The Oxygen and Hydrogen Isotope Evolution of the

Great Lakes

Fred J. Longstaffe, Avner Ayalon, Ryan Hladyniuk, Ayumi Hyodo, Rebecca Macdonald, Natalie St.

Amour, Allan Crowe and Patrice Huddart

Lake Agassiz

Lake Superior

Lake Michigan Lake Huron

Lake Erie

Lake Ontario

Laurentide Ice Sheet

(Photo by R. Macdonald)

Candona subtriangulata

Arthropods with calcite valves

What are ostracodes?

Alive (by JG Morin)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4

Calib

rate

d a

ge (

ka y

ears

BP

)

δ18Olake water (‰,VSMOW)

C. subtriangulata

Clams

F. caudata

Glacial Sediment, Glacial Lake Iroquois (>13500 cal BP) • Outlet= Mohawk River, Rome, NY

Moorhead Phase (Lake Agassiz) (~12800 cal BP) • Upstream discharge from upper GL • Surge of meltwater

Hydraulic Closure of Lake Ontario (12250- 8250 cal BP) • Abrupt enrichment of 18O • Reduced lake level, increased evaporation • Hydraulic closure (Lewis et al. 2010)

Modern Lake Ontario (<5000 cal BP) • Outlet= St. Lawrence • Lake levels and climate stabilizing

Lake Ontario

Variation in d18O of Lake Superior

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

-30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0

Ca

l B

P

d18Olake water (‰, VSMOW)

Moist (less evaporation)

Warm (higher d18O precipitation)

Dry (more evaporation)

Cooler (lower d18O precipitation) (Less evaporation)

Meltwater dominated in LS

Cold and dry

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

-14 -11 -8

d18Olake water (‰, VSMOW)

Cal

BP

Lake Superior

Glacial sediments (few diatoms)

Holocene Neoglacial Interval (cooler)

(Renssen et al. 2009)

LS modern

Holocene Thermal Maximum (warmer)

(Edward et al. 1996; McAndrews 1981) LH 6,500 BP

(LH data from Dettman et al. 1995; Macdonald and Longstaffe 2008; Rea et al. 1994)

Cold and Dry

Moist

Dry

Objectives • Great Lakes Meteoric Water Line, based on monthly

d-values (nine stations since 1996)

– Great Lakes Meteoric Water Line

• Great Lakes d-values (cruises since 2004)

– Average values

– LELs

– Spatial variation, time series

• Useful in anticipating d-values of Holocene lakewater proxies, past and future(?)

A work (very early!) in progress

Pt. Pelee

St. Clair

Grand Bend

Rock Point

Burlington

Pt. Petre

Burnt Is.

Sibley

Turkey Lakes Superior

Huron

Ontario

Chicago (62-79)

Pinery

Atikokan

(75-82)

Ottawa (67-01)

Simcoe (75-82)

Ste Agathe (75-82)

Coshocton (66-70)

Precipitation Sites (1996 - )

-8.0

-7.1

-8.3

-8.1

-7.5

-8.5

-10.4

-12.2

-11.6 Superior

Huron

Ontario

-6.2

-9.5

-12.6

-11.2

-9.3

-12.6

-7.4

Annual d18O (‰, VSMOW)

(1996 - )

-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

Date

96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06

Sibley

P. Pelee

Pinery

Turkey

Lakes

Mean Monthly Variation in d18O Values of Precipitation

d1

8O (‰

, VSM

OW

)

Pinery (Lake Huron): dprecip vs Surface T (°C)

- 1 5 0

- 1 2 0

- 9 0

- 6 0

- 3 0

0

d2H

‰

- 2 0

- 1 0

0

1 0

2 0

3 0

1 9 9 7 2 0 0 0 1 9 9 9 1 9 9 8

- 2 2

- 1 7

- 1 2

- 7

- 2

- 2 0

- 1 0

0

1 0

2 0

3 0

Aug Dec May Aug Dec May Aug Dec Mar

d1

8O

‰

T°C

T°C

Each data point = average of monthly

results for 10 years. 2

4

6

8

10

12

-13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6

Tem

per

atu

re (°

C)

d18O (‰, VSMOW)

Lake Superior

Lake St. Clair

Manitoulin Island

Southern Lake Huron

Northern Lake Huron

Lake Erie

Lake Ontario

Temperature vs

Precipitation d18O

-120

-100

-80

-60

-40

-20

-14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4

Sibley

Turkey Lakes Burnt Is.

Pinery St. Clair Burlington

P. Pelee P. Petre

Grand Bend

R. Point

d18O (‰, VSMOW)

dD

(‰

, VSM

OW

) Great Lakes Meteoric Water Line

dD = 7.1d18O + 1.0

Each point = annual arithmetic average of monthly results

GLMWL

-85

-75

-65

-55

-45

-35

-11.5 -10.5 -9.5 -8.5 -7.5 -6.5 -5.5

d2H

(‰

, V

SM

OW

)

d18O (‰, VSMOW)

Stable Isotopic Composition of the Great Lakes

Lake Superior

St. Mary's River

Georgian Bay

Lake Huron

Lake Erie

Lake Ontario

Lake Michigan

Sarnia-Amherstburg

18O (‰ VSMOW)

-10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5

Depth

(m

)

0

20

40

60

Lake Erie (Oct. 2004-Feb. 2010)

18O (‰ VSMOW)

-10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5

Depth

(m

)

0

50

100

150

200

250

Lake Ontario (Apr. 2006-Apr. 2010)

18O (‰ VSMOW)

-10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5

Depth

(m

)

0

50

100

150

200

250

Lake Huron (May 2004-Aug. 2009)

18O (‰ VSMOW)

-10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5

Depth

(m

)0

20

40

60

80

100

Georgian Bay (May 2004-Aug. 2009)

18O (‰ VSMOW)

-10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5

Depth

(m

)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Lake Michigan (June 2006)

18O (‰ VSMOW)

-10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5

Depth

(m

)0

100

200

300

Lake Superior (May 2005-Oct.2008)

Lake Superior Georgian Bay Lake Huron

d18O d2H d18O d2H d18O d2H

Average -8.68 -67.5 -7.53 -57.1 -7.35 -56.5

Maximum -7.98 -63.6 -7.08 -54.7 -6.13 -48.2

Minimum -9.60 -74.7 -8.86 -65.7 -9.03 -68.3

Std 0.22 1.4 0.30 1.9 0.44 3.2

Sarnia-Amherst. Lake Erie Lake Ontario

d18O d2H d18O d2H d18O d2H

Average -7.22 -55.8 -6.71 -50.7 -6.65 -50.1

Maximum -6.96 -52.7 -5.77 -44.7 -5.68 -47.1

Minimum -7.87 -58.5 -8.33 -58.7 -11.40 -77.3

Std 0.21 1.4 0.37 2.4 0.34 2.1

Oxygen Isotope Composition of the Great Lakes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Lakes_from_space.jpg

-8.7 ‰

-6.7 ‰ -5.9 ‰

-7.4 ‰ -6.6 ‰

Average, all analyses n = 1650

-7.5 ‰

-7.2 ‰

-7.4 ‰

-8.6 ‰

-95

-90

-85

-80

-75

-70

-65

-60

-55

-50

-45

-12.5 -11.5 -10.5 -9.5 -8.5 -7.5 -6.5 -5.5

d2H

(‰

, V

SM

OW

)

d18O (‰, VSMOW)

Upper Great Lakes

Burnt Is

Sibley

Turkey Lakes

Headwater input,

Lake Superior

Precipitation input, Georgian

Bay

Pinery

Grand Bend

Precipitation input, Lake

Huron

Lake Superior

Lake Huron

Sarnia - Amherstburg

Georgian Bay

(Each data point = station average)

-75

-70

-65

-60

-55

-50

-45

-40

-10 -9.5 -9 -8.5 -8 -7.5 -7 -6.5 -6 -5.5 -5

d2H

(‰

, V

SM

OW

)

d18O (‰, VSMOW)

Lower Great Lakes

Pinery

Grand Bend

Point Petre

Precipitation input, Lake Erie

Rock Point

Point Pelee

Burlington

Saint Clair

Chicago

Precipitation input, Lake

Ontario

Precipitation input,

Lake Huron

Sarnia- Amherstburg

Lake Ontario

Lake Erie

(Each data point = station average)

-95

-85

-75

-65

-55

-45

-35

-12.5 -11.5 -10.5 -9.5 -8.5 -7.5 -6.5 -5.5 -4.5

d2H

(‰

, VSM

OW

)

d18O (‰, VSMOW)

Average Lake Water &

Lake 'Mixing' Line

Georgian Bay & Huron

Superior

Erie & Ontario

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

-10.0 -9.0 -8.0 -7.0 -6.0 -5.0

E/I

d18O (‰, VSMOW)

E/I vs station average d18O of lake water

Lake

Superior

Lake

Huron

Georgian

Bay Lake

Erie

Lake

Ontario

From Lewis et al. (2008), after Edwards et al. (1996)

Scenarios 1. Cold/Dry Period 2. Warm/Dry Period 3. Warm/Moist

Period (before c. 8900 cal BP) (c. 8900-7000 cal BP) (c.7000-2000 cal BP)

DRH (%) -20 -10 5

Dtemp (°C) -6.0 -3.7 3.2

Dd18OP (‰) -3.9 -2.4 2.1

da (d18O ‰) -25.0 -17.5 -15.0

-130

-110

-90

-70

-50

-30

-17 -15 -13 -11 -9 -7 -5 -3 -1

d2H

(‰

, V

SM

OW

)

d18O (‰, VSMOW)

Scenario 1: Cold/Dry Before c. 8900 cal BP

E/I range from 0.1 to 0.3

Superior

Georgian Bay

Ontario

Huron

Erie

Modern

Input Parameters DRH (%): -20 DT (°C): -6.0 Dd18Op (‰): -3.9 d18Oa (‰): -25.0

-130

-110

-90

-70

-50

-30

-17 -15 -13 -11 -9 -7 -5 -3 -1

d2H

(‰

, V

SM

OW

)

d18O (‰, VSMOW)

Scenario 2: Warm/Dry (c. 8900-7000 cal BP)

E/I range from 0.1 to 0.3

Superior

Georgian Bay

Ontario

Huron

Erie

Modern

Input Parameters DRH (%): -10 DT (°C): -3.7 Dd18Op (‰): -2.4 d18Oa (‰): -17.5

-130

-110

-90

-70

-50

-30

-17 -15 -13 -11 -9 -7 -5 -3 -1

d2H

(‰

, VSM

OW

)

d18O (‰, VSMOW)

Scenario 3: Warm/Moist (c. 7000-2000 cal BP)

E/I range from 0.1 to 0.3

Superior

Georgian Bay

Ontario

Huron Erie

Modern

Input Parameters DRH (%): 5 DT (°C): 3.2 Dd18Op (‰): 2.1 d18Oa (‰): -15.0

Next Steps • Spatial analysis of lake data (and gather Lake

Michigan data)

• More sophisticated approach

– Variable lake volume

– Chain-of-lakes considerations

– Better tuning of climate parameters

– Better estimates of datmosphere

• Calibration with conventional E/I measures

• Acquire/compare large and small lake proxy records

With thanks to… • Staff of the Laboratory for Stable Isotope Science (Kim Law, Li Huang, Lisa Munro)

• Mike Lewis • Captain & Crew of the CCGS Limnos • Environment Canada staff

• Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada

• Canada Foundation for Innovation • The University of Western Ontario

d-Excess (d) = dD - 8d18O

• d = ~10 for modern samples world-wide (86% RH) • Caused by kinetic effects during evaporation • Increases with an increase in moisture deficit (1-h), where h

is RH at the water surface temperature • Effect of evaporation is dD/d18O < 8; vapour plots to the left

of the MWL (thus having a higher d) • d varies with geographic location in NA (air mass source,

Dtemperature, aridity, contributions from lakes and transpiration)

• ~10 ‰ lower in glacial vs interglacial periods (????) because of change in RH (Harmon & Schwarcz, 1981)

Pt. Pelee

St. Clair

Grand Bend

Rock Point

Burlington

P. Petre

Burnt Is.

Sibley

Turkey Lakes

Chicago

Pinery

Atikokan

Ottawa

Simcoe

Ste Agathe

Coshocton

7.1

12.4

10.6 7.3

6.5

5.7

9.0

11.9

7.9

6.0

9.4

7.6

12.6

11.4

13.1

11.7

Average Annual d-excess

Superior

Huron

Ontario

Pt. Pelee

St. Clair

Grand Bend

Rock Point

Burlington

P. Petre

Burnt Is.

Sibley

Turkey Lakes

Chicago

Pinery

Atikokan

Ottawa

Simcoe

Ste Agathe

Coshocton

3.2

4.6

3.6

8.1

7.9

1.3

4.7

3.5

2.6

9.6

9.1

4.3

9.6

9.5

11.3

9.3

Average Summer d-excess

Superior

Huron

Ontario

6

8

10

12

14

-13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6

d-e

xces

s (‰

)

d18O (‰VSMOW)

Each data point = annual arithmetic average of monthly results for 10 years.

Sibley

Atikokan

Coshocton Turkey Lake

Burnt Island

Pt. Pelee

Pinery

Pt. Petre

Burlington

St. Clair

Rock Pt.

Grand Bend

Chicago

Simcoe Ottawa

Ste Agathe

-13

-12

-11

-10

-9

-8

-7

-6

500 600 700 800 900 1000

Annual Precipitation (mm)

Sibley

Turkey LakesBurnt Is

Pinery St ClairBurlington

P. PeleeP. Petre

Grand Bend

R. Point

Each data point = arithmetic average of annual results for 10 years.

Pinery

(2005)

Sibley

Burnt Island

Turkey Lakes

Pinery (1999)

Pinery (average)

d1

8O

(‰

VSM

OW

)

Pt. Pelee

St. Clair

Grand Bend

Rock Point

Burlington

P. Petre

Burnt Is.

Sibley

Turkey Lakes

Chicago

Pinery

Atikokan

Ottawa

Simcoe

Ste Agathe

Coshocton

9.1

16.3

13.6 12.0

11.8

12.6

10.2

14.5

10.9 10.4

12.6

13.0

13.8

13.6

14.1

15.1

Average Winter d-excess

Superior

Huron

Ontario

-56

-50

-58

-58

-55

-60

-73

-91

-81 Superior

Huron

Ontario

-45

-64

-92

-78

-62

-88

-47

Annual dD (‰, VSMOW)

(1996 - )