Chronology for Fluctuations in Late Pleistocene Sierra Nevada Glaciers and Lakes

Authors

Fred M. Phillips, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Marek G. Zreda, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Larry Benson, University of Colorado at BoulderFollow
Mitchell A. Plummer, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
David Elmore, Purdue University
Pankaj Sharma, Purdue UniversityFollow

Date of this Version

1996

Citation

Science Volume 274 (November 1996)

Abstract

Mountain glaciers, because of their small size, are usually close to equilibrium with the local climate and thus should provide a test of whether temperature oscillations in Greenland late in the last glacial period are part of global-scale climate variability or are restricted to the North Atlantic region. Correlation of cosmogenic chlorine-36 dates on Sierra Nevada moraines with a continuous radiocarbon-dated sediment record from nearby Owens Lake shows that Sierra Nevada glacial advances were associated with Heinrich events 5, 3, 2, and 1.