Devils Hole 2, Nevada 350,000 Year Water Table Fluctuations Wendt, K.A.; Dublyansky, Y.V.; Moseley, G.E.; Edwards, R.L.; Cheng, H.; Spötl, C. Wendt, K.A. Dublyansky, Y.V. Moseley, G.E. Edwards, R.L. Cheng, H. Spötl, C. earth science/paleoclimate/speleothems (Devils Hole 2>LATITUDE 36.416>LONGITUDE -116.283) The projected long-term drying of the southwest (SW) United States in response to climate warming raises a sobering alarm for this already water-limited region, yet the climatic controls on moisture availability over longer time scales remain a topic of debate. Here, we present a 350,000-year record of past water table fluctuations in Devils Hole 2 cave that are driven by variations in recharge amount to the local groundwater flow system. Because of the unprecedented length and precision of our record, we can observe variations in regional moisture availability over the last three glacial-interglacial cycles at a millennial-scale resolution. The timing of past water table rises and falls (>9 m in amplitude) closely coincides with the expansion and reduction of Northern Hemisphere ice volume, which in turn influences the position and intensity of westerly winter storms on orbital time scales. Superimposed on this long-term trend are millennial-scale highstands recorded during the last glaciation that coincide with North Atlantic Heinrich events. Earlier millennial-scale highstands provide the first evidence of multiple short-lived wet periods in the SW United States linked to coeval cooling intervals in the North Atlantic during marine isotope stages 6 and 8. The Devils Hole 2 water table record is currently the longest independently dated paleomoisture record in the SW United States and thus provides a critical testbed to examine the controls on regional moisture availability over larger time scales. STUDY NOTES: Ages of petrographic boundaries that indicate increasing, decreasing, or brief rises in the water-table of Devils Hole 2 cave, Death Valley National Park, Nevada, USA. NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : Wendt, K.A. Investigator : Dublyansky, Y.V. Investigator : Moseley, G.E. Investigator : Edwards, R.L. Investigator : Cheng, H. Investigator : Spötl, C. 2018-11-09 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/25690 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/northamerica/usa/nevada/devilshole2watertable.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/northamerica/usa/nevada/devilshole2watertable.txt English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/25690 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/northamerica/usa/nevada/devilshole2watertable.txt Kathleen A. Wendt, Yuri V. Dublyansky, Gina E. Moseley, R. Lawrence Edwards, Hai Cheng, and Christoph Spötl2018Moisture availability in the southwest United States over the last three glacial-interglacial cyclesScience Advanceseaau137541010.1126/sciadv.aau1375http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/10/eaau1375 START YEAR: 349945 cal yr BP * END YEAR: 0 cal yr BP -116.283 36.416 -116.283 36.416