A 14,400-Year Sediment and Pollen Record of Lake Erie Limnological Response to Lake Level, Lake Connectivity, and Climate

Abstract Lake Erie, the southernmost of the Laurentian Great Lakes, experienced major changes in climate, hydrology, and basin configuration from Late Glacial through Holocene time. We present a new ~ 14.4-thousand-year (~ 14.4 ka) sediment record for a central basin core constrained by radiocarbon and paleomagnetic secular variation ages, with pollen stratigraphy independently verifying the age model where radiocarbon ages are reversed. Five phases characterize the record: 1) low inorganic carbon (IC) from ~ 14.4–11.5 cal ka BP; 2) increasing IC after 11.5 cal ka BP, followed by pollen changes across an unconformity spanning 10.0–8.1 cal ka BP; 3) relatively high IC from 8.1 cal ka BP until 4) three stepwise decreases in IC and an increase in organic carbon (OC) between 5.3–3.5 cal ka BP; and 5) near zero IC from 3.5 cal ka BP to Present, with OC and pollen changes after ~ 2.3 cal ka BP. Comparison with a second central-basin core and lake level reconstructions indicates that climate, hydrologic connectivity, and lake level influenced sedimentary carbonate accumulation and contributed to the formation of an unconformity, a shift in the depocenter, and a mass slide.