Bonneville basin shoreline records of large lake intervals during Marine Isotope Stage 3 and the Last Glacial Maximum

Lacustrine shoreline depositional features in the Bonneville basin, western North America, were investigated to chronicle paleolake expansion and contraction in response to climate change. Based on stratigraphy, sedimentology, geomorphology, and radiocarbon dating, this study identifies multiple intermediate- to large-lake intervals during Marine Isotope Stage 3 and the Last Glacial Maximum. Timing and magnitude of the Bonneville basin lake size change are compared with those of hemispheric-scale climate-change events reported from the Greenland ice sheet, southwestern North America winter precipitation, and East Asian monsoon δ18O records. The amount of precipitation received by surface water systems in the Bonneville basin appears to have increased significantly during the Greenland stades throughout the last half of MIS 3 and early MIS 2. The lake also underwent rapid, large amplitude oscillations during the Last Glacial Maximum.