Dry Climate Disconnected the Laurentian Great Lakes

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Print Version (584440 bytes) EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 89, NO. 52, doi:10.1029/2008EO520001, 2008 Dry Climate Disconnected the Laurentian Great Lakes C. F. Michael Lewis Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), Natural Resources Canada, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia John W. King University of Rhode Island (URI), Narragansett, USA Stefan M. Blasco Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), Natural Resources Canada, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Gregory R. Brooks Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), Ottawa, Ontario John P. Coakley Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario Thomas E. Croley II U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Ann Arbor, Mich., USA David L. Dettman University of Arizona, Tucson, USA Thomas W. D. Edwards University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Clifford W. Heil Jr. University of Rhode Island (URI), Narragansett, USA J. Bradford Hubeny Salem State College, Salem, Mass., USA Kathleen R. Laird Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada John H. McAndrews University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Francine M. G. McCarthy Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada Barbara E. Medioli Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), Ottawa, Ontario Theodore C. Moore Jr. University of Michigan, USA David K. Rea University of Michigan, USA Alison J. Smith Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA Abstract 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. Published 23 December 2008. Index Terms: 1655 Global Change: Water cycles (1836); 9345 Geographic Location: Large bodies of water (e.g., lakes and inland seas) (0746); 1836 Hydrology: Hydrological cycles and budgets (1218, 1655). Print Version (584440 bytes) Citation: Lewis, C. F. M., et al. (2008), Dry Climate Disconnected the Laurentian Great Lakes, Eos Trans. AGU, 89(52), doi:10.1029/2008EO520001. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

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