TESTING LATE-PLEISTOCENE THROUGH LATE-HOLOCENE CLIMATE VARIABILITY IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA AS PRESERVED IN SEDIMENTS FROM BLUE LAKE, SNOWY MOUNTAINS, AUSTRALIA

Continuous records of glacial-to-interglacial transition in the Southern Hemisphere are sparse, particularly in the mainland of Australia. What constraints exist (mostly from outside Australia) suggest that the transition was erratic and out-of-phase with similar changes in the Northern Hemisphere (e.g., Pedro et al., 2015). In particular, the strength of the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR) remains uncertain and poorly constrained in and around Australia. Similarly, little is know about the potential climate shifts in the region related to late-Holocene climate changes in the region. Blue Lake, a 320 ha tarn in Kosciuszko National Park, provides an excellent site to constrain climate during both these intervals. The lake occupies the cirque of a small Pleistocene valley glacier that was deglaciated by 17-18 ka; previous coring in the 1970's indicates that the lake contains >7 m of continuous post-glacial sediments that record both local environmental conditions as well as regional dust fluxes.

At the meeting, we will present the preliminary analyses of sediment cores being collected in mid-July, 2016, using a livingstone corer supplied to us by Herb Wright. Our analyses will include an age model based on AMS 14C dating of macrofossils, detailed sedimentology, and chironomid-based lake temperatures. These results promise to provide the most detailed record of post-LGM climate fluctuations yet established in southeastern Australia. As such, they should help test regional climatic synchrony between Australia and similar records from New Zealand and Patagonia, as well as test potential teleconnections between the southwest Pacific and the northeast Pacific.