Friends of the Pleistocene Seminar Series

In this study, we assess charcoal records from aeolian deposits within the Cooloola Sand Mass, a subtropical coastal-dune system in eastern Australia, to determine whether they can be used as a proxy for Holocene fire history. We excavate four profiles in depositional wedges at the base of dune slipfaces (foot-slope deposits) and calculate charcoal concentrations for three size classes (180-250 μm, 250-355 μm, and 355 μm-2 mm) at predetermined depth intervals. Age-depth models are constructed for each profile using radiocarbon measurements (n=46) and basal OSL ages (n=4). All records appear intact with little evidence of post-depositional mixing as demonstrated by minimal age-reversals and consistent trends in charcoal concentration and accumulation rates (CHAR) amongst size classes. Combining all four records, we generate a ca 7 cal. ka BP terrestrial fire history that depicts distinct peaks representing periods of increased local fire activity at <0.3, 1.1-0.5, 2.3-1.7, 3.7-2.6, and 6.7-5.3 cal. ka BP. Our findings parallel regional records and highlight the utility of dune foot-slopes as ecological and geomorphological archives. As dune fields are much more common than wetlands and lakes in semi-arid and arid areas, these deposits have the potential to increase the spatial resolution of fire records globally.

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