Workshop report: PlioWest – drilling Pliocene lakes in western North America
<p>The Pliocene Epoch is a focus of scientific interest as a period of sustained global warmth, with reconstructed CO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span> concentrations and a continent configuration similar to modern. Numerous studies suggest that...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Scientific Drilling |
| Online Access: | https://sd.copernicus.org/articles/32/61/2023/sd-32-61-2023.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797649206729506816 |
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| author | A. J. Smith E. Ito N. Burls L. Clarke T. Donders R. Hatfield S. Kuehn A. Koutsodendris T. Lowenstein D. McGee P. Molnar A. Prokopenko K. Snell B. Valero Garcés J. Werne C. Zeeden |
| author_facet | A. J. Smith E. Ito N. Burls L. Clarke T. Donders R. Hatfield S. Kuehn A. Koutsodendris T. Lowenstein D. McGee P. Molnar A. Prokopenko K. Snell B. Valero Garcés J. Werne C. Zeeden |
| author_sort | A. J. Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>The Pliocene Epoch is a focus of scientific interest as a period of sustained global warmth, with reconstructed CO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span> concentrations and a continent configuration similar to modern. Numerous studies suggest that the Pliocene was warmer and largely wetter than today, at least in the subtropics, which contrasts with the long-term hydroclimatic response of drying conditions predicted by most climate model simulations. Two key features of Pliocene warmth established from sea surface temperature reconstructions could affect dynamic changes that influence the hydrologic cycle: (1) a weaker Pliocene zonal gradient in sea surface temperature (SST) between the western and eastern equatorial Pacific resembling El Niño-like conditions and (2) polar-amplified Pliocene warmth, supporting a weaker Equator-to-pole temperature gradient. The distribution of wet conditions in western North America and the timing of late Pliocene–Quaternary aridification offer the potential to evaluate the relative roles of these two external forcings of the climate in western North America, with broader global implications for Mediterranean-type climate (MTC) regions. We convened a virtual ICDP workshop that spanned a 2-week period in September 2021, to choose optimal drill sites and legacy cores to address the overall scientific goals, flesh out research questions, and discuss how best to answer them. A total of 56 participants<span id="page62"/> from 12 countries (17 time zones), representing a wide range of disciplines, came together virtually for a series of plenary and working group sessions. We have chosen to study five basins (Butte Valley, Tule Lake, Lake Idaho, Searles Lake, and Verde Valley) that span 7 <span class="inline-formula"><sup>∘</sup></span> of latitude to test our hypotheses and to reconstruct the evolution of western North American hydroclimate with special focus on the time ranges of 4.5–3.5 and 3–2.5 Myr. Although individual Pliocene lake records occur in many areas of the world, the western North American basins are unique and globally significant as deep perennial freshwater Pliocene lakes latitudinally arrayed in a MTC region and are able to capture a response to Pacific forcing. We propose new drill cores from three of these basins. During the workshop, we discussed the stratigraphy and subsurface structure of each basin and revised the chronological frameworks and the basin-to-basin correlations. We also identified the best-suited proxies for hydroclimate reconstructions for each particular basin and put forward a multi-technique strategy for depth–age modeling. Reconstructions based on data from these sites will complement the SST reconstructions from global sites spanning the last 4.5 Ma and elucidate the large-scale hydrological cycle controls associated with both global warming and cooling.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T15:42:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2efa74aa6e644ef087928e227d620d0f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1816-8957 1816-3459 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T15:42:55Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Drilling |
