Breckenridge Destinations supports independent journalism. Click for great deals on vacation lodging in Breckenridge.
Nevada’s Walker Lake is a remnant of one of the great inland lakes that covered parts of the Great Basin during the last glacial cooling period. Image courtesy NASA Earth Observatory.
Glacial climate regime may have enhanced Southwest Monsoon
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — Geologists and paleoclimatologists have long known that the great basins of the intermountain West were once filled with water, forming vast inland seas. At the peak of the last glacial cooling period, about 14,000 to 20,000 years ago as much as a quarter of Nevada and Utah were covered with water.
What’s not exactly clear is where and when the water came from, but a new study led by a Texas A&M researcher offers additional clues, suggesting that the additional moisture came from a powerful, enhanced summer monsoon.
First, the scientists set out to test the prevailing hypothesis that the water resulted from a shift in the winter storm track that now generally carries storm to the north of the Great Basin, into northern California, Washington and Oregon. (more…)
Filed under: climate and weather, Drought, global warming | Tagged: climate change, Great Basin, Holocene, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Lahontan Lake, Pleistocene, Southwest monsoon | Leave a Comment »
Arapahoe Basin supports independent journalism. Click to visit The Legend online.
Powder's falling at Monarch!! Have you reserved your spot yet?
Innovative energy underwrites coverage of energy stories.
