Luminescence-based dune chronologies in southern Africa: Analysis and interpretation of dune database records across the subcontinent

Quaternary International

Volumn 410, Issue , 2016, Pages 30-45

  Thomas, David S G ^a   Burrough, Sallie L ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DATA INTERPRETATION; DATABASE; DUNE FIELD; EOLIAN PROCESS; GEOCHRONOLOGY; LUMINESCENCE DATING; PALEOENVIRONMENT; QUATERNARY;

SOUTHERN AFRICA;

EID: 84885010574     PISSN: 10406182     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2013.09.008     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. Armitage, S.J., Botha, G.A., Duller, G.A.T., Wintle, A.G., Rebêlo, L.P., Momade, F.J., The formation and evolution of the barrier islands of Inhaca and Bazaruto, Mozambique. Geomorphology 82 (2006), 295–308.
2. Arnold, L.J., Roberts, R.G., Stochastic modelling of multi-grain equivalent dose (de) distributions: implications for OSL dating of sediment mixtures. Quaternary Geochronology 4 (2009), 204–230.
3. Bailey, R.M., Arnold, L.J., Statistical modelling of single grain quartz De distributions and an assessment of procedures for estimating burial dose. Quaternary Science Reviews 25 (2006), 2475–2502.
4. Bailey, R.M., Thomas, D.S.G., A quantitative approach to understanding dated dune stratigraphies. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 2013, 10.1002/esp.3471.
5. Bateman, M.D., Thomas, D.S.G., Singhvi, A.K., Extending the aridity record of the Southwest Kalahari: current problems and future perspectives. Quaternary International 111 (2003), 37–49.
6. Bateman, M.D., Holmes, P.J., Carr, A.S., Horton, B.P., Jaiswal, M.K., Aeolianite and barrier dune construction spanning the last two glacial-interglacial cycles from the southern Cape coast, South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 23 (2004), 1681–1698.
7. Bateman, M.D., Boulter, C.H., Carr, A.S., Frederick, C.D., Peter, D., Wilder, M., Detecting post-depositional sediment disturbance in sandy deposits using optical luminescence. Quaternary Geochronology 2 (2007), 57–64.
8. Bateman, M.D., Carr, A.S., Dunajko, A.C., Holmes, P.J., Roberts, D.L., McLaren, S.J., Bryant, R.G., Marker, M.E., Murray-Wallace, C.V., The evolution of coastal barrier systems: a case study of the Middle-Late Pleistocene Wilderness barriers, South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (2011), 63–81.
9. Blümel, W.D., Eitel, B., Lang, A., Dunes in southeastern Namibia: evidence for Holocene environmental changes in the southwestern Kalahari based on thermoluminescence data. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 138 (1998), 139–149.
10. Bowler, J.M., Clay Dunes: their occurrence, formation and environmental significance. Earth–Science Reviews, 1973, 315–338.
11. Bowler, J.M., Spatial variability and hydrologic evolution of Australian lake basins: analogue for pleistocene hydrologic change and evaporite formation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 54 (1986), 21–41.
12. Bristow, C.S., Duller, G.A.T., Lancaster, N., Age and dynamics of linear dunes in the Namib Desert. Geology 35 (2007), 555–558.
13. Bristow, C.S., Lancaster, N., Duller, G.A.T., Combining ground penetrating radar surveys and optical dating to determine dune migration in Namibia. Journal of the Geological Society 162 (2005), 315–321.
14. Brook, G.A., Marais, E., Srivastava, P., Jordan, T., Timing of lake-level changes in Etosha Pan, Namibia, since the middle Holocene from OSL ages of relict shorelines in the Okondeka region. Quaternary International 175 (2007), 29–40.
15. Bubenzer, O., Bödeker, O., Besler, H., A transcontinental comparison between the southern Namib Erg (Namibia) and the southern Great Sand Sea (Egypt). Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie Teil 1:Heft 1/4 (2007), 7–23.
16. Buch, M.W., Rose, D., Zöller, L., A TL-calibrated pedostratigraphy of the western lunette dunes of Etosha Pan/northern Namibia: palaeoenvironmental implications for the last 140 ka. Palaeoecology of Africa 23 (1992), 129–147.
17. Bullard, J.E., Nash, D.N., Linear dune pattern variability in ther vicinity of dry valleys in the southwest Kalahari. Geomorphology 23 (1998), 35–54.
