A SEDIMENT BUDGET FOR SOUTHERN LAKE-MICHIGAN - SOURCE AND SINK MODELSFOR DIFFERENT TIME INTERVALS

We have constructed a sediment budget for the southern Lake Michigan b asin for sand and for mud during three time periods: the past 100, 5,0 00, and 10,000 years. For the modern (100-year) sediment budget, accou ntable sediment sources add up to 93 percent of the calculated sinks. The mud budget has a source deficit of about 40%, probably due to erro rs in mu&sand ratios and (or) to other sources not included in our mod el, especially erosion of the lake floor, which accompanies bluff rece ssion. Two terms dominate the modem sediment-budget equation: (1) bluf f erosion, which is an order of magnitude larger than either rivers or aerosols as a source, and (2) deposition in the deep basin, which is more than two orders of magnitude greater as a sink than suspended sed iment transport out of the basin. About half of the sand derived from bluff erosion is deposited in the deep lake; the other half must be de posited in nearshore sand bodies, beaches, and dunes. Despite the unce rtainties in our estimates of sediment sources and sinks, the attempt to reconstruct sediment budgets for time intervals of 100, 5,000, and 10,000 years leads to important insights about erosion and sedimentati on processes. Bluff erosion is the dominant source of both sand and mu d in the basin. The deep lake floor is the primary sink for mud, where as both the deep lake and nearshore areas are important sinks for sand . On a long-term basis, rates of bluff erosion have progressively decr eased and are apparently independent of anthropogenic effects. Rates o f sediment accumulation in the lake basin mirror the decrease in rates of bluff erosion for prehistoric time, but have increased markedly si nce human settlement, probably because of anthropogenic effects on riv er and aerosolic inputs.