LAKE SEDIMENT RECORDS OF HOLOCENE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE FROM THE NORTH CASCADES, WASHINGTON
ABBOTT, Mark B.1, NELSON, Dan2, POLISSAR, Pratigya1, RIEDEL, Jon3, and FINNEY, Bruce4, (1) Department of Geosciences, Univ of Massachusetts, Morrill Science Center, Amherst, MA 01003, mabbott@geo.umass.edu, (2) School of Natural Sciences, Hampshire College, P.O. Box 5001, Amherst, 01002, (3) North Cascades National Park, 7280 Ranger Station Road, Marblemount, WA 98267, (4) Institute of Marine Science, Univ of Alaska, Fairbanks, 99775

The goal of this regional-scale project is to document temperature and moisture balance changes during the Holocene with special attention to high-resolution studies for the last 2000 yr. Sediment cores were collected from six lakes located on a transect across the rain shadow of the North Cascades from glaciated watersheds that receive >200cm/yr in the west to closed basin lakes that receive <30cm/yr in the east. Paleoclimate reconstructions are based on an integrated methodology that combines sedimentary analyses of core transects from shallow to deep water with laboratory analyses of fine-scale sediment features, sediment magnetic characteristics, elemental and isotopic geochemistry, and diatoms. Modern calibration studies are used to supplement our down-core work. Continuous sequences of authigenic carbonate preserved in the sediments of Twin Lakes are being used for oxygen-18 studies (also see Nelson et al., this session). AMS 14C chronologies are supported by tephra analyses and 210Pb profiles. Initial results suggest a warm dry middle Holocene with the onset of colder and possibly wetter conditions after ~4000 yr B.P.

Northeastern Section - 36th Annual Meeting (March 12-14, 2001)
Session No. 32
Paleolimnological Records of Holocene Climate Change II
Sheraton Burlington: Emerald Salon II
1:30 PM-2:50 PM, Tuesday, March 13, 2001
 

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