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A soil Chronosequence on Lake Mega-Frome Beach Ridges and its Implications for Late Quaternary Pedogenesis and Paleoenvironmental Conditions in the Drylands of Southern Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jan-Hendrik May ,
Stephen G. Wells ,
Timothy J. Cohen ,
Samuel K. Marx ,
Gerald C. Nanson  and
Sophie E. Baker
Jan-Hendrik May
Affiliation:
GeoQuest Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2522 NSW, Australia
Stephen G. Wells
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education, Reno, NV 89512, USA
Timothy J. Cohen
Affiliation:
GeoQuest Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2522 NSW, Australia
Samuel K. Marx
Affiliation:
GeoQuest Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2522 NSW, Australia
Gerald C. Nanson
Affiliation:
GeoQuest Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2522 NSW, Australia
Sophie E. Baker
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education, Reno, NV 89512, USA
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Abstract

The terminal lake systems of central Australia are key sites for the reconstruction of late Quaternary paleoenvironments. Paleoshoreline deposits around these lakes reflect repeated lake filling episodes and such landforms have enabled the establishment of a luminescence-based chronology for filling events in previous studies. Here we present a detailed documentation of the morphology and chemistry of soils developed in four well-preserved beach ridges of late Pleistocene and mid-to-late Holocene age at Lake Callabonna to assess changes in dominant pedogenic processes. All soil profiles contain evidence for the incorporation of eolian-derived material, likely via the formation of desert pavements and vesicular horizons, and limited illuviation due to generally shallow wetting fronts. Even though soil properties in the four studied profiles also provide examples of parent material influence or site-specific processes related to the geomorphic setting, there is an overall trend of increasing enrichment of eolian-derived material since at least ~ 33 ka. Compared to the Holocene profiles, the derived average accumulation rates for the late Pleistocene profiles are significantly lower and may suggest that soils record important regional changes in paleoenvironments and dust dynamics related to shifts in the Southern Hemisphere westerlies.

Keywords

Beach ridgesSoil formationChronosequencelate QuaternaryDesert pavementEolian dustPaleoenvironments
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 150 - 165
Copyright
University of Washington

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