Abstract
Geomorphological and sedimentological analysis of aeolian deposits, combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of quartz-grain surface characteristics, suggest six dune-building episodes during late Quaternary time in the southern Mojave Desert, California. The aeolian units accumulated largely in response to the lowering of water levels in lake basins and a consequent increase in fine sediment availability, and to stronger and more persistent winds, associated with rapidly changing environmental conditions. Peak dune deposition is believed to have taken place during the middle Holocene Altithermal between around 7.5 and 5 ka, a period characterized by greater aridity than the present. SEM analysis of the quartz surface textures indicates that mechanical and especially chemical weathering processes play a significant role in the post-depositional modification of aeolian sediments. Such evidence permits paleoenvironmental reconstruction during and since deposition, and a basis for the relative dating...
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