The overall goal of our research on Bear Lake is to obtain records of past climate
change for the region, including changes in precipitation (rain and snow)
patterns during the last 10,000 years and longer. As part of the project,
we are attempting to determine how the size of Bear Lake has varied in
the past in order to assess the possibility of future flooding and drought.
We also seek to understand human influences on sediment deposition, chemistry,
and life in the lake.
Evidence of past environmental conditions comes from sediments deposited in the
lake, so reconstructions of these conditions require accurate dating
of the sediments. The study includes the upper Bear River watershed as
well as Bear Lake. The Bear River is the largest river in the Great Basin
and the source of the majority of water flowing into the Great Salt Lake.
In this region, wet periods may produce flooding along the course of
the Bear River and around Great Salt Lake, while dry periods, or droughts,
may affect water availability for ecosystems, as well as for agricultural,
industrial, and residential use.
Here we report the results of radiocarbon analyses of sediments in several cores
from Bear Lake and compare the radiocarbon ages with independently estimated
ages derived from amino acid analyses in ostracodes. We develop age models
for each core to form the chronological framework for other paleoenvironmental
studies.
Version 1.0
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| Posted September 2005 |
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