Pervasive Desiccation of North American Lakes During the Late Quaternary

Sedimentary records of lake‐level fluctuations have long provided unambiguous evidence of past hydrologic changes. Here, we synthesize geomorphic and sedimentological evidence of late‐Quaternary lake‐level changes across North America and show that currently moist regions were commonly drier than to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGeophysical research letters Vol. 47; no. 3
Main Authors Liefert, David T., Shuman, Bryan N.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington John Wiley & Sons, Inc 16.02.2020
Subjects
Climate change
Desiccation
Geomorphology
Humid areas
Hydroclimate
Hydrology
Lake sediments
Lakes
limnology
Moisture gradient
paleoclimate
Paleoshorelines
Quaternary
Records
Regional hydrology
Regions
Temperature variability
water resources
Water supply
North America
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Summary:Sedimentary records of lake‐level fluctuations have long provided unambiguous evidence of past hydrologic changes. Here, we synthesize geomorphic and sedimentological evidence of late‐Quaternary lake‐level changes across North America and show that currently moist regions were commonly drier than today. Many lakes across humid or snow‐dominated areas of North America were lower than today or totally desiccated for prolonged periods but rose to their current levels following climate changes in recent millennia. Maps of 173 records show that hydroclimates responded to deglacial dynamics and orbital changes but that regional hydrology changed even under the modest forcing and temperature variability of the past 8,000 years. Submerged paleoshorelines, ubiquitous across humid regions, reveal that North America's ecosystems and critical zone existed in a drier‐than‐modern state for much of the Quaternary and that continental moisture gradients often differed from today. The hydrologic changes underscore the climatic risk to many societally critical water supplies. Key Points A synthesis of water‐level changes in 173 lakes across North America shows extensive hydroclimate change during the late Quaternary Currently humid or snow‐dominated regions were commonly drier than today since the last glacial maximum Aridity was extensive across North America from 13–6 ka but shifted in distribution as factors like storm tracks responded to deglaciation
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1029/2019GL086412