This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's personal copy Quaternary Research 78 (2012) 363–372 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Quaternary Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/yqres Paleowind velocity and paleocurrents of pluvial Lake Manly, Death Valley, USA Jeffrey R. Knott ⁎, Joanna M. Fantozzi, Kelly M. Ferguson, Summer E. Keller, Khadija Nadimi, Carolyn A. Rath, Jennifer M. Tarnowski, Michelle L. Vitale Department of Geological Sciences, California State University Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92834, USA article info abstract Article history: Pluvial lake deposits are found throughout western North America and are frequently used to reconstruct re- Received 7 June 2011 gional paleoclimate. In Death Valley, California, USA, we apply the beach particle technique (BPT) of Adams Available online 24 July 2012 (2003), Sedimentology, 50, 565–577 and Adams (2004), Sedimentology, 51, 671–673 to Lake Manly deposits at the Beatty Junction Bar Complex (BJBC), Desolation Canyon, and Manly Terraces and calculate paleowind Keywords: velocities of 14–27 m/s. These wind velocities are within the range of present-day wind velocities recorded in Lake Manly the surrounding area. Sedimentary structures and clast provenance at Desolation Canyon and the Manly Ter- Paleogeography Quaternary geology races indicate sediment transport from north to south. Lake level, based on the elevation of constructional Paleowind features, indicates that the hill west of the BJBC was an island and that the BJBC spits formed during simple lake regression. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the present wind regime (velocity and di- rection) formed the pluvial Lake Manly features. © 2012 University of Washington. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction (1991) had previously determined paleowind velocity there. The Des- olation Canyon and the Manly Terrace locations were selected Lake Manly, the pluvial lake that occupied Death Valley during because: 1) the pluvial lake deposits are formed from resistant volca- cooler, wetter climate conditions, is a key component in climate nic rocks that are more suitable for the beach particle technique (BPT) models of the western USA and subsequently the northern latitudes of Adams (2003, 2004) and determining paleowind velocity, 2) these (Fig. 1; e.g., Matsubara and Howard, 2009; Peterson et al., 2010). are the largest distribution of contiguous Lake Manly deposits, and However, at one of the best known and most accessible outcrops of 3) outcrops of Ordovician Eureka Quartzite there provide a unique Lake Manly—the Beatty Junction bar complex (BJBC)—the age rock type to study longshore transport. (Caskey et al., 2006; Machette et al., 2001; Owen et al., 2010) and We combine these data with observations elsewhere in Death Val- paleoshoreline configuration (Hunt and Mabey, 1966; Orme and ley (Blair, 1999; Knott et al., 2002), to infer that storm-generated Orme, 1991; Galvin and Klinger, 1996; Klinger, 2001) remain confus- west-southwest and topographically funneled north winds with ve- ing. The age of the BJBC is considered either Marine Isotope Stage locities and directions similar to present-day winds generated (MIS) 6 (186–120 ka; e.g., Phillips and Zreda, 1999; Owen et al., waves across ancient Lake Manly. These winds were topographically 2010) or MIS 2 (30–10 ka; e.g., Caskey et al., 2006; Owen et al., funneled and generated east- and south-propagating waves and 2010). Hunt and Mabey (1966) describe the BJBC as gravel bars that southerly longshore drift along the eastern shore of pluvial Lake formed on the east side of an island in Lake Manly. Orme and Orme Manly. Our study shows that the present-day wind regime is suffi- (1991) inferred that these bars formed by waves generated by cient to form the Pleistocene constructional lake forms. >31 m/s south winds across a transgressing Lake Manly eroded the same hill to the west. Galvin and Klinger (1996) also inferred forma- Background tion in a rising lake and erosion of the same hill, but that the BJBC formed by intermittent south winds that produced north- and east- Pluvial Lake Manly was located at the southwestern edge of the ward currents east of a projecting peninsula (Klinger, 2001). Great Basin in Death Valley, California, USA (Fig. 1). Unlike Lake In this study we present field observations at the BJBC, Desolation Lahontan or Lake Bonneville to the north, Lake Manly's history and for- Canyon and the Manly Terraces in an effort to determine the wave mation is more enigmatic (Machette et al., 2001). Evidence of Lake height and direction and, ultimately, wind speed that formed these Manly is found at isolated locations throughout Death Valley Lake Manly deposits. We selected the BJBC because Orme and Orme (Machette et al., 2001). In this study we focus on two of the larger, more accessible and better studied locations: the BJBC and the Desola- ⁎ Corresponding author. Fax: +1 657 278-7266. tion Canyon/Manly Terraces areas. Even though these deposits are E-mail address: [email protected] (J.R. Knott). 