A 250,000-year record of lunette dune accumulation on the Southern High Plains, USA and implications for past climates

Abstract

A concentration of lake/playa basins occurs on the Southern High Plains (SHP) of northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico. Associated with these lake/playas are lee-side lunettes positioned on their southeast margins ranging in height from 1.5 to >10 m. An OSL dating program was applied to 30 samples from lunettes associated with large lakes and small playa basins. Samples were extracted from trenched dune sections or from deep cores. Earlier SHP lunette investigations show depositional ages primarily in the late Wisconsin and Holocene. This research extends the timing of lunette accretion to the middle Pleistocene, the earliest recorded deposition for these features. The expanded chronology permitted investigation into dune morphology on nested lunettes built on contracting lake margins. Outer lunettes formed prior to inner dunes, but simultaneous deposition occurred on downwind ridges as younger lee-side dunes were constructed. Large lake lunettes were inactive during discreet SHP pluvial episodes from early Wisconsin to LGM. Conversely, these lunettes accreted when climatic conditions promoted basin desiccation and aeolian deflation. This suggests their mode of formation contrasts with lunette models recognized for other regions. From post LGM to earliest Holocene, active lunette accretion occurred from 16 to 11 ka followed by a significant period of lunette construction during the mid-Holocene. Late Holocene-lunette deposition was interrupted by intervals of landscape stability. Lunette deposition between 1300s and 1700s corresponds with drought intervals recognized in tree-ring records from adjacent regions. Recent lunette activity on the plateau is contemporary with the 1930's ‘dust bowl’. Further insight into SHP response to changing climatic conditions was given by comparing lunette depositional events with previous investigations on sedimentation intervals for draws, lake/playa basins, and sand sheets.