A 6000 year water level history of Europe Lake, Wisconsin, USA

• Published in: Journal of paleolimnology Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 175 - 183
• Main Authors: Miller, Barry B, Schneider, Allan F, Smith, Alison J, Palmer, Donald F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Nature B.V 01.02.2000
• Subjects: European history; Evaporation; Fluctuations; Freshwater; Groundwater; Groundwater discharge; Holocene; Lake basins; Lakes; Local precipitation; Mollusks; North America, Michigan L; Organic carbon; Oxygen isotopes; USA, Wisconsin, Europe L; Water level fluctuations; Water levels; Water table; USA, WIsconsin, Europe L
• ISSN: 0921-2728; 1573-0417
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1008009805511

Europe Lake occupies a small, closed, basin that would have been an embayment in Lake Michigan during the high water level events in the larger lake. Cores recovered from the lake reveal late Holocene water level fluctuations in the basin that are inferred from changes in taxa and abundance of molluscs, ostracodes, magnetic susceptibility, organic carbon, and oxygen isotopes. Non-glacial, Holocene lacustrine/paludal sedimentation in this portion of the Europe Lake basin started after 6600 RCYBP and was probably initiated by a rise in the water table of the deep bedrock aquifer, during the Nipissing transgression in Lake Michigan. Isotopically light ground water from this source was probably a major contributor during this phase to the negative δ^sup 18^O spikes in Valvata tricarinata and Amnicola limosa. The start of stable lacustrine conditions is marked by maximum diversity of ostracode and mollusc taxa and a shift toward much more positive δ^sup 18^O values. The Europe Lake basin at this time became an embayment of Lake Michigan. This event was probably coeval with the peak of the Nipissing transgression, when the water plane reached an altitude of about 183 m. The isolation of Europe Lake from Lake Michigan started at about 2390 RCYBP and is probably due to a drop in water level in Lake Michigan and/or to isostatic uplift of the Door Peninsula. Since isolation from Lake Michigan, water levels in Europe lake have been controlled primarily by fluctuations in local precipitation, evaporation and ground water discharge.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]