The Holocene Paleolimnology of Lake Superior

This study describes contributions of glacial meltwater to Lake Superior over the last 11,000 cal BP. Rhythmites (interpreted as varves), lithological and mineralogical variations, and radiocarbon dating were used to establish chronostratigraphic correlation among four sediment cores from Lake Superior (Duluth, Caribou and Ile Parisienne basins, Thunder Bay Trough). Glacial sediments were deposited between 10,850 and 8,800 cal BP. The oxygen-isotope compositions of ostracodes record the presence of glacial meltwater in ancient Lake Superior as the Laurentide Ice Sheet waxed and waned. Glacial meltwater was increasingly dominant between ~10,850 and ~9,250 cal BP, particularly as thick varves formed in northern portions of the Lake Superior Basin (10,400-10,200, 9,900 and 9,300-9,200 cal BP). Glacial meltwater supply was reduced in the Thunder Bay Trough between 9,250 and 8,950 cal BP, but returned from 8,950 to 8,800 cal BP. Glacial meltwater flow from the Lake Superior Basin probably bypassed the Huron Basin several times during this period. Final termination of glacial meltwater supply occurred at 8,800 cal BP - coincident with cessation of varve formation and inception of ancient Lakes Agassiz-Ojibway and Houghton. Primary productivity was very low and algal growth occurred under conditions of extreme nitrogen deficiency - as determined using TOC, TN and C/N ratios - until glacial meltwater supply to the Basin was ended. The postglacial sediments are non-calcareous. The diatom silica proxy record shows that oxygen-isotope compositions of water rapidly increased after glacial meltwater termination, reaching -10 per mil during the Holocene Thermal Maximum. The oxygen-isotope compositions of water decreased at 3,000 cal BP in response to the Holocene Neoglacial Interval before gradually rising to Lake Superior’s modern value of -8.7 per mil. Aquatic primary productivity, inferred using TOC, TN, and the carbon- and nitrogen isotope compositions, has increased gradually since 8,800 cal BP.