The Great Plains is dominated by presently stabilized dune fields that are indicators of extreme drought in the late Holocene. This study focused on deciphering the timing of reactivation of dunes in western Nebraska. Stratigraphy adjacent to dune-dammed lakes reveals aeolian sand separated by palaeosols, indicating mobilization of aeolian sand followed by landscape stability. The chronology of aeolian-sand depositional events is constrained using the luminescence-based, single aliquot regeneration method, providing resolution to relate dune movement to tree-ring and palaeolimnologic records of drought. There are at least a six aeolian depositional events in the past 1500 years, with apparent mean ages of 1390+130, 670 +70, 470 +40, 240 +40, 140 +20 and 70+10 yr. All study sites show evidence for aeolian accumulation in the twentieth century, potentially reflecting the 1930s drought. Significant aeolian activity is coincident with the tree-ring-identified sixteenth-century megadrought, indicating widespread landscape impacts.
Arbogast, A.F.1996: Stratigraphic evidence for late-Holocene aeolian sand mobilization and soil formation in south-central Kansas, USA . Journal of Arid Environments34, 403-414 .
2.
Bailey, S.D. , Wintle, A.G. , Duller, G.A.T. and Bristow, C.S.2001: Sand deposition during the last millennium at Aberffraw, Anglesey, North Wales as determined by OSL dating of quartz . Quaternary Science Reviews20, 701-704 .
3.
Ballarini, M. , Wallinga, J. , Murray, A.S. , van Heteren, S. , Oost, A.P. , Bos, A.J.J. and van Eijk, C.W.E.2003: Optical dating of young coastal dunes on a decadal time scale . Quaternary Science Reviews22, 1011-1017 .
4.
Benedict, J.B.1999: Effects of changing climate on game-animal and human use of the Colorado High Country (U.S.A.) since 1000 BC . Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research31, 1-15 .
Brady, N.C.1974: The nature and properties of soils. New York: Macmillan , 639-639 pp.
7.
Brady, R.G. 1989: Geology of the Quaternary dune sands in the eastern Major and southern Alfalfa counties. PhD Dissertation, Stillwater OK: Oklahoma State University, 340-340 pp.
8.
Busacca, A.J. , Beget, J.E. , Markewich, H.W. , Muhs, D. , Lancaster, N. and Sweeney, M.R.2004. Aeolian sediments. In Gillespie, A.R. , Porter, S.C. and Atwater, B.F. , editors, The Quaternary period in the United States. New York: Elsevier , 275-310.
9.
Clarke, M.L. and Rendell, H.M.2003: Late Holocene dune accretion and episodes of persistent drought in the Great Plains of northeastern Colorado . Quaternary Science Reviews22, 1051-1058 .
10.
Dean, W.1997: Rates, timing, and cyclicity of Holocene aeolian activity in north-central United States: evidence from varved lake sediments . Geology25, 331-334 .
11.
Dean, W.2002: A 1500-year record of climatic and environmental change in Elk Lake, Clearwater County, Minnesota-II: geochemistry, mineralogy, and stable isotopes . Journal of Paleolimnology27, 301-319 .
12.
Forman, S.L. and Pierson, J.2003: Formation of linear and parabolic dunes on the eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho in the nineteenth century . Geomorphology56, 189-200 .
13.
Forman, S.L. , Oglesby, R. , Markgraf, V. and Stafford, T.1995: Paleoclimatic significance of late Quatemary aeolian deposition on the Piedmont and High Plains, central United States . Global and Planetary Change11, 35-55 .
14.
Forman, S.L. , Oglesby, R. and Webb, R.S.2001: Temporal and spatial patterns of Holocene dune activity on the Great Plains of North America: megadroughts and climate links . Global and Planetary Change29, 1-29 .
15.
Fritz, S.C. , Ito, E. , Yu, Z. , Laird, K. and Engstrom, D.R.2000: Hydrologic variation in the northern Great Plains during the last two millennia . Quaternary Research53, 175-184 .
16.
Fye, F.K. , Stahle, D.W. and Cook, E.R.2003: Paleoclimatic analogs to twentieth-century moisture regimes across the United States . Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society84, 901-910 .
17.
Goble, R.J. , Mason, J.A. , Loope, D.B. , Swinehart, J.B. and Loope, D.B.2004: Optical and radiocarbon ages of stacked paleosols and dune sands in the Nebraska Sand Hills, USA . Quaternary Science Reviews23, 1173-1182 .
18.
Hall, S.A.1990: Channel trenching and climatic change in the southern U.S. Great Plains . Geology18, 342-345 .
19.
Holliday, V.T. , 2001: Stratigraphy and geochronology of upper Quaternary aeolian sand on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, United States . Geological Society of America Bulletin113, 88-108 .
20.
Hurt, D.R.1982: The Dust Bowl: an agricultural and social history. Chicago IL: Nelson-Hall , 214-214 pp.
21.
Loope, D.B. , Swinehart, J.B. and Mason, J.P.1995: Dune-dammed paelovalleys of the Nebraska Sand Hills: intrinsic versus climatic controls on the accumulation of lake and marsh sediments . Bulletin of the Geological Society of America107, 396-406 .
22.
Madole, R.F.1994: Stratigraphic evidence of desertification in the west-central Great Plains within the past 1000 yr . Geology22, 483-486 .
23.
Madole, R.F.1995: Spatial and temporal patterns of Late Quaternary aeolian deposition, eastern Colorado, U.S.A . Quaternary Science Reviews14, 155-178 .
24.
Mason, J.P. , Swinehart, J.B. and Loope, D.B.1997: Holocene history of lacustrine and marsh sediments in a dune-blocked drainage, southwestern Nebraska Sand Hills, U.S.A . Journal of Paleolimnology17, 67-83 .
25.
Mason, J.A. , Swinehart, J.B. , Goble, R.J. and Loope, D.B.2004: Late-Holocene dune activity linked to hydrological drought, Nebraska Sand Hills, USA . The Holocene14, 209-217 .
26.
Mejdahl, V. and Christiansen, H.H.1994: Procedures used for luminescence dating of sediments . Boreas13, 403-406 .
27.
Muhs, D.R. and Holliday, V.T.1995: Evidence of active dune sand on the Great-Plains in the 19th-century from accounts of early explorers . Quaternary Research