CHALLENGES IN UNDERSTANDING THE QUATERNARY RECORD OF DUNE DEPOSITS

The sedimentary and geomorphic record preserved in inland dune systems potentially provides a valuable source of information on past climate conditions, including evidence for periods of dune activity and stability that may be interpretable as records of past aridity and drought conditions.

In recent years, an extensive record of luminescence-dated periods of aeolian deposition in inland dune systems has been developed as a result of the work of many investigators from all parts of the world. Although there is now a large number (>4500) of ages, it is becoming increasingly clear that their interpretation is not straightforward and a clear signal is often difficult to identify in a noisy data set. This is a result of: (1) a very uneven distribution of ages in time and space is; (2) difficulties involved in displaying and analyzing luminescence data sets as a result of the uncertainties in the ages and taphonomic effects; (3) the heterogeneous nature of the dune sedimentary record; (4) uncertainty in the nature of the controls on dune system dynamics at a local or regional scale; and (5) spatial variations in the sensitivity of dune systems to changes in boundary conditions (e.g. climate, sediment supply).

Despite these challenges, it is possible to identify a record of the response of dune systems to changes in climate and sediment supply at a regional level, which can provide valuable information for predicting their response to future climate change and informing land-use decisions.