Pleistocene pluvial lakes of the Great Basin
The topographically closed basins of the Great Basin (Utah, Nevada, California) contain an outstanding geologic record of lakes that filled and drained during the Pleistocene.
Collaborative research with the U.S. Geological Survey is
aimed at understanding the lake-level fluctuations in the Bear Lake/Bonneville
and Mojave/Death Valley drainages.
Professor Darrell Kaufman's investigations focus on three
(1) the timing of lake-level changes
(2) the climate conditions that caused them, especially the
relative contribution of temperature lowering versus precipitation increase
(3) the role of major river diversions in controlling
lake-level changes, especially the history of the Bear River as it changed
course from the Pacific Ocean into the Great Basin.
In addition, Dr. Kaufman is working with his colleagues and
students on a continuous, carbonate-rich, 120-m-long sediment core from Bear
Lake, Utah/Idaho that spans the last quarter-million years. (more)