Lake Andrei: A Pliocene pluvial lake in Eureka Valley, eastern California

Knott, Jeffrey R.; Wan, Elmira; Deino, Alan L.; Casteel, Mitch; Reheis, Marith C.; Phillips, Fred M.; Walkup, Laura C.; McCarty, Kyle; Manoukian, David N.; Nunez, Ernest

doi:10.1130/2018.2536(08)

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Pliocene lake sediments crop out to a limited extent in several valleys east of the Sierra Nevada, California, including Death Valley (Knott et al., 2008), Searles Valley (Rittase et al., 2020), Fish Lake Valley (Reheis et al., 1993), and Eureka Valley (Knott et al., 2019) (Figure 1). From this same region, Pliocene sediment cores are only available from the KM‐3 core of Searles Valley (Liddicoat et al., 1980; Smith et al., 1983).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomarker Evidence for an MIS M2 Glacial‐Pluvial in the Mojave Desert Before Warming and Drying in the Late Pliocene

Peaple,

Bhattacharya,

Tierney

et al. 2024

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

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Ancient lake deposits in the Mojave Desert indicate that the water cycle in this currently dry place was radically different under past climates. Here we revisit a 700 m core drilled 55 years ago from Searles Valley, California, that recovered evidence for a lacustrine phase during the late Pliocene. We update the paleomagnetic age model and extract new biomarker evidence for climatic conditions from lacustrine deposits (3.373–2.706 Ma). The MBT′5Me temperature proxy detects present‐day conditions (21 ± 3°C, n = 2) initially, followed by warmer‐than‐present conditions (25 ± 3°C, n = 17) starting at 3.268 and ending at 2.734 Ma. Bacterial and archeal biomarkers reveal lake salinity increased after 3.268 Ma likely reflecting increased evaporation in response to higher temperatures. The δ13C values of plant waxes (−30.7 ± 1.4‰, n = 28) are consistent with local C3 taxa, likely expanded conifer woodlands during the pluvial with less C4 than the Pleistocene. δD values (−174 ± 5‰, n = 25) of plant waxes indicate precipitation δD values (−89 ± 5‰, n = 25) in the late Pliocene are within the same range as the late Pleistocene precipitation δD. Microbial biomarkers identify a deep, freshwater lake and a cooling that corresponds to the onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciation at marine isotope stage marine isotope stages M2 (3.3 Ma). A more saline lake persisted for ∼0.6 Ma across the subsequent warmth of the late Pliocene (3.268–2.734 Ma) before the lake desiccated at the Pleistocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomarker Evidence for an MIS M2 Glacial‐Pluvial in the Mojave Desert Before Warming and Drying in the Late Pliocene

Peaple,

Bhattacharya,

Tierney

et al. 2024

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

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“…3). Similarly, Knott et al (2019a) showed that the Quaternary lake beds mapped by McKee and Nelson (1967) at location EV (Fig. 2) are also Pliocene sandstone and conglomerate interbedded with the tuff of Zabriskie Wash (3.335 ± 0.002 Ma).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…Lower case letters (a, b, c, d, w, x, y, z) are locations from Miller (1928; Fig. 2); location EV in Eureka Valley is from Knott et al (2019). Streams emanating from the White Mountains are Cottonwood Creek (CWC), Crooked Creek (CC), Wyman Creek (WC), and Birch Creek (BC).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Knott et al (2019a) showed that the lake beds of McKee and Nelson (1967) in northwest Eureka Valley (location EV on Fig. 2) were fluvial sandstone and conglomerate (Fig.…”

Section: Geologic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3). Interbedded with the sandstone and conglomerate was a white, moderately indurated tephra bed whose glass shard composition correlates with the 3.335 ± 0.002 Ma tuff of Zabriskie Wash (Knott et al, 2019a).…”

Section: Geologic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pliocene–Pleistocene hydrology and pluvial lake during Marine Isotope Stages 5a and 4, Deep Springs Valley, western Great Basin, Inyo County, California

