Separation of Lake Superior from Lakes Michigan–Huron about 1250 yr ago

TitleSeparation of Lake Superior from Lakes Michigan–Huron about 1250 yr ago
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsYu, S-Y, Colman, SM, Milne, GA
JournalEarth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume375
Pagination319-325
ISSN0012-821X
Abstract

Lake Superior represents an important component of the aquatic ecosystem in North America. Along its south shore, ongoing lake-level rise, accelerated erosion, and wetland loss are major environmental concerns to coastal communities. A better prediction of the future of this shore requires placing the instrumental lake-level records in a geological context. However, our knowledge of the late-Holocene history of the world's largest freshwater body remains fragmentary. Here we present a sedimentary record of late-Holocene relative lake-level changes by dating transgressive basal peats resting directly on a sandy substrate along a bathymetric gradient in Bark Bay Slough, Wisconsin. Our record shows a moderate lake-level rise at 1.4±0.2 mm/yr from about 2200 to 1250 cal yr BP as a result of relatively slow differential uplift of Bark Bay relative to the controlling outlet at Port Huron. The rise accelerated to 2.3±0.2 mm/yr at about 1250 cal yr BP when Sault Ste. Marie emerged as the controlling outlet, thereby separating Superior from Lakes Michigan–Huron and giving rise to the modern hydrographic regime of the upper Great Lakes. The timing of this event in our record is about 1000 yr later than that postulated in most previous studies. Our results not only provide pertinent information for hydrological regulation, navigation operation, and infrastructural design in the upper Great Lakes, but also provide insight into freshwater wetland succession on flooded coasts.

DOI10.1016/j.epsl.2013.05.051