Ht. Mullins et Jd. Halfman, High-resolution seismic reflection evidence for middle Holocene environmental change, Owasco Lake, New York, QUATERN RES, 55(3), 2001, pp. 322-331
Approximately 70 km of new decimeter-resolution seismic reflection profile
data from Owasco Lake, New York define a middle Holocene (similar to 4600 C
-14 yr B.P.) erosion surface in the north end of the lake at water depths a
s great as 26 m, Beneath the lake, post-glacial sediments are up to 9 m thi
ck and represent about 10% of the total sediment fill. Early to middle Holo
cene sediments, similar to6 m thick, contain biogenic gas at the south end
of the basin and a large (4 km x 300 m x 15 m) subaqueous slide deposit alo
ng the east-central portion of the lake. Late Holocene sediments are thinne
r or absent, particularly at the north end of the lake. The middle Holocene
erosion surface may have been produced by a drop in lake level, Alternativ
ely it may represent a change in climate during the transition between the
relatively warm Holocene hypsithermal and coot neoglacial. At this time(sim
ilar to 4600 C-14 yr B.P.) circulation in Owasco Lake appears to have evolv
ed from sluggish to active. The increased circulation, which persists today
, probably resulted from atmospheric cold fronts with strong southwesterly
winds that piled up water at the north end of the lake. The increased water
circulation may have been ultimately driven by decreasing insolation, whic
h produced an increased pole-to-equator thermal gradient and, thus, stronge
r global winds that began at the transition between the hypsithermal and ne
oglacial. (C) 2001 University of Washington.