Last glacial maximum and Holocene lake levels of Owens Lake, eastern California, USA

Stratigraphic investigations of fluvio-deltaic and lacustrine sediments exposed in stream cuts, quarry walls, and deep trenches east of the Sierra Nevada in Owens Valley near Lone Pine, California have enabled the reconstruction of pluvial Owens Lake level oscillations. Age control for these sediments is from 22 radiocarbon (C-14) dates and the identification and stratigraphic correlation of a tephra, which when plotted as a function of age versus altitude, define numerous oscillations in the level of pluvial Owens Lake during the latest Pleistocene and early Holocene. We have constructed a lake-level altitude curve for the time interval similar to 27,000 cat yr BP to present that is based on the integration of this new stratigraphic analysis with published surface stratigraphic data and subsurface core data. Pluvial Owens Lake regressed from its latest Pleistocene highstands from similar to 27,000 to similar to 15,300 cal yr BP, as recorded by similar to 15 m of down cutting of the sill from the altitudes of similar to 1160 to 1145 m. By similar to 11,600 cat yr BP, the lake had dropped similar to 45 m from the 1145 m sill. This lowstand was followed by an early Holocene transgression that attained a highstand near 1135 m before dropping to 1120 m at 7860-7650 cat yr BP that had not been recognized in earlier studies. The lake then lowered another similar to 30 m to shallow and near desiccation levels between similar to 6850 and 4300 cat yr BP. Fluvial cut-and-fill relations north of Lone Pine and well-preserved shoreline features at similar to 1108 m indicate a minor lake-level rise after 4300 cat yr BP, followed by alkaline and shallow conditions during the latest Holocene. The new latest Quaternary lake-level record of pluvial Owens Lake offers insight to the hydrologic balance along the east side of the southern Sierra Nevada and will assist regional paleoclimatic models for the western Basin and Range. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.