Geochemical and Geophysical Analysis of Holocene-aged Sediments from Southeastern Tulare Lake, CA

Abstract:

Tulare Lake is located in the San Joaquin Valley of California west of the Sierra Nevada mountains (Preston, 1981). The Poso Canal trench locality is located in the southeastern portion of Tulare Lake in the Ton Tachi lake plane south of the Atwell Island sand spit. This area was chosen because these sediments lie beneath a road bed that predates agricultural tilling, preserving late-Holocene lake sediments. Sediments from trench TL13-7C were sampled for geophysical and geochemical analyses in order to create a higher resolution lake-level history during the late-Holocene than had been possible using only lithologic descriptions. The new record is comprised of grain size, clay percentage, carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios, total inorganic carbon (TIC), total organic carbon (TOC), and nitrogen (N) analyses taken at 2-cm intervals over 181-cm of section comprising four lithologic units. From oldest to youngest, Unit 1A consists of relatively equal and steady percentages of clay, silt, and sand, and relatively low C/N ratios, TIC, TOC, and N, suggesting an unproductive lake and relatively deep lake levels at this high elevation site. Fluctuating C/N ratios, a steady decrease in clay percentage, and a steady increase in sand percentage in Unit 1B suggests periods of flooding and fluctuating lake levels and eventually shallow evaporative lake conditions, as evidenced by a considerable and sudden increase in TIC (to 4.51%) in Unit 2. In addition to the drastic change in TIC, Unit 2 shows evidence of a large influx of terrestrial organic matter perhaps transported by floods by an increase in sand percentage and two pronounced spikes in C/N ratios to 38 and 65 (Meyers and Lallier-Verges, 1999). Unit 3 shows low but steady levels of clay and sand percentages, and higher but steady levels of silt. Levels of TIC, TOC, C/N, and N are all steady, with relatively higher levels of TOC and N, which are indicators of high lake level and productivity (Cohen, 2003). Unit 4 is very similar to Unit 3, however toward the upper region of the unit, sand percentages increased with a slight increase in TIC, suggesting a relatively shallower lake. This record will be used to test lake-level models for Tulare Lake put forth by Blunt and Negrini (in press) and Jackson (2015).