Abstract
EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION,
VOL. 89, NO. 52,
PAGE 541, 2008
doi:10.1029/2008EO520001
FEATURE
Dry Climate Disconnected the Laurentian Great Lakes
Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), Natural Resources Canada, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
University of Rhode Island (URI), Narragansett
GSC, Dartmouth
GSC, Ottawa, Ontario
Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Ann Arbor, Mich.
University of Arizona, Tucson
University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
URI
Salem State College, Salem, Mass.
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
GSC, Ottawa
University of Michigan
University of Michigan
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
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.
Citation: (2008), Dry Climate Disconnected the Laurentian Great Lakes, Eos Trans. AGU, 89(52), 541, doi:10.1029/2008EO520001.
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