Clay minerals in the late Quaternary sediment of Tulare Lake, California: Implications for climate change, weathering, and erosion processes

Abstract

Abstract The clay mineralogy of Tulare Lake sediment was examined to investigate hydroclimatic and environmental changes in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains (SNM) since the most recent glacial maximum. Evolution of clay mineral assemblages elucidates significant changes in weathering, erosion, and hydroclimatic condition in the catchment. During the last glacial period (24.4–15.1\u202fcal ka BP), low illite content implies less physical erosion of the granitic batholith rocks and a cold and arid environment in the southern SNM. Abrupt increases of illite content at 21.8–20.8 and 17.6\u202fcal ka BP resulted from the glacier advances to the ablation zone and illite-rich glacier flour was transported down to the lake. The gradual increase of smectite induced by progressive depletion of illite-rich glacier flour from 17.6\u202fcal ka BP toward the end of this period indicates climate was beginning to get warm and wet. From 11.9 to 5.3\u202fcal ka BP, two warm and wet periods (10.7–9.4 and 8.2–5.2\u202fcal ka BP) were characterized by high smectite/illite content ratios and low illite crystallinity values, suggesting intensive rainfall precipitation and more physical erosion in the highland and lowland catchment as well as more smectite formation in the terrace soils. Since the last glacial period, physical erosion, in comparison to the chemical weathering, was the dominant process responding to the hydroclimatic change in the Tulare Lake catchment. Moderate to weak chemical weathering was signified by the mostly low illite chemical weathering index of the core sediments. Such results suggest that vegetation cover in the southern SNM was low and limited.