Reinterpretation of the Burmester core, Bonneville basin, Utah

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 x 10³ 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.