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

该项目将对更新世邦纳维尔湖进行基础研究，邦纳维尔湖是最后一次冰期美国西部最大的湖，也是现代大盐湖的前身。 虽然邦纳维尔湖在过去18,000年的记录是相当好的记录，但对早期（18,000- 30000年前）的了解很少，因为这些沉积物已经被年轻的、上升的湖水沃茨或随后的侵蚀破坏或覆盖。 该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，以告知我们对景观动态的理解，这些动态长期以来一直困扰着研究人员，在这个记录不佳的时期，邦纳维尔湖记录。邦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。 湖泊沉积的砂和砾石形成了重要的地下蓄水层，并为该地区的大部分地区提供了总资源。 邦纳维尔湖被研究的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期非常寒冷，干燥的全球气候向现代温暖的间冰期气候过渡。 邦纳维尔湖景观变化的记录对于研究大盆地省的气候转变至关重要，并将提供有关北美最大沙漠内长期水文变化率的详细信息。

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.