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The Holocene history of West Basin Lake, Victoria, Australia; chemical changes based on fossil biota and sediment mineralogy

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Abstract

Analyses of diatoms, ostracods, pollen and sediment mineralogy from a 524 cm core from a stratified, hypersaline crater lake, West Basin, Victoria, has revealed clear shifts in the lake's water balance and chemistry and the region's climate over the last 10 000 years. Diatom and ostracod analyses reveal lake water salinity changes which are consistent with the conditions suitable for the precipitation of the carbonate and other minerals identified using x-ray diffraction analysis. The fluctuations in lake water balance deduced from diatom and ostracod inferred lake salinity suggest that the lake began to fill at the beginning of the Holocene and was saline and shallow. Toward the mid-Holocene the water levels rose and yet the lake remained largely saline. The late Holocene is marked by a return to more shallow but fluctuating, water conditions. Through the whole period, the regional dryland vegetation was dominated by open sclerophyll woodland. Both the lacustrine and regional environments interpreted here are consistent with those from Holocene records elsewhere in the region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Palynology & Palaeoecology, Department of Geography & Environmental Science, Monash University, 3168, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Peter A. Gell & Ljubica Jelicic

  2. Department of Geography, Lancaster University, LA1 4YB, Lancaster, Lancashire, UK

    Philip A. Barker

  3. Department of Geology, The Australian National University, 0200, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Patrick De Deckker

  4. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Manitoba, RT3 2N2, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

    William M. Last

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  1. Peter A. Gell
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  2. Philip A. Barker
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  3. Patrick De Deckker
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  5. Ljubica Jelicic
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This is the fourth in a series of papers published in this issue on the paleolimnology of arid regions. These papers were presented at the Sixth International Palaeolimnology Symposium held 19–21 April, 1993 at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Dr A. R. Chivas served as guest editor for these papers.

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Gell, P.A., Barker, P.A., De Deckker, P. et al. The Holocene history of West Basin Lake, Victoria, Australia; chemical changes based on fossil biota and sediment mineralogy. J Paleolimnol 12, 235–258 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00678023

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