Morphology and chronostratigraphy of a coastal dunefield; Groote Eylandt, northern Australia

Abstract

A coastal dunefield on Groote Eylandt, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia, is stratigraphically described and dated using the coarse fraction thermoluminescence dating technique. Four phases of dune activity have been identified: (1) Modern active transverse and parabolic dunes. (2) A parabolic dunefield apparently stabilized less than 2000 yr BP. (3) A parabolic dunefield stablized between 6000 and 4800 yr BP. (4) A basal dunefield unit emplaced prior to 100,000 yr BP. The current dune systems are an expression of dune activation and stabilization events in the Holocene, but were formed from the deflation of an extensive pre-Holocene dunefield. The destruction of the pre-Holocene dunefield appears to have been caused by sea-level rise at the end of the Pleistocene and during the early Holocene. The ages derived from the dunefield accord well with chronostratigraphic investigations of coastal dune systems elsewhere in northern Australia and support theories of regional environmental change during the Holocene.