Foy Lake Diatom Abundance Record Spanning 7000 Years

763 time-steps record percent abundances of 109 diatom taxa from a sediment core in Foy Lake, Montana, sampled approximately every 5–20 years. The dataset spans 7000 years and is associated with research on communicating Earth's tipping points. It was published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term climate variability based on diatom assemblage changes.
• Modeling ecological tipping points based on a 7000-year sediment record.
• Studying drought impacts in the Flathead River Basin based on lake sediment proxies.
• Communicating scientific findings through data sonification based on the time-series data.

Strengths

• High-resolution record with 763 time-steps spanning 7000 years.
• Includes percent abundances for 109 distinct diatom taxa.
• Samples collected approximately every 5–20 years, providing fine temporal detail.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Collection Method

Percent abundances collected from a continuous lake sediment core.

Time Range

7000 years

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-15 10:22:49.893630; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Foy Lake, Montana, USA (48.1648°N, 114.3589°W, 1005 meters elevation)