Loading...
AEOLIAN DUNE FIELDS OF KANSAS AND THEIR RESPONSE TO LATE-QUATERNARY DROUGHT
Halfen, Alan Frederick
Halfen, Alan Frederick
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract
Aeolian dune fields are ubiquitous features of the North American Great Plains, and contained within their stratigraphy are important records of changes in prehistoric climate. Using absolute dating techniques, researchers can determine the timing of past dune field activity, which in many cases, is the result of drought. Based on a drought-aeolian activity relationship, the timing of past dune activity can, therefore, be used as a proxy for prehistoric drought. This dissertation presents three chronologies of dune activity from understudied dune fields in Kansas. Each chronology has been established using new optically stimulated luminescence ages, which in total account for nearly 25% of the total luminescence ages reported from all U.S. Great Plains dune fields. In general, dune activity in Kansas is coeval with that recorded throughout the Great Plains, but, in particular, Kansas dunes were active during defined periods of drought recorded in other regional proxies.
Description
Date
2012-12-31
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Kansas
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Geomorphology, Geology, Paleoclimate science, Aeolian dunes, Great plains, Luminescence, Megadrought, Osl, Radiocarbon