18. Bullard, J.E., Thomas, D.S.G., Livingstone, I., Wiggs, G.F.S., Analysis of linear sand dune morphological variability, southwestern Kalahari Desert. Geomorphology 11 (1994), 189–203.
19. Burrough, S.L., Thomas, D.S.G., Central southern Africa at the time of the African Humid Period: a new analysis of Holocene palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimate data. Quaternary Science Reviews 80 (2013), 29–46.
20. Burrough, S.L., Thomas, D.S.G., Davies, L., Bailey, R., From landform to process: morphology and formation of lake-bed barchan dunes, Makgadikgadi, Botswana. Geomorphology 161–162 (2012), 1–14.
21. Carr, A.S., Thomas, D.S.G., Bateman, M.D., Climatic and sea level controls on Late Quaternary eolian activity on the Agulhas Plain, South Africa. Quaternary Research 65 (2006), 252–263.
22. Chase, B.M., Meadows, M.E., Late Quaternary dynamics of southern Africa's winter rainfall zone. Earth–Science Reviews 84 (2007), 103–138.
23. Chase, B.M., Thomas, D.S.G., Late Quaternary dune accumulation along the western margin of South Africa: distinguishing forcing mechanisms through the analysis of migratory dune forms. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 251 (2006), 318–333.
24. Chase, B.M., Thomas, D.S.G., Multiphase late Quaternary aeolian sediment accumulation in western South Africa: timing and relationship to palaeoclimatic changes inferred from the marine record. Quaternary International 166 (2007), 29–41.
25. Duller, G.A.T., Luminescence dating of Quaternary sediments: recent advances. Journal of Quaternary Science 19 (2004), 183–192.
26. Duller, G.A.T., Improving the accuracy and precision of equivalent doses determined using the optically stimulated luminescence signal from single grains of quartz. Radiation Measurements 47 (2012), 770–777.
27. Durcan, J.A., Duller, G.A.T., The fast ratio: a rapid measure for testing the dominance of the fast component in the initial OSL signal from quartz. Radiation Measurements 46 (2011), 1065–1072.
28. Ewing, R.C., Kocurek, G.A., Aeolian dune interactions and dune-field pattern formation: White Sands Dune Field, New Mexico. Sedimentology 57 (2010), 1199–1219.
29. Galbraith, R.F., The trouble with “probability density” plots of fission track ages. Radiation Measurements 29 (1998), 125–131.
30. Galbraith, R.F., Roberts, R.G., Statistical aspects of equivalent dose and error calculation and display in OSL dating: an overview and some recommendations. Quaternary Geochronology 11 (2012), 1–27.
31. Gasse, F., Chalié, F., Vincens, A., Williams, M.A.J., Williamson, D., Climatic patterns in equatorial and southern Africa from 30,000 to 10,000 years ago reconstructed from terrestrial and near-shore proxy data. Quaternary Science Reviews 27 (2008), 2316–2340.
32. Goudie, A.S., Thomas, D.S.G., Lunette dunes in southern Africa. Journal of Arid Environments 10 (1986), 1–12.
33. Grove, A.T., Landforms and climate change in the Kalahari and Ngamiland. Geographical Journal 135 (1969), 191–212.
34. Guérin, G., Murray, A.S., Jain, M., Thomsen, K.J., Mercier, N., How confident are we in the chronology of the transition between Howieson's Poort and Still Bay?. Journal of Human Evolution 64 (2013), 314–317.
35. Holmes, P.J., Bateman, M.D., Thomas, D.S.G., Telfer, M.W., Barker, C.H., Lawson, M.P., A Holocene-late Pleistocene aeolian record from lunette dunes of the western Free State panfield, South Africa. Holocene 18 (2008), 1193–1205.
36. Hürkamp, K., Völkel, J., Heine, K., Bens, O., Leopold, M., Winkelbauer, J., Late Quaternary environmental changes from aeolian and fluvial geoarchives in the southwestern Kalahari, South Africa: implications for past African climate dynamics. South African Journal of Geology 114 (2011), 459–474.
37. Jacobs, Z., Wintle, A.G., Duller, G.A.T., Roberts, R.G., Wadley, L., New ages for the post-Howiesons Poort, late and final Middle Stone Age at Sibudu, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 35 (2008), 1790–1807.
38. Kocurek, G., Ewing, R.C., Aeolian dune field self-organization – implications for the formation of simple versus complex dune-field patterns. Geomorphology 72 (2005), 94–105.
