An Introduction to Basin Analysis, Coring, and Chronological Techniques Used in Paleolimnology

Abstract

Paleolimnology, the interpretation of past conditions and processes in lake basins, is a multidisciplinary science whose roots extend back nearly two centuries. Despite this long history of development, the science has seen a surge of interest and application over the past decade. Today paleolimnology assumes a pivotal role in paleoclimatic and global change investigations, many fields of environmental science, and hydrocarbon and mineral resource exploration and exploitation. Associated with this dramatic increase in research activity involving lake sediments, there has been an equally rapid advance in the techniques and methods used by paleolimnologists. The objective of this volume is to provide a state-of-the-art summary of the major field methods, chronological techniques, and concepts used in the study of large-scale lacustrine basin analysis. This and the other techniques volumes in this series build on the foundation provided by previous compilations of paleoenvironmental techniques, such as Kummel &, many of which continue to serve as essential handbooks. However, the development of new and different methods for studying lake sediments over the past decade, as well as advancements and modifications to old methods, have provided impetus for a new series of monographs for this rapidly expanding topic. Three additional books from this series deal with other components of paleolimnology. Volume 2 (Last & Smol, 2001) focuses on the vast array of physical, mineralogical, and geochemical parameters that can be applied to the interpretation of lake histories. Volumes 3 and 4 (Smol et al., 2001 a, b) address the great range of biological techniques that have been W. M. Last & J. P. Smol (eds.), 2001. Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments. Volume 1: Basin Analysis, Coring, and Chronological Techniques. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. 1 2 WILLIAM M. LAST & JOHN P. SMOL and continue to be such an important aspect of many paleolimnological efforts. Although chapters in each of these books discuss the quantitative aspects of lake sediment interpreta-tions, a separate volume on statistical and data handling approaches in paleolimmnology is currently in preparation (Birks et al., in preparation). Our intent with this series of volumes is to provide sufficient methodological and technical detail to allow both practitioners and newcomers to the area of paleolimnology to use them as handbooks/laboratory manuals and as primary research texts. Although we recognize that the study of pre-Quaternary lakes is a very rapidly growing component in the vast arena of paleolimnology, this volume is directed primarily towards those involved in Quaternary lacustrine deposits and Quaternary environmental change. Nonetheless, many of the techniques and approaches are applicable to other time frames. Finally, we anticipate that many of the techniques discussed in these volumes apply equally well to marine, estuarine, and other depositional environments, although we have not specifically targeted non-lacustrine settings. This volume contains 16 chapters divided into three parts. As illustrated in Figure 1, the three main components of paleolimnology addressed in Volume 1 are: (i) methods used in the field collection and archiving of sediment cores, (ii) techniques for establishing chronology of the recovered stratigraphic sequence, and (iii) concepts and techniques that can be applied to large-scale lake basin analysis. Following this short introduction, Part I outlines several of the most commonly used basin analysis methods. Often these large-scale basin configuration and subsurface remote sensing techniques are a requisite first step for the paleolimnologist, applied prior to sample collection or core site selection. In