Post-Nipissing Origin of a Backdune Complex Along the Southeastern Shore of Lake Michigan

Abstract

Relatively low (<25 m) parabolic dunes and dune ridges occur inland of massive parabolic dunes in many dune complexes along the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan. The major study of these backdunes (Tagues, 1946) concluded, based on field criteria, that they were older than the massive parabolic dunes and originate at the Calumet and Algonquin stages of ancestral Lake Michigan (~14-10 ka). Younger ages are indicated by this study in which Optically Stimulated Luminescense (OSL) ages were obtained from the crest of three backdunes southwest of Holland, Michigan. All ages are within statistical error of each other and indicate dune stabilization at ~4 ka. Similarities in surface soil development throughout the backdunes support the conclusion that they all stabilized at about the same time. Radiocarbon ages from paleosols indicate that the massive parabolic dunes were active at 4 ka and that this activity persisted after the back dunes had stabilized. In the Holland area, dune growth and migration occurred in a broad zone, including both back and massive parabolic dunes, immediately after the rise to and drop from Nipissing II high lake levels but became confined to a narrower zone closer to shore after ~4 ka.