A multi-proxy paleolimnological reconstruction of Holocene climate conditions in the Great Basin, United States

Abstract

A sediment core spanning ∼ 7000 cal yr BP recovered from Stella Lake, a small sub-alpine lake located in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, was analyzed for subfossil chironomids (non-biting midges), diatoms, and organic content (estimated by loss-on-ignition (LOI)). Subfossil chironomid analysis indicates that Stella Lake was characterized by a warm, middle Holocene, followed by a cool “Neoglacial” period, with the last two millennia characterized by a return to warmer conditions. Throughout the majority of the core the Stella Lake diatom-community composition is dominated by small, periphytic taxa which are suggestive of shallow, cool, alkaline, oligotrophic waters with extensive seasonal ice cover. A reconstruction of mean July air temperature (MJAT) was developed by applying a midge-based inference model for MJAT (two-component WA-PLS) consisting of 79 lakes and 54 midge taxa (rjack2 = 0.55, RMSEP = 0.9°C). Comparison of the chironomid-inferred temperature record to existing regional paleoclimate reconstructions suggests that the midge-inferred temperatures correspond well to regional patterns. This multi-proxy record provides valuable insight into regional Holocene climate and environmental conditions by providing a quantitative reconstruction of peak Holocene warmth and aquatic ecosystem response to these changes in the Great Basin, a region projected to experience increased aridity and higher temperatures.

Five millennia of paleotemperature from tree-rings in the Great Basin, USA

“…Other paleotemperature proxy records from the Great Basin region often extend farther back into the Holocene than our record, but with less than annual resolution. These proxy archives, such as lacustrine and meadow sediment cores, packrat middens, and glacial moraine dynamics (Thompson et al 1994;Clark and Gillespie 1997;Smith and Betancourt 2006;Reinemann et al 2009) are in general agreement with our results, recording higher temperatures during the middle Holocene. Unfortunately, the other proxy archives lack the resolution to be effectively compared to our results in detail.…”

Long-term landscape changes in a subalpine spruce-fir forest in central Utah, USA

“…Emerald Lake Morris et al 2013a), Purple Lake (PL; Morris et al 2013b), Potato Lake (POL; Anderson 1993), and Stella Lake (SL; Reinemann et al 2009). Location and forest inventory plots within the catchments of Emerald Lake (1007 and 1008) and Blue Lake (2005, 2006, and 2007) are also depicted.…”

Early Holocene Great Salt Lake, USA

“…The fluctuation histories of the many closed-basin lakes of the Great Basin in western North America have been widely used for climatic reconstructions (e.g., Fritz et al, 2001;Benson et al, 2003;Reinemann et al, 2009) and for the development of climate models that explain those climatic changes (e.g., Hostetler and Bartlein, 1999;Orme, 2008;Lyle et al, 2012;Mensing et al, 2013). However, the Holocene histories of many of these lakes are poorly known, particularly for the early Holocene, limiting the reliability of a number of these reconstructions.…”