Abstract
Sediment cores up to 6.5 m in length from the South Arm of Great Salt Lake, Utah, have been correlated. Radiocarbon ages and volcanic tephra layers indicate a record of greater than 30,000 years. A variety of approaches have been employed to collect data used in stratigraphic correlation and lake elevation interpretation; these include acoustic stratigraphy, sedimentologic analyses, mineralogy, geochemistry (major element, C, O and S isotopes, and organics), paleontology and pollen.
The results indicate that prior to 32,000 year B.P. an ephemeral saline lake-playa system was present in the basin. The perennial lake, which has occupied the basin since this time, rose in a series of three major steps; the freshest water conditions and presumably highest altitude was reached at about 17,000 year B.P. The lake remained fresh for a brief period, followed by a rapid increase in salinity and sharp lowering in elevation to levels below that of the present Great Salt Lake. The lake remained at low elevations, and divided at times into a north and south Basin, until about 8,000 year B.P. Since that time, with the exception of two short rises to about 1290 m, the lake level has remained near the present elevation of 1280 m.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berner RA (1970) Sedimentary pyrite formation. Am J Sci 268:1–23
Berner RA (1982) Burial of organic carbon and pyrite sulfur in the modern ocean: its geochemical and environmental significance. Am J Sci 282:451–473
Bright RC (1963) Pleistocene lakes Thatcher and Bonneville, southeastern Idaho. Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ of Minnesota
Bright RC (1965) Pollen and seed stratigraphy of Swan Lake southeastern Idaho: its relation to regional vegetational history and to Lake Bonneville history. Tebiwa 9(2):1–47
Broecker WS, Kaufman A (1965) Radiocarbon chronology of Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville II, Great Basin. Geol Soc Am Bull 76:537–566
Broecker WS, Olson EA (1959) Lamont radiocarbon measurements VI. Radiocarbon 1:111–132
Broecker WS, Orr PC (1958) Radiocarbon chronology of Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville. Geol Soc Am Bull 69:1009–1032
Broecker WS, Walton A (1959) Re-evaluation of the salt chronology of several Great Basin Lakes. Geol Soc Am Bull 70:601–618
Butts DS (1980) Factors affecting the concentration of Great Salt Lake brines, in Great Salt Lake, a scientific, historical and economic overview. Gwynn JW (ed) Utah Geol Min Surv Bull 116:163–168
Clarke FW (1924) The data of geochemistry. US Geol Surv Bull 770:783
Crank J (1975) The mathematics of diffusion. 2nd edition 414 pp. Clarendon Press, New York
Crittendon MD, Jr (1963) New data on the isostatic deformation of Lake Bonneville. US Geol Surv Prof Paper 454-F:1–31
Curry DR (1980a) Unpublished compilation of radiocarbon dates in the Bonneville Basin
Curry DR (1980b) Coastal geomorphology of Great Salt Lake and vicinity. In: Gwynn JW (ed) Great Salt Lake, a scientific, historical and economic overview. Utah Geol Min Surv Bull 116:69–82
Davis JO (1978) Quaternary tephrochronology of Lake Lahontan area Nevada and California. Nevada Archaeological Survey Research Paper 7, pp 137
Deevey ES Jr, Gross MS, Hutchinson GE, Kraybill HL (1954) The Natural C14 contents of materials from hard-water lakes. Proc Nat Acad Sci 40:185–288
Eardley AJ (1938) Sediments of Great Salt Lake, Utah. Am Assoc Pet Geol Bull 22:1305–1411
Eardley AJ (1962) Glauber's salt bed west of Promontory Point Great Salt Lake. Utah Geol Min Surv Spec Studies 1, pp 12
Eardley AJ (1966) Sediments of Great Salt Lake. In Great Salt Lake. Utah Geol Soc Guidebook to Geol of Utah 20:105–120
Eardley AJ, Gvosdetsky V, Marsell RE (1957) Hydrology of Lake Bonneville and sediments and soils of its basin. Geol Soc Am Bull 68:1141–1201
Eardley AJ, Shuey RT, Gvosdetsky V, Nash WP, Picard MD, Grey DC, Kukla GJ (1973) Lake cycles in the Bonneville Basin, Utah. Geol Soc Am Bull 84:211–216
Fryxell R (1965) Mazama and Glacier Peak volcanic ash layers: relative ages. Science 147:1288–1290
Gilbert GK (1890) Lake Bonneville. US Geol Surv Mono 1, pp 438
Goldhaber MB, Kaplan IR (1974) The sulfur cycle. The Sea (ed. ED Goldberg) Vol. 5:569–655. Wiley-Interscience, New York
Hunt CB, Varnes HD, Thomas HE (1953) Lake Bonneville: the geology of northern Utah Valley Utah. US Geol Surv Prof Paper 257-A:I-99
Ives PC, Levin B, Oman CL, Rubin M (1964) U.S. Geological Survey radiocarbon dates IX. Radiocarbon 9:505–520
Ives PC, Levin B, Robinson RD, Rubin M (1967) U.S. Geological Survey radiocarbon dates VII. Radiocarbon 6:37–76
Ives RL (1951) Pleistocene valley sediments of the Dugway area, Utah. Geol Soc Am Bull 62:781–797
Jennings JD (1957) Danger Cave. Univ. of Utah Anthropology Paper 27, pp 328
Kittleman LA (1963) Glass-bead silica determination for a suite of volcanic rocks from the Owyhee Plateau, Oregon. Geol Soc of Am Bull 74:1405–1409
Madsen DB, Curry DR (1979) Late Quaternary Glacial and Vegetation Changes, Little Cottonwood Canyon Area, Wasatch Mountains, Utah. Quaternary Research Vol 12:254–270
Madsen DB, Kay PA (1982) Late Quaternary Pollen Analysis in the Bonneville Basin. American Quaternary Association Conference, Seattle
Mehringer PJ Jr (1967) Pollen Analysis of the Tule Springs Site area, Nevada. In: Wormington HM, Ellis D (eds) Pleistocene Studies in Southern Nevada. Nevada State Museum Anthropological Papers 13:129–200
Mikulich MJ, Smith RB (1974) Seismic reflection and aeromagnetic surveys of the Great Salt Lake, Utah. Geol Soc Am Bull 85:991–1002
Miller RD, Van Horn R, Scott WE, Forester RM (1980) Radiocarbon date supports concept of continuous low levels of Lake Bonneville since 11,000 Yr. B.P. Geol Soc Am Abstracts, Rocky Mountain Section, p 297
Morrison RB (1965) Quaternary geology of the Great Basin, in The Quaternary of the United States:265–285. Princeton Univ Press, Princeton, NJ
Morrison RB (1966) Predecessors of Great Salt Lake, in The Great Salt Lake. Utah Geol Soc Guidebook to the Geol of Utah 20:77–104
Morrison RB, Frye JC (1965) Correlation of the middle and late Quaternary successions of the Lake Lahontan, Lake Bonneville, Rocky Mountain (Wasatch Range), southern Great Plains, and eastern Midwest areas. Nevada Bureau of Mines Report 9, pp 45
Ohmoto H, Rye RO (1979) Carbon and sulfur isotopes. In: Barnes HL (ed) Geochemistry of Hydrothermal Ore Deposits. Wiley Interscience, New York, pp 509–567
Powers HA, Wilcox RE (1964) Volcanic ash from Mount Mazama (Crater Lake) and from Glacier Peak. Science 144:1334–1336
Rubin M, Alexander C (1958) US Geological Survey dates VI. Science 127:1476–1487
Rubin M, Alexander C (1960) US Geological Survey radiocarbon dates V. Am J Sci Radiocarbon Supplement 2:129–185
Rubin M, Berthold SM (1961) US Geological Survey radiocarbon dates VI. Radiocarbon 3:86–98
Scott WE (1979) Evaluation of evidence for controversial rise of Lake Bonneville about 10,000 yrs ago. Geol Soc Am Abstr 11:301–302
Scott WE, McCoy WD, Shroba RR, Miller RD (1980) New interpretations of the late Quaternary history of Lake Bonneville, western United States. AMQUA 6th Biennial Meetings: 168–169
Scott WE, Machette MN, Shroba RR, McCoy WD (1982) Guidebook for the 1982 friends of the Pleistocene Rocky Mountain cell field trip to central Utah, Part I:1–58
Smith DGW, Westgate JA (1969) Electron probe technique for characterizing pyroclastic deposits. Earth Planet Sci Lett 5:313–319
Spencer RJ (1982) The geochemical evolution of Great Salt Lake. Ph.D. dissertation, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, pp 308
Stockmarr J (1971) Tablets with spores used in absolute pollen analysis. In: Pollen et Spores, 13:615–621
Whelan JA (1973) Great Salt Lake, Utah: chemical and physical variation of the brine, 1966–1972. Utah Geological and Mineral Survey, Water Research Bull 17, pp 25
Wilcox RE (1965) Volcanic-ash chronology. In: The Quaternary of the United States, Princeton Univ. Press, pp 807–816
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spencer, R.J., Baedecker, M.J., Eugster, H.P. et al. Great Salt Lake, and precursors, Utah: The last 30,000 years. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 86, 321–334 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01187137
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01187137