Description
The authors reconstructed a history of Holocene water level and chemical changes for Chappice Lake (50.17°N, 110.37°W), a shallow hypersaline lake located near the limit of the northern mixed-grass prairie in the northern Great Plains of southern Alberta, Canada. The Medieval Warm Period was described as an interval of severe recurrent drought that was "likely related to higher temperatures" between AD 825 and 1125. Comparison of the MWP droughts with those of the historical record reveals that the droughts of the past century "do not appear to match in severity or longevity" those of Medieval times, which suggests that the "higher temperatures" to which the MWP droughts were related were likely higher than those of the recent past.