39. Lancaster, N., Composition and formation of southern Kalahari pan margin dunes. Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie (N.F.) 22 (1978), 148–169.
40. Lancaster, N., Palaeoenvironmental implications of fixed dune systems in southern Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 33 (1981), 327–346.
41. Lawson, M.P., Environmental Change in South Africa: a Luminescence-based Chronology of Late Quaternary Lunette Dune Development., 1998, PhD Sheffield University, Sheffield.
42. Lawson, M.P., Thomas, D.S.G., Late Quaternary lunette dune sedimentation in the southwestern Kalahari Desert, South Africa: luminescence based chronologies of aeolian activity. Quaternary Science Reviews 21 (2002), 825–836.
43. Livingstone, I., Bristow, C., Bryant, R.G., Bullard, J., White, K., Wiggs, G.F.S., Baas, A.C.W., Bateman, M.D., Thomas, D.S.G., The Namib Sand Sea digital database of aeolian dunes and key forcing variables. Aeolian Research 2 (2010), 93–104.
44. McFarlane, M.J., Eckardt, F.D., Palaeodune morphology associated with the Gumare fault of the Okavango graben in the Botswana/Namibia borderland: A new model of tectonic influence. South African Journal of Geology 110 (2007), 535–542.
45. McFarlane, M.J., Eckardt, F.D., Ringrose, S., Coetzee, S.H., Kuhn, J.R., Degradation of linear dunes in Northwest Ngamiland, Botswana and the implications for luminescence dating of periods of aridity. Quaternary International 135 (2005), 83–90.
46. Moore, A.E., Cotterill, F.P.D., Eckardt, F.D., The evolution and ages of Makgadikgadi palaeo-lakes: consilient evidence from Kalahari drainage evolution. South African Journal of Geology 115 (2012), 385–413.
47. Munyikwa, K., The role of dune morphogenetic history in the interpretation of linear dune luminescence chronologies: a review of linear dune dynamics. Progress in Physical Geography 29 (2005), 317–336.
48. Munyikwa, K., Van den Haute, P., Vandenberghe, D., De Corte, F., The age and palaeoenvironmental significance of the Kalahari Sands in western Zimbabwe: a thermoluminescence reconnaissance study. Journal of African Earth Sciences 30 (2000), 941–956.
49. Nanson, G.C., Price, D.M., Short, S.A., Wetting and drying of Australia over the past 300 ka. Geology 20 (1992), 791–794.
50. Nathan, R.P., Thomas, P.J., Jain, M., Murray, A.S., Rhodes, E.J., Environmental dose rate heterogeneity of beta radiation and its implications for luminescence dating: Monte Carlo modelling and experimental validation. Radiation Measurements 37 (2003), 305–313.
51. O'Connor, P.W., Aeolian Activity and Environmental Change in the Central Mega Kalahari: Implications for the Timing, Nature and Causes of Late Quaternary Aridity., 1997, PhD University of Sheffield.
52. O'Connor, P.W., Thomas, D.S.G., The timing and environmental significance of late Quaternary linear dune development in western Zambia. Quaternary Research 52 (1999), 44–55.
53. Srivastava, P., Brook, G.A., Marais, E., Morthekai, P., Singhvi, A.K., Depositional environment and OSL chronology of the Homeb silt deposits, Kuiseb River, Namibia. Quaternary Research 65 (2006), 478–491.
54. Stokes, S., Thomas, D.S.G., Washington, R., Multiple episodes of aridity in southern Africa since the last interglacial period. Nature 388 (1997), 154–158.
55. Stokes, S., Thomas, D.S.G., Shaw, P.A., New chronological evidence for the nature and timing of linear dune development in the southwest Kalahari Desert. Geomorphology 20 (1997), 81–93.
56. Stokes, S., Haynes, G., Thomas, D.S.G., Horrocks, J.L., Higginson, M., Malifa, M., Punctuated aridity in southern Africa during the last glacial cycle: the chronology of linear dune construction in the northeastern Kalahari. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 137 (1998), 305–322.
57. Stone, A.E.C., Thomas, D.S.G., Linear dune accumulation chronologies from the southwest Kalahari, Namibia: challenges of reconstructing late Quaternary palaeoenvironments from aeolian landforms. Quaternary Science Reviews 27 (2008), 1667–1681.
