Hostname: page-component-7f64f4797f-pffzl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-04T15:20:57.220Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Global Maps of Lake-Level Fluctuations since 30,000 yr B.P.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

F. Alayne Street  and
A. T. Grove
F. Alayne Street
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TB, United Kingdom
A. T. Grove
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, United Kingdom
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper presents selected world maps of lake-level fluctuations since 30,000 yr B.P. These are based on a literature survey of 141 lake basins with radiocarbon-dated chronologies. The resulting patterns are subcontinental in scale and show orderly variations in space and time. They reflect substantial changes in continental precipitation, evaporation, and runoff, which are due to glacial/interglacial fluctuations in the atmospheric and oceanic circulations. In the tropics, high lake levels are essentially an interglacial or interstadial phenomenon, although there are important exceptions. Since extensive lakes during the Holocene corresponded with relatively high sea-surface temperatures, and therefore presumably with high evaporation rates on land, they are interpreted as the result of higher precipitation. Tropical aridity culminated in most areas at, or just after, the glacial maximum, although the present day is also characterized by a below-average abundance of surface water. In extratropical regions the mapped patterns are more complex. They vary markedly with latitude and proximity to major ice sheets. In these areas, evidence is at present insufficient to evaluate the relative contributions of precipitation and temperature to the observed lake-level record.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , July 1979 , pp. 83 - 118
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Allchin, B., Goudie, A.S., Hegde, K., (1978) The Prehistory and Palaeogeography of the Great Indian Sand Desert. Academic Press, London. Google Scholar
Andrews, J., Funder, S., Hjort, C., Imbrie, J., (1974). Comparison of the glacial chronology of Eastern Baffin Island, East Greenland and the Camp Century accumulation record. Geology. 2, 355–358.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Begin, Z.B., Erlich, A., Nathan, Y., (1974). Lake Lisan, the Pleistocene precursor of the Dead Sea. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Israel. 63, 1–30.Google Scholar
Berger, A.L., (1978). Long-term variations of caloric insolation resulting from the Earth's orbital elements. Quaternary Research. 9, 139–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernabo, J.C., Webb, T. III, (1977). Changing patterns in the Holocene pollen record of Northeastern North America: A mapped summary. Quaternary Research. 8, 64–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, W.W., (1971). The Late Cenozoic history of East Africa in relation to hominoid evolution. Turekian, K.K., The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 493–527.Google Scholar
Bonatti, E., Gartner, S. Jr., (1973). Caribbean climate during Pleistocene ice ages. Nature (London). 244, 563–565.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowler, J.M., (1970). Late Quaternary Environments: A Study of Lakes and Associated Sediments in Southeastern Australia. Ph.D. thesis. Australian National University. Google Scholar
Bowler, J.M., (1975). Deglacial events in southern Australia: Their age, nature and palaeoclimatic significance. Suggate, R.P., Cresswell, M.M., Quaternary Studies. Royal Society of New Zealand, Wellington, 75–82.Google Scholar
Bowler, J.M., (1976). Aridity in Australia: Age, origins and expression in aeolian landforms and sediments. Earth Science Reviews. 12, 279–310.Google Scholar
Bowler , J. M., Glacial age aeolian events at high and low latitudes: A southern hemisphere perspective. . In “Antarctic Glacial History and World Palaeoenvironments”. ( van Zinderen Bakker. , E. M. Sr., Ed.), A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, in press..Google Scholar
