Open AccessDry Climate Disconnected the Laurentian Great Lakes
Author(s) -
Lewis C. F. Michael,
King John W.,
Blasco Stefan M.,
Brooks Gregory R.,
Coakley John P.,
Croley Thomas E.,
Dettman David L.,
Edwards Thomas W. D.,
Heil Clifford W.,
Hubeny J. Bradford,
Laird Kathleen R.,
McAndrews John H.,
McCarthy Francine M. G.,
Medioli Barbara E.,
Moore Theodore C.,
Rea David K.,
Smith Alison J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2008eo520001
Subject(s) - radiocarbon dating , fell , climate change , structural basin , holocene , hydrology (agriculture) , physical geography , drainage basin , environmental science , geology , archaeology , oceanography , geography , geomorphology , cartography , paleontology , geotechnical engineering
Recent studies have produced a new understanding of the hydrological history of North America's Great Lakes, showing that water levels fell several meters below lake basin outlets during an early postglacial dry climate in the Holocene (younger than 10,000 radiocarbon years, or about 11,500 calibrated or calendar years before present (B.P.)). Water levels in the Huron basin, for example, fell more than 20 meters below the basin overflow outlet between about 7900 and 7500 radiocarbon (about 8770–8290 calibrated) years B.P. Outlet rivers, including the Niagara River, presently falling 99 meters from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario (and hence Niagara Falls), ran dry. This newly recognized phase of low lake levels in a dry climate provides a case study for evaluating the sensitivity of the Great Lakes to current and future climate change.
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