Hemiarid lake basins: Hydrographic patterns

Abstract

Lakes and other mappable bodies of standing water exist at the atmosphere-lithosphere interface. Over shorter time intervals, water body configurations (hydrography) respond directly to atmospheric (hydroclimatic) forcing. Over longer intervals, hydrography also reflects tectonic and volcanic forcing from the lithosphere. Hydrographic patterns in lake basins, in turn, strongly influence and even control many geomorphic and stratigraphic patterns (e.g. Mabbutt 1977). These linked patterns (hydroclimatic + tectonic → hydrographic → geomorphic + stratigraphic) make lakes and kindred water bodies superb instruments for gauging environmental change and recording palaeoenvironmental history. © 2009 Springer Netherlands.