 650 cal yr BP may have impacted much of the western United States.During the middle Holocene (informally defined in this paper as extending from 8000 to 3000 cal yr BP), magnetic susceptibility values of sediments deposited in Pyramid Lake's deep basin were much larger than late-Holocene (3000-0 cal yr BP) values, indicating the presence of a shallow lake. In addition, the mean d 18 O value of CaCO 3 precipitated between 6500 and 3430 cal yr BP was 1.6m less than the mean value of CaCO 3 precipitated after 2740 cal yr BP. Numerical calculations indicate that the shift in the d 18 O baseline probably resulted from a transition to a wetter (>30%) and cooler (3-51C) climate. The existence of a relatively dry and warm middle-Holocene climate in the Truckee RiverPyramid Lake system is generally consistent with archeological, sedimentological, chemical, physical, and biological records from various sites within the Great Basin of the western United States. Two high-resolution Holocene-climate records are now available from the Pyramid and Owens lake basins which suggest that the Holocene was characterized by five climatic intervals. TIC and d 18 O records from Owens Lake indicate that the first interval in the early Holocene (11,600-10,000 cal yr BP) was characterized by a drying trend that was interrupted by a brief (200 yr) wet oscillation centered at 10,300 cal yr BP. This was followed by a second earlyHolocene interval (10,000-8000 cal yr BP) during which relatively wet conditions prevailed. During the early part of the middle Holocene (8000-6500 cal yr BP), high-amplitude oscillations in TIC in Owens Lake and d 18 O in Pyramid Lake indicate the presence of shallow lakes in both basins. During the latter part of the middle Holocene (6500-3800 cal yr BP), drought conditions dominated, Owens Lake desiccated, and Lake Tahoe ceased spilling to the Truckee River, causing Pyramid Lake to decline. At the beginning of the late Holocene (B3000 cal yr BP), Lake Tahoe rose to its sill level and Pyramid Lake increased in volume. r

Climatic controls on fire-induced sediment pulses in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho: a long-term perspective

“…The latter period falls in a period between 900 and 1200 A.D. of unusually warm spells and locally extreme droughts in the northern hemisphere, often termed the Medieval Warm Period (Lamb, 1977;Hughes and Diaz, 1994;Stuiver and others, 1995;Crowley, 2000;Esper et al, 2002). Widespread and severe multidecadal droughts occurred in the western USA during this interval (Stine, 1994;Woodhouse and Overpeck, 1998;Benson et al, 2002). The former period corresponds to the Roman warm period identified in European climate history (Lamb, 1977) and Atlantic region paleoclimatic records (Bianchi and McCave, 1999;McDermott et al, 2001;Bond et al, 2001).…”

Middle Holocene climate change and human population dispersal in western North America

“…The stratigraphic data is corroborated by pollen (sedge/ cattail) and algae (Pediastrum/Botryococcus) spectra indicating that the most brackish conditions in Tulare Lake occurred in the Middle Holocene, with especially poor conditions between 5500-4500 cal yr BP. Through the Holocene, inferred lake levels correlate well between Tulare, Pyramid, and Owens Lakes (Benson et al, 2002;see Negrini et al, 2006, Fig. 12).…”

“…Relatively wet conditions occurred during the remaining Early Holocene (10,000-8000 cal yr BP). Under these conditions, Lake Tahoe fed Pyramid Lake via the Truckee River and a substantial body of water existed in the Owens Lake Basin (Benson et al, 2002). A drying trend between 8000-6500 cal yr BP is suggested as lake sizes declined in both basins.…”

“…High-resolution d 18 O and total inorganic carbon (TIC) records from Pyramid and Owens Lake basins reveal at least five distinctive climatic episodes in western North America during the Holocene (Benson et al, 2002;Fig. 3;see Fig.…”

“…Three distinct cycles are present in the Middle Holocene with warming between 8200-6300 and 5800-3800 cal yr BP, punctuated by a cool interval from 6300 to 5800 cal yr BP. The coldest SSTs during (Kennett and Ingram, 1995b;Huesser and Sirocko, 1997;Kennett and Kennett, 2000); (2) Leonard Rockshelter pollen sequence (Byrne et al, 1979); (3) Ruby Valley pollen record (Thompson, 1992); (4) Archeological pollen sequences (Masters and Gallegos, 1997); (5) Late Holocene tree ring record, coastal Southern California (Larson and Michaelson, 1989); (6) Santa Rosa Island pollen sequence (Cole and Liu, 1994); (7) Union pollen spectra (Morgan et al, 1991); (8) Bristlecone pine tree ring record (LaMarche, 1973(LaMarche, , 1974Graumlich, 1996, 2000); (9) Lake Tahoe submerged tree stump record (Lindstro¨m, 1990); (10) Southern Great Basin black mat records (Quade et al, 1998); (11) Owens Lake (Benson et al, 2002); (12) Pyramid Lake (Benson et al, 2002); (13) Tulare Lake geomorphology and pollen records (Negrini et al, 2006); (14) Buena Vista Lake and Elk Hills geomorphology (Culleton et al, 2005).…”