Bowler, J.M., Hope, G.S., Jennings, J.N., Singh, G., Walker, D., (1976). Late Quaternary climates of Australia and New Guinea. Quaternary Research. 6, 359–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowles, F.A., (1975). Paleoclimatic significance of quartz/illite variations in cores from the eastern equatorial North Atlantic. Quaternary Research. 5, 225–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brakenridge, G.R., (1978). Evidence for a cold, dry full-glacial climate in the American Southwest. Quaternary Research. 9, 22–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Kaufman, A., (1965). Radiocarbon chronology of Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville, Great Basin, II. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 76, 537–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., van Donk, J., (1970). Insolation changes, ice volumes and the 18O record in deep-sea cores. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics. 8, 169–198.Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A., Wendland, W.M., Ives, J.D., Andrews, J.T., (1969). Radiocarbon isochrones on the disintegration of the Laurentide ice sheet. Arctic and Alpine Research. 1, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butzer, K.W., Fock, G.J., Stuckenrath, R., Zilch, A., (1973). Paleohydrology of Late Pleistocene lake, Alexandersfontein, Kimberley. South Africa. Nature (London). 243, 328–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butzer, K.W., Hansen, C.L., (1968) Desert and River in Nubia: Geomorphology and Prehistoric Environments at the Aswan Reservoir. Univ. of Wisconsin Press, Madison. Google Scholar
Butzer, K.W., Isaac, G.Ll., Richardson, J.L., Washbourn-Kamau, C., (1972). Radiocarbon dating of East African lake levels. Science. 175, 1069–1076.Google Scholar
(1976). CLIMAP The surface of the ice-age earth. Science. 191, 1131–1137.Google Scholar
Coetzee, J.A., (1967). Pollen analytical studies in East and Southern Africa. Palaeoecology of Africa. 3, 1–146.Google Scholar
Conrad, G., (1969). L'évolution continentale posthercynienne du Sahara algérien (Saoura, Erg Chech-Tanezrouft, Ahnet-Mouydir). serie géologique 10. Centre de Recherches sur les Zones Arides, Paris. Google Scholar
Coope, G.R., (1977). Fossil coleopteran assemblages as sensitive indicators of climatic changes during the Devensian (Last) cold stage. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London) B. 280, 313–340.Google Scholar
Coventry, R.J., (1976). Abandoned shorelines and the Late Quaternary history of Lake George. New South Wales. Journal of the Geological Society of Australia. 23, 249–273.Google Scholar
Covich, A., Stuiver, M., (1974). Changes in oxygen-18 as a measure of long-term fluctuations in tropical lake levels and molluscan populations. Limnology and Oceanography. 19, 682–691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreimanis, A., Raukas, A., (1975). Did Middle Wisconsin, Middle Weichselian and their equivalents represent an interglacial or an interstadial complex in the northern hemisphere?. Suggate, R.P., Cresswell, M.M., Quaternary Studies. Royal Society of New Zealand, Wellington, 109–120.Google Scholar
Emiliani, C., (1975). Palaeoclimatological analysis of Late Quaternary cores from the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Science. 189, 1083–1088.Google Scholar
Fairbridge, R.W., (1964). African ice-age aridity. Nairn, A.E.M., Problems in Palaeoclimatology. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 356–363.Google Scholar
Fairbridge, R.W., (1976). Effects of Holocene climatic change on some tropical geomorphic processes. Quaternary Research. 6, 529–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrand, W.R., (1971). Late Quaternary palaeoclimates of the Eastern Mediterranean area. Turekian, K.K., The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 529–564.Google Scholar
Flohn, H., (1953). Studien über die atmosphärische Zirkulation in der letzen Eiszeit. Erdkunde. 7, 266–275.Google Scholar
Flohn, H., (1974). Background of a geophysical model of the initiation of the next glaciation. Quaternary Research. 4, 385–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galloway, R.W., (1965). Late Quaternary climates in Australia. Journal of Geology. 73, 603–618.Google Scholar
Galloway, R.W., (1970). The full-glacial climate in the South-western United States. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 60, 245–256.Google Scholar
Gardner, J.233., Hays, J.D., (1976). Eastern equatorial Atlantic: Sea surface temperature and circulation responses to global climatic change during the past 200,000 years. Cline, R.M., Hays, J.D., Investigation of Late Quaternary Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. Geological Society of America Memoir. 145, 221–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1975). GARP Understanding Climatic Change: A Program for Action. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Gates, W.L., (1976). Modelling the ice-age climate. Science. 191, 1138–1144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Geyh, M.A., (1967). Hannover radiocarbon measurements IV. Radiocarbon. 9, 206.Google Scholar
Gorsline, G.S., Prensky, S.E., (1975). Palaeoclimatic inferences for Late Pleistocene and Holocene from California continental borderland basin sediments. Suggate, R.P., Cresswell, M.M., Quaternary Studies. Royal Society of New Zealand, Wellington, 147–154.Google Scholar
Grove, A.T., (1958). The ancient erg of Hausaland and similar formations on the south side of the Sahara. Geographical Journal. 134, 194–208.Google Scholar
Grove, A.T., Street, F.A., Goudie, A.S., (1975). Former lake levels and climatic change in the rift valley of Southern Ethiopia. Geographical Journal. 141, 177–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grove, A.T., Warren, A., (1968). Quaternary landforms and climate on the south side of the Sahara. Geographical Journal. 134, 194–208.Google Scholar
Grove , J. M., The glacial history of the Holocene. . Progress in Physical Geography . , in press..Google Scholar
Hastenrath, S., (1978). Variations in the Atlantic-Pacific circulation. Pittock, A.B., Frakes, L.A., Jenssen, D., Peterson, J.A., Zillman, J.W., Climatic Change and Variability: A Southern Perspective. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 185–190.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Lozano, J.A., Shackleton, N., Irving, G., (1976). Reconstruction of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean sectors of the 18,000 BP Antarctic Ocean. Cline, R.M., Hays, J.D., Investigation of Late Quaternary Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. Geological Society of America Memoir. 145, 337–342.Google Scholar
Heine, K., (1977). Beobachtungen und Überlegungen zur eiszeitlichen Depression von Schneegrenze und Strukturbodensgrenze in den Tropen und Subtropen. Erdkunde. 31, 161–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heine, K., (1978). Radiocarbon chronology of Late Quaternary lakes in the Kalahari. Catena. 5, 145–149.Google Scholar
Houvenaghel, G.T., (1974). Equatorial undercurrent and climate in the Galapagos Islands. Nature (London). 250, 565–566.Google Scholar
Hume, W.F., Craig, J.I., (1911). The glacial period and climatic changes in North-East Africa. Report, 80th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 382–383.Google Scholar
Jäkel , D. Runoff and erosion processes in the Tibesti Mountains as indicators of climatic history in the Central Sahara during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. , Palaeoecology of Africa . 11 , in press..Google Scholar
Kershaw, A.P., (1978). Record of last interglacialglacial cycle from north-eastern Queensland. Nature (London). 272, 159–161.Google Scholar
King, J.E., Allen, W.H., (1977). A Holocene vegetation record from the Mississippi River Valley. Quaternary Research. 8, 307–323.Google Scholar
Kolla, 234., Biscaye, P.E., (1977). Distribution and origin of quartz in the sediments of the Indian Ocean. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 47, 642–649.Google Scholar
Manabe, S., Hahn, D.G., (1977). Simulation of the tropical climate of an ice age. Journal of Geophysical Research. 82, 3889–3911.Google Scholar
de Martonne, E., Aufrère, L., (ère, 1928). L'extension des régions privées d'écoulement vers l'océan. Annales de Géographic. 38, 1–24.Google Scholar
McIntyre, A., Kipp, N.G., Bé, A.W.H., Crowley, T., Kellogg, T., Gardner, J.235., Prell, W.L., Ruddiman, W.F., (1976). Glacial North Atlantic 18,000 years ago: A CLIMAP reconstruction. Cline, R.M., Hays, J.D., Investigation of Late Quaternary Paleooceanography and Paleoclimatology. Geological Society of America Memoir. 145, 43–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercer, J.H., (1969). The Allerød oscillation: A European climatic anomaly?. Arctic and Alpine Research. 1, 227–234.Google Scholar
Mercer, J.H., (1972). The lower boundary of the Holocene. Quaternary Research. 2, 15–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G.H., Dyke, A.S., (1974). Proposed extent of Late Wisconsin Laurentide ice on Eastern Baffin Island. Geology. 2, 125–130.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molina-Cruz, A., (1977). The relation of the southern trade winds to upwelling processes during the last 75,000 years. Quaternary Research. 8, 324–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, R.B., (1968). Pluvial lakes. Fairbridge, R.W., Encyclopedia of Geomorphology. Reinhold, New York, 873–883.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, R.B., Frye, J.C., (1965). Correlation of the Middle and Late Quaternary Successions of the Lake Lahontan, Lake Bonneville, Rocky Mountain (Wasatch Range), Southern Great Plains and Eastern Midwest Areas. Nevada Bureau of Mines Report 9. .Google Scholar
Neev, D., Hall, J.K., (1977). Climatic fluctuations during the Holocene as reflected by the Dead Sea levels. Greer, D.C., Desertic Terminal Lakes. Proceedings of the International Conference on Desertic Terminal Lakes, Utah Water Research Laboratory, Logan, Utah. 53–60.Google Scholar
Newell, R.E., (1973). Climate and the Galapagos Islands. Nature (London). 245, 91–92.Google Scholar
Newell, R.E., Herman, G.F., Gould-Stewart, S., Tanaka, M., (1975). Decreased global rainfall during the past ice age. Nature (London). 253, 33–34.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E., (1976). A Climatic Chronology for Africa: Synthesis of Geological, Historical and Meteorological Information and Data. Ph.D. thesis. University of Wisconsin, Madison. Google Scholar
Parkin, D.W., Shackleton, N.J., (1973). Trade wind and temperature correlations down a deep-sea core off the Saharan coast. Nature (London). 245, 455–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paterson, W.S.B., (1972). Laurentide ice sheet: Estimated volumes during the late Wisconsin. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics. 10, 885–917.Google Scholar
Pittock, A.B., (1978). Patterns of variability in relation to the general circulation. Pittock, A.B., Frakes, L.A., Jenssen, D., Peterson, J.A., Zillman, J.W., Climatic Change and Variability: A Southern Perspective. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 167–179.Google Scholar
de Ploey, J., (1965). Position géomorphologique, genèse et chronologie de certains dépôts superficiels au Congo occidental. Quaternaria. 7, 131–154.Google Scholar
Richardson, J.L., Richardson, A.E., (1972). History of an African rift lake and its climatic implications. Ecological Monographs. 42, 499–534.Google Scholar
Rognon, P., (1976). Essai d'intérpretation des variations climatiques au Sahara depuis 40,000 ans. Revue de Géographic physique et Géologie dynamique. 2, 18 251–282.Google Scholar
Rognon, P., Williams, M.A.J., (1977). Late Quaternary climatic changes in Australia and North Africa: A preliminary investigation. Palacogeography, Palacoclimatology, Palaeocology. 21, 285–327.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F., Sancetta, C.D., McIntyre, A., (1977). Glacial/interglacial response rate of subpolar North Atlantic waters to climatic change: The record in oceanic sediments. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London) B. 280, 119–142.Google Scholar
Sarnthein, M., (1978). Sand deserts during glacia maximum and climatic optimum. Nature (London). 272, 43–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarnthein, M., Diester-Haas, L., (1977). Eolian sand turbidites. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 47, 868–890.Google Scholar
Sarnthein, M., Walger, E., (1974). Der äolische Sandstrom aus der W-Sahara zur Atlantikküste. Geologische Rundschau. 63, 1065–1087.Google Scholar
Schnitnikov, A.236., Lijva, A.A., Berdovskaya, G.N., Sevastionov, D.237., (1978). Palaeolimnology of Lake Chatyr-Kel, Tien Shan. Polish Archives of Hydrobiology. 25, 383–390.Google Scholar
Sellers, W.D., (1965) Physical Climatology. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago. Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., (1978). Some results of the CLIMAP project. Pittock, A.B., Frakes, L.A., Jenssen, D., Peterson, J.A., Zillman, J.W., Climatic Change and Variability: A Southern Perspective. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 69–76.Google Scholar
Smith, G.I., (1968). Late-Quaternary geologic and climatic history of Searles Lake, Southeastern California. Morrison, R.B., Wright, H.E. Jr., Means of Correlation of Quaternary Successions. Proceedings of the VII INQUA Congress. 8, Univ. of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 293–310.Google Scholar
Smith, G.I., (1974). Quaternary deposits in South-western Afghanistan. Quaternary Research. 4, 39–52.Google Scholar
Smith, G.I., (1977). Paleoclimatic record in the upper Quaternary sediments of Searles Lake, California, U.S.A.. Paleolimnology of Lake Biwa and the Japanese Pleistocene. 4, 577–604.Google Scholar
Street , F. A., ((a)). Chronology of Late Pleistocene and Holocene lake-level fluctuations. Ziway-Shala Basin, Ethiopia. . In “Proceedings VIII Pan African Congress of Prehistory and Quaternary Studies”. , Nairobi, , in press..Google Scholar
Street , F. A., ((b)). Late Quaternary precipitation estimates for the Ziway-Shala Basin, Southern Ethiopia. , Palaeoecology of Africa . 11 , in press..Google Scholar
Street, F.A., Grove, A.T., (1976). Environmental and climatic implications of late Quaternary lake-level fluctuations in Africa. Nature (London). 261, 385–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suzuki, H., (1975). World precipitation, present and hypsithermal. Bulletin of the Department of Geography, Tokyo University. 7, 1–17.Google Scholar
Thurber, D.L., (1972). Problems of dating non-woody material from continental environments. Bishop, W.W., Miller, J.A., Calibration of Hominoid Evolution. Scottish Academic Press, 1–17.Google Scholar
Tricart, J., (1956). Tentative de corrélation des périodes pluviales africaines et des périodes glaciaires. Comptes rendus sommaires de la Sociéte géologique de France. 9–10, 164–167.Google Scholar
Van der Hammen, T., (1974). The Pleistocene changes of vegetation and climate in tropical South America. Journal of Biogeography. 1, 3–26.Google Scholar
Verstappen, H.Th., (1975). On palaeoclimates and landform development in Malesia. Bartstra, G.-J., Casparie, W.A., Modern Quaternary Research in Southeast Asia. Vol. 1, Balkema, Rotterdam, 3–35.Google Scholar
Vincent, E., (1972). Climatic change at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in the southwestern Indian Ocean. Palaeoecology of Africa. 6, 45–54.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., (1975). A Late Quaternary record of vegetation from Lake Annie, south-central Florida. Geology. 3, 344–346.Google Scholar
Webster, D.J., Streten, N.A., (1972). Aspects of Late Quaternary climate in tropical Australia. Walker, D., Bridge and Barrier: The Natural and Cultural History of Torres Strait. Research School of Pacific Studies, Department of Biogeography and Geomorphology Publication BG/3 Australian National Univ. Press, Canberra, 144–181.Google Scholar
Williams, J., (1974). Simulation of the atmospheric circulation with glacial period boundary conditions: Moisture balance of the earth-atmosphere system. Mahaney, W.C., Quaternary Environments: Proceedings of a Symposium. Toronto Geographical Monographs. 5, 295–310.Google Scholar
Williams, M.A.J., (1975). Late Pleistocene tropical aridity synchronous in both hemispheres. Nature (London). 253, 617–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams , M. A. J., Adamson , D. A., Williams , F. M., Morton , W. H., and Parry , D. A., Jebel Marra volcano: A link between the Nile Valley, the Sahara and Central Africa. . In “The Sahara and the Nile”. ( Williams , M. A. J., and Faure , H., Eds.), Balkema, , Rotterdam, , in press..Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr., (1976). The environmental setting for plant domestication in the Near East. Science. 194, 385–389.Google Scholar
Zonneveld, J.I.S., (1973). Some notes on the last deglaciation in northern Europe compared with Canadian conditions. Arctic and Alpine Research. 5, 223–237 part 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar