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Hydrologic and climatic implications of a multidisciplinary study of late Holocene sediment from Kenosee Lake, southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada

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Abstract

Sediment lithology and mineralogy, as well as ostracode, plant macrofossil and stable isotope stratigraphies of lake sediment cores, are used to reconstruct late Holocene hydrologic changes at Kenosee Lake, a relatively large, hyposaline lake in southeastern Saskatchewan. Chronological control is provided by AMS radiocarbon ages of upland and shoreline plant macrofossils. All indicators outline an early, low-water, saline phase of lake history (4100–3000 BP), when the basin was occupied by a series of small, interconnected, sulfate-rich brine pools, as opposed to the single, topographically-closed lake that exists today. A rapid rise in lake-level (3000–2300 BP) led to the establishment of carbonate-rich, hyposaline lake conditions like those today. Lithostratigraphic data and ostracode assemblages indicate peak salinities were attained early in this period of lake infilling, suggesting that the lake-level rise was initially driven by an influx of saline groundwater. Lake-level and water chemistry have remained relatively stable over the last 2000 years, compared to earlier events. Because of a lack of datable organic material in sediments deposited during the last 2000 years, the chronology of recent events is not well resolved. Plant macrofossil, lithostratigraphic and ostracode evidence suggests that lake draw-down, accompanied by slightly higher than present salinites, occurred sometime prior to 600 BP, followed by peak lake-level and freshwater conditions. This most recent high lake stand, indicative of a high water table on the surrounding upland, may also have led to the establishment of an extensive cover of Betula in the watershed, possibly in response to paludification. Ostracode assemblages indicate that peak freshwater conditions occurred within the last 100 years. Since historically documented lake-level fluctuations correlate with decadal scale climatic fluctuations in the meteorological record, and late-Holocene hydrologic dynamics correspond to well documented climatic excursions of the Neoglacial and Little Ice Age, Kenosee Lake dynamics offer insight into the susceptibility of the region's water resources to climate change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth St., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0E8

    R. E. Vance

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3T 2N2

    W. M. Last

  3. Department of Geology, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 44242-0001, USA

    A. J. Smith

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Vance, R.E., Last, W.M. & Smith, A.J. Hydrologic and climatic implications of a multidisciplinary study of late Holocene sediment from Kenosee Lake, southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. Journal of Paleolimnology 18, 365–393 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007948909342

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