Reinterpretation of the Burmester Core, Bonneville Basin, Utah

Abstract

Initial interpretation of the sediments from the Burmester core (Eardley et al. (1973). Geological Society of America Bulletin 84, 211–216) indicated that 17 deep-lake cycles, separated by shallow-lake and soil-forming intervals, occurred in the Bonneville basin during the Brunhes Chron (the last 780 × 10 3 yr). Our re-examination of the core, along with new sedimentological, geochronological, and paleontological data, indicate that only four deep-lake cycles occurred during this period, apparently correlative with marine oxygen-isotope stages 2, 6, 12, and 16. This interpretation suggests that large lakes formed in the Bonneville basin only during the most extensive of the Northern Hemisphere glaciations.