Salt lakes: carbonate/evaporite sedimentology and paleolimnology

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The past decade has witnessed explosive growth in interest and research on lake sediments. The bottom deposits of lakes can provide a very detailed record of changes that occurred both within the lake itself and in the surrounding catchment. Because lakes occupying topographically closed basins are more sensitive than other depositional systems to climate-induced fluctuations, it is no surprise that the sediments of these closed basins are attractive targets for paleoenvironmental research. However, before we can 'read' this important archive of past environmental change, we must first understand the processes by which the sediments are brought into the basin, deposited and changed. In short, we must understand the modern lakes before we can interpret the preserved ancient records. Much of my research over the past decade has concentrated on understanding the complex interactions and sedimentary processes occurring in modern closed basin salt lakes. Although significant advances have been made, there is still much to do. I propose to conduct research on the sedimentology and paleolimnology of closed basin salt lakes in 3 areas of the world: (i) Northern Great Plains of western Canada, (ii) western Volcanic Plains District and Eyre Peninsula of southern Australia, and (iii) Galapagos Islands in the eastern Pacific region. These three areas were chosen because of specific environmental concerns as well as the complementary nature of the lacustrine systems in each region. My long-term scientific objectives of this research are to (i) quantitatively describe the modern sedimentary processes operating in selected basins, (ii) understand the origin and post-depositional changes that have occurred in the deposits in these lakes; (iii) decipher the environmental conditions of carbonate mineral formation in selected basins, with particular emphasis on the enigmatic minerals dolomite and monohydrocalcite in the Canadian and Australian lakes, and finally (iv) interpret the environmental changes that have occurred in the lakes during the past 10k yrs, and relate these changes to any natural evolutionary trends, regional climatic fluctuations and anthropogenic modifications.