et al. 2023

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Deep Springs Valley (DSV) is a hydrologically isolated valley between the White and Inyo mountains that is commonly excluded from regional paleohydrology and paleoclimatology. Previous studies showed that uplift of Deep Springs ridge (informal name) by the Deep Springs fault defeated streams crossing DSV and hydrologically isolated the valley sometime after eruption of the Pleistocene Bishop Tuff (0.772 Ma). Here, we present tephrochronology and clast counts that reaffirms interruption of the Pliocene–Pleistocene hydrology and formation of DSV during the Pleistocene. Paleontology and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dates indicate a freshwater lake inundated Deep Springs Valley from ca. 83–61 ka or during Late Pleistocene Marine Isotope Stages 5a (MIS 5a; ca. 82 ka peak) and 4 (MIS 4; ca. 71–57 ka). The age of pluvial Deep Springs Lake coincides with pluvial lakes in Owens Valley and Columbus Salt Marsh and documents greater effective precipitation in southwestern North America during MIS 5a and MIS 4. In addition, we hypothesize that Deep Springs Lake was a balanced-fill lake that overflowed into Eureka Valley via the Soldier Pass wind gap during MIS 5a and MIS 4. DSV hydrology has implications for dispersal and endemism of the Deep Springs black toad (Anaxyrus exsul).

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A Pliocene lacustrine system in the Nellis basin, southern Nevada, USA: implications for the Colorado River drainage system

McLaurin,

Goossens,

Buck

et al. 2024

Journal of Sedimentary Research

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Lacustrine basins and the sediments within them provide a critical component of regional tectonic development and climate history. Each sub-basin in the landscape records the interplay between active tectonism and shifting climate. Many of the basins in southern Nevada that contain deposits of the Muddy Creek Formation were closed fluvio-lacustrine systems during the latest Miocene and into the Pliocene. They were subsequently integrated into the regional Colorado River system. Lacustrine deposits of the Muddy Creek Formation are exposed along the trace of the Las Vegas Valley shear zone in the Nellis Dunes Recreation Area (NDRA), northeast of Las Vegas, NV. The Muddy Creek Formation in NDRA consists of approximately 130 m of mixed carbonates and clastics, and new tephrochronology suggests an early to late Pliocene age (about 4.7 to about 2.6 Ma) for the lowermost lacustrine deposits and an unknown, but younger age for the uppermost spring-fed lacustrine deposit. These sediments were deposited in an arid to semi-arid lake (Lake Nellis) and alluvial floodplain system based on the interpretation of lithologies and facies associations. The stratigraphic succession coarsens upward and reflects establishment of a lacustrine carbonate system overlain by a clastic succession of peripheral lake sediments of alluvial and floodplain origin. The peripheral lake deposits consist of spring-fed and fluvial wetland mudflats of brown claystone and siltstone. This brown claystone is capped by a succession of yellow and red sandstones deposited by fluvial and minor eolian processes. The second, and youngest freshwater limestone, likely disconformably, overlies the yellow and r ed sandstones, and is thought to be temporally and depositionally distinct from the underlying Muddy Creek deposits. The transition from the lower lacustrine carbonates to clastic fluvial channel and flood plain deposits indicates desiccation of Lake Nellis and possibly occurs soon after about 2.7 to about 2.6 Ma based on the ages of tuffs occurring within the uppermost limestone and marl beds. This is consistent with an interpreted increase in regional aridity after approximately 2.8 Ma (Smith et al. 1993). The second limestone deposit at the top of the section represents an even younger spring/lacustrine deposit of unknown age. Throughout the lower carbonate section, three tuffs were identified, and geochemically correlated, using a discriminant function analysis, to the tuff of Napa (≤ 4.70 ± 0.03 Ma), the Putah Tuff (about 3.3 Ma) and the lower tuffs of the Badlands ( about 2.7 – about 2.6 Ma). The timing of deposition of Lake Nellis sediments post-dates the integration of the three major lake syste ms in this region (Lake Grand Wash, Lake Hualapai, and Lake Las Vegas) into the Colorado River drainage (5.6 – 4.9 Ma), and also postdates the full integration of the river to sea level (4.8 - 4.63 Ma) (Howard et al. 2015; Crow et al. 2021). Lake Nellis represents an isolated lake basin that was one, and maybe the last, lacustrine system to be fully integrated into the Colorado River drainage in this region.

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Lake Andrei: A Pliocene pluvial lake in Eureka Valley, eastern California

Cited by 5 publications

References 25 publications

Biomarker Evidence for an MIS M2 Glacial‐Pluvial in the Mojave Desert Before Warming and Drying in the Late Pliocene

Biomarker Evidence for an MIS M2 Glacial‐Pluvial in the Mojave Desert Before Warming and Drying in the Late Pliocene

Pliocene–Pleistocene hydrology and pluvial lake during Marine Isotope Stages 5a and 4, Deep Springs Valley, western Great Basin, Inyo County, California

A Pliocene lacustrine system in the Nellis basin, southern Nevada, USA: implications for the Colorado River drainage system

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