58. Stone, A.E.C., Thomas, D.S.G., Viles, H.A., Late Quaternary palaeohydrological changes in the northern Namib Sand Sea: New chronologies using OSL dating of interdigitated aeolian and water-lain interdune deposits. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 288 (2010), 35–53.
59. Telfer, M.W., Growth by extension, and reworking, of a south-western Kalahari linear dune. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 36 (2011), 1125–1135.
60. Telfer, M.W., Thomas, D.S.G., Complex Holocene lunette dune development, South Africa: implications for paleoclimate and models of pan development in arid regions. Geology 34 (2006), 853–856.
61. Telfer, M.W., Thomas, D.S.G., Late Quaternary linear dune accumulation and chronostratigraphy of the southwestern Kalahari: implications for aeolian palaeoclimatic reconstructions and predictions of future dynamics. Quaternary Science Reviews 26 (2007), 2617–2630.
62. Telfer, M.W., Bailey, R.M., Burrough, S.L., Stone, A.E.S., Thomas, D.S.G., Wiggs, G.S.F., Understanding linear dune chronologies: insights from a simple accumulation model. Geomorphology 120 (2010), 195–210.
63. Telfer, M.W., Thomas, Z.A., Bremen, E., Sand ramps in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, South Africa: evidence of periglacial aeolian activity during the last glacial. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology 313–314 (2011), 59–69.
64. Thomas, D.S.G., Ancient ergs of the former arid zones of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Angola. Institute of British Geographers, Transactions NS 9 (1984), 75–88.
65. Thomas, D.S.G., Dune pattern statistics applied to the Kalahari Dune Desert, southern Africa. Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie NF 30 (1986), 231–242.
66. Thomas, D.S.G., Reconstructing paleoenvironments and palaeoclimates in drylands: what can landform analysis contribute?. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 38 (2013), 3–16.
67. Thomas, D.S.G., Burrough, S.L., Interpreting geo-proxies of late Quaternary climate change in African drylands: implications for understanding environmental and early human behaviour. Quaternary International 253 (2012), 5–17.
68. Thomas, D.S.G., Stokes, S., Shaw, P.A., Holocene aeolian activity in the southwestern Kalahari Desert, southern Africa: significance and relationships to late-Pleistocene dune-building events. The Holocene 7 (1997), 273–281.
69. Thomas, D.S.G., O'Connor, P.W., Stokes, S., Late Quaternary aridity in the southwestern Kalahari desert: new contributions from OSL dating of aeolian deposits, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Alsharan, A.S., Glennie, K.W., Whittle, G.L., Kendall, C.G., (eds.) Quaternary Deserts and Climate Change, 1998, Balkema, Rotterdam, 213–224.
70. Thomas, D.S.G., O'Connor, P., Bateman, M.D., Shaw, P.A., Stokes, S., Nash, D.J., Dune activity as a record of late Quaternary aridity in the Northern Kalahari: new evidence from northern Namibia interpreted in the context of regional arid and humid chronologies. Palaeogeography, Palaeoecology, Palaeoclimatology 156 (2000), 243–259.
71. Thomas, D.S.G., Shaw, P.A., Late Quaternary environmental change in central southern Africa: new data, synthesis, issues and prospects. Quaternary Science Reviews 21 (2002), 783–797.
72. Thomas, D.S.G., Brook, G., Shaw, P., Bateman, M., Appleton, C., Nash, D., McLaren, S., Davies, F., Late Pleistocene wetting and drying in the NW Kalahari: an integrated study from the Tsodilo Hills, Botswana. Quaternary International 104 (2003), 53–67.
73. Thomas, D.S.G., Wiggs, G.F.S., Aeolian system responses to global change: challenges of scale, process and temporal integration. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 33 (2008), 1396–1418.
74. Thomas, D.S.G., Bailey, R., Shaw, P.A., Durcan, J.A., Singarayer, J.S., Late Quaternary highstands at lake Chilwa, Malawi: Frequency, timing and possible forcing mechanisms in the last 44 ka. Quaternary Science Reviews 28 (2009), 526–539.
75. Wintle, A.G., Optical dating in southern Africa. South African Journal of Science 95 (1999), 181–186.
76. Wintle, A.G., Murray, A.S., A review of quartz optically stimulated luminescence characteristics and their relevance in single-aliquot regeneration dating protocols. Radiation Measurements 41 (2006), 369–391.