| spelling | doaj.art-2efa74aa6e644ef087928e227d620d0f2023-10-26T08:00:11ZengCopernicus PublicationsScientific Drilling1816-89571816-34592023-10-0132617210.5194/sd-32-61-2023Workshop report: PlioWest – drilling Pliocene lakes in western North AmericaA. J. Smith0E. Ito1N. Burls2L. Clarke3T. Donders4R. Hatfield5S. Kuehn6A. Koutsodendris7T. Lowenstein8D. McGee9P. Molnar10A. Prokopenko11K. Snell12B. Valero Garcés13J. Werne14C. Zeeden15Department of Earth Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USADepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USADepartment of Atmospheric, Ocean & Earth Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USADepartment of Environmental Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, M15 6BH, UKDepartment of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Utrecht, 3584 CB, the NetherlandsDepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USADepartment of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Concord University, Athens, WV 24712, USAInstitute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, GermanyDepartment of Geological Sciences and Environmental Studies, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USADepartment of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USADepartment of Geological Sciences, CIRES, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USADepartment of Geological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USADepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USAPyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE), CSIC, Zaragoza 50080, SpainDepartment of Geology & Environmental Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USADepartment of Rock Physics & Borehole Geophysics, Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, 30655 Hanover, Germany<p>The Pliocene Epoch is a focus of scientific interest as a period of sustained global warmth, with reconstructed CO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span> concentrations and a continent configuration similar to modern. Numerous studies suggest that the Pliocene was warmer and largely wetter than today, at least in the subtropics, which contrasts with the long-term hydroclimatic response of drying conditions predicted by most climate model simulations. Two key features of Pliocene warmth established from sea surface temperature reconstructions could affect dynamic changes that influence the hydrologic cycle: (1) a weaker Pliocene zonal gradient in sea surface temperature (SST) between the western and eastern equatorial Pacific resembling El Niño-like conditions and (2) polar-amplified Pliocene warmth, supporting a weaker Equator-to-pole temperature gradient. The distribution of wet conditions in western North America and the timing of late Pliocene–Quaternary aridification offer the potential to evaluate the relative roles of these two external forcings of the climate in western North America, with broader global implications for Mediterranean-type climate (MTC) regions. We convened a virtual ICDP workshop that spanned a 2-week period in September 2021, to choose optimal drill sites and legacy cores to address the overall scientific goals, flesh out research questions, and discuss how best to answer them. A total of 56 participants<span id="page62"/> from 12 countries (17 time zones), representing a wide range of disciplines, came together virtually for a series of plenary and working group sessions. We have chosen to study five basins (Butte Valley, Tule Lake, Lake Idaho, Searles Lake, and Verde Valley) that span 7 <span class="inline-formula"><sup>∘</sup></span> of latitude to test our hypotheses and to reconstruct the evolution of western North American hydroclimate with special focus on the time ranges of 4.5–3.5 and 3–2.5 Myr. Although individual Pliocene lake records occur in many areas of the world, the western North American basins are unique and globally significant as deep perennial freshwater Pliocene lakes latitudinally arrayed in a MTC region and are able to capture a response to Pacific forcing. We propose new drill cores from three of these basins. During the workshop, we discussed the stratigraphy and subsurface structure of each basin and revised the chronological frameworks and the basin-to-basin correlations. We also identified the best-suited proxies for hydroclimate reconstructions for each particular basin and put forward a multi-technique strategy for depth–age modeling. Reconstructions based on data from these sites will complement the SST reconstructions from global sites spanning the last 4.5 Ma and elucidate the large-scale hydrological cycle controls associated with both global warming and cooling.</p>https://sd.copernicus.org/articles/32/61/2023/sd-32-61-2023.pdf |
| spellingShingle | A. J. Smith E. Ito N. Burls L. Clarke T. Donders R. Hatfield S. Kuehn A. Koutsodendris T. Lowenstein D. McGee P. Molnar A. Prokopenko K. Snell B. Valero Garcés J. Werne C. Zeeden Workshop report: PlioWest – drilling Pliocene lakes in western North America Scientific Drilling |
| title | Workshop report: PlioWest – drilling Pliocene lakes in western North America |
| title_full | Workshop report: PlioWest – drilling Pliocene lakes in western North America |
| title_fullStr | Workshop report: PlioWest – drilling Pliocene lakes in western North America |
| title_full_unstemmed | Workshop report: PlioWest – drilling Pliocene lakes in western North America |
| title_short | Workshop report: PlioWest – drilling Pliocene lakes in western North America |
| title_sort | workshop report pliowest drilling pliocene lakes in western north america |
| url | https://sd.copernicus.org/articles/32/61/2023/sd-32-61-2023.pdf |
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