25 km apart, Owen et al. (2010) obtained similar cosmogenic 0033-5894/$ – see front matter © 2012 University of Washington. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2012.06.007 Author's personal copy 364 J.R. Knott et al. / Quaternary Research 78 (2012) 363–372 o Oregon Idaho 42N 124W 114W42N 119oW 118oW 117oW 116oW Nevada California Sierra Nevada Nevada Utah California 38oN Mono 38oN 37N 37N Las Vegas White DV OV Arizona Los Angeles Sierra Nevada OW 32N 32N Mexico 124W 114W 37oN OC 37oN RV Funeral I n yo HM San Joaquin Valley BJBC MD Panamint OL MT PM LM Black LG 36oN FM 36oN CL HTS SL OM MH MRS 35oN 35oN 0 kilometers 100 119oW 118oW 117oW 116oW Figure 1. Shaded relief map of southeastern California and southern Nevada showing major mountain ranges and the location of the Beatty Junction Bar Complex (BJBC) and Manly Terraces (MT) relative to the hypothesized pluvial lakes (hashured areas) of the Owens River system: Owens Lake (OL), Searles Lake (SL), Lake Gale (LG) and Lake Manly (LM) along with Mono Lake (Mono) (after Blackwelder, 1933, 1954). Wind roses represent wind direction and velocity from RAWS from the Five Mile (FM), Horse Thief Springs (HTS), Hunter Mountain (HM), Mojave River Sink (MRS), Mud Hills (MH), Oak Creek (OC), Opal Mountain (OM), Oriental Wash (OW), Owens Valley (OV) and Panamint Mountain (PM) weather stations from 2007 to 2010. The black arrow shows the dominant wind direction at Racetrack Playa (RV; Lorenz et al., 2011). The gray arrows indicate the annual wind flow direc- tions for the area (after Laity, 1987; Berry et al., 1981). Other locations are the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station (CL) and the Mesquite Dunes (MD). Box in location map in- dicates approximate area of larger map. radionuclide ages on both features, suggesting that these deposits B would have prevented the southerly waves from reaching the formed at the same time. lower elevation spit A (Galvin and Klinger, 1996). The BJBC is along the Beatty Cutoff Road about 2.5 km north of Desolation Canyon and the Manly Terraces are two other promi- California Route 190 junction (Blackwelder, 1954; Hunt and Mabey, nent Lake Manly deposits found at the north end of the Artists Drive 1966). Hunt and Mabey (1966) described the BJBC as bar deposits structural block (Fig. 3; Clements and Clements, 1953; Hunt and extending from a hill to the west (Fig. 2) that is composed of Pliocene Mabey, 1966; Knott and Machette, 2001). At Desolation Canyon, Lake (Wright and Troxel, 1993) conglomerate. Based on stratigraphic and Manly deposits form a spit and tombolo that are deposited around out- sedimentological data, Orme and Orme (1991) interpreted the BJBC crops of Tertiary andesite and basalt (Knott and Machette, 2001). The as transgressive barrier bars formed by south winds. They noted that Manly Terraces are 300 m wide and 850 m long with the shoreline the elevation of the crest of the highest bar decreased 4 m to the east angle incised into late Pliocene Funeral Formation conglomerate and over its 500 m length. They suspected that tectonism may be the basalt (Hunt and Mabey, 1966). The Manly Terraces overlie outcrops cause of the elevation change. In addition, they attributed the increase of brecciated white quartzite that Hunt and Mabey (1966; p. 25) hy- in pebble flatness to the east to greater wave energy away from the hill pothesized as either Cambrian Zabriskie Quartzite or Ordovician Eure- west of the BJBC rather than longshore drift from west to east. ka Quartzite. The bright white color, brecciated character and vitreous Galvin and Klinger (1996) and Klinger (2001) interpreted the BJBC luster is more consistent with the Eureka Quartzite, which we adopt as a sequence of spits that were developed by southerly wind-driven as the rock type. The nearest other outcrop of Eureka Quartzite is waves against the hill to the west of the BJBC in the transgressing Lake 25 km northwest (Hunt and Mabey, 1966). Manly. The four spits (A, B, C, and D) formed from north to south at Paleowind velocity is derived from wave competency as repre- elevations of 44.97 m, 45.97 m, 36.30 m and 33.78 m above mean sented by the maximum-size clasts moved by the waves.