Buried soils and coastal aeolian sands at Portstewart, Co. Londonderry, northern Ireland

Abstract

Abstract Detailed analyses and radiocarbon dating of buried soils have determined the characteristics and age of coastal aeolian sand deposits at Portstewart, Northern Ireland. A buried gleyed soil developed in basalt‐rich sandy loam underlies the sands. Two sand units occur, the lower of which contains a buried humus podzol 1.4 m thick. Radiocarbon dating indicates that this sand was deposited several hundred years after the mid‐Flandrian sea level maximum and that a long period (c. 4,300 years) of land‐surface stability occurred at the site. The upper sand unit was deposited in the late Middle Ages but its significance is not clear.