Collaborative Research: Undocumented Shorelines of Lake Bonneville: New Paleoclimatic and Hydrodynamic Interpretations

该项目将对更新世博纳维尔湖进行基础研究，博纳维尔湖是美国西部最后一次冰川时期最大的湖泊，也是现代大盐湖的前身。尽管博纳维尔湖过去18,000年的记录被很好地记录下来，但对早期(18,000-30,000年前)的了解很少，因为这些沉积物被更年轻的上升的湖水或随后的侵蚀所破坏或叠加。这个项目将应用各种分析工具，包括探地雷达、三维数字摄影、流体动力学建模和极少量有机物质的放射性碳测年，以帮助我们了解长期困扰研究人员的景观动态，这些景观在博纳维尔湖记录的这段记录中很少有记录。博纳维尔湖及其相关沉积物是美国西部山间重要的文化和经济地貌。湖泊沉积的沙子和砾石形成了重要的地下水含水层，并为该地区的大部分地区提供了综合资源。正在研究的博纳维尔湖时期是地球气候历史上的一个关键时期，因为它标志着从冰川时代非常寒冷、干燥的全球气候过渡到现代较温暖的间冰期气候。博纳维尔湖地貌变化的记录对于研究大盆地省的这种气候转变至关重要，并将提供北美最大沙漠中长期水文变化速度的详细信息。

The project will undertake fundamental research regarding Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, which was the largest lake in the western United States during the last glacial period, and the precursor to the modern Great Salt Lake. While the Lake Bonneville record for the past 18,000 years is reasonably well documented, the earlier period (18,000-30,000 years ago) is poorly understood because those deposits have been destroyed or overprinted by younger, rising lake waters, or subsequent erosion. This project will apply a variety of analytical tools including ground penetrating radar, 3-dimensional digital photography, hydrodynamic modeling, and radiocarbon dating of extremely small amounts of organic material to inform our understanding of landscape dynamics that have long puzzled researchers in this poorly documented period of the Lake Bonneville record. Lake Bonneville and its associated sediments are culturally and economically important landforms of the Intermountain Western United States. Sands and gravels deposited by the lake form important groundwater aquifers, and provide aggregate resources to much of the region. The time period of Lake Bonneville being studied is a critical period in Earth's climate history as it marked the transition from a very cold, dry global climate during glacial times to the warmer, interglacial climate of the modern era. The records of landscape change at Lake Bonneville are vital for studying this climatic transition in the Great Basin province, and will provide details about rates of long-term hydrologic change within North America's largest desert.