Precipitation and lake-level changes in the West and Midwest over the past 10,000 to 24,000 years. Final report
The goal of the research described in this report is to document the climatic variability over the past 10,000 to 20,000 years in areas in which sites may be designated for the burial of nuclear wastes. Three separate data sets were studied, and the results are presented in three chapters. The first data set consisted of radiocarbon dates documenting past changes in lake levels in lakes and playas in the western United States. The sites were mapped where water levels were higher than the levels today and were presented in a table telling what evidence is available at each site. The lake-level fluctuations for the past 24,000 years at sites in the West were also mapped and time series for these fluctuations at four sites were presented. The second data set was a selection of the published radiocarbon-dated pollen diagrams from the western United States. These data are a valuable source of climatic information and complement the geological evidence of lake-level fluctuations in the West. A table is presented that gives the location, elevation, and number of radiocarbon dates for each site. The third data set was a set of fossil pollen data from 20 sites in the upper Midwest. These data were calibrated in terms of precipitation changes over the past 10,000 years, and maps are presented of the estimated precipitation changes between 10,000 and 7000 years ago and between 7000 years ago and today.
- Research Organization:
- Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States). Dept. of Geological Sciences; Oxford Univ. (United Kingdom). Geography School; Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Dept. of Statistics
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 60231
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-15173
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 4 Feb 1980
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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58 GEOSCIENCES
CLIMATES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
VARIATIONS
USA
GEOLOGIC SURVEYS
UTAH
ARIZONA
NEW MEXICO
TEXAS
SOUTH DAKOTA
MINNESOTA
NEVADA
GROUND WATER
PRECIPITATION
GREAT SALT LAKE
LAKES
POLLEN
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
SITE SELECTION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
ISOTOPE DATING
CARBON 14
MAPS
METEOROLOGY
TABLES
GRAPHS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
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