Paleolimnology of Kluane Lake

Causes and consequences of late Holocene fluctuations of Kluane Lake in Yukon Territory have been reconstructed from several sediment cores. In the last 5000 years the level of Kluane Lake has varied from ~27 m below its present level to 12 m above, primarily due to changes in inputs of water from Slims and Duke rivers. Discharge form the Slims River catchment into Kluane Lake is associated with glacial advances. During periods when neither Duke nor Slims rivers flowed into Kluane Lake, the level of the lake fell and stable thermal stratification developed with anoxic conditions in the hypolimnion. Climate related changes in catchment permafrost affected nutrient mineralization and the quality of runoff. Recent Kluane Lake fluctuations have caused corresponding shifts in the local groundwater table, which has affected adjacent small lakes causing an alternation of open and closed basin conditions and reversals in local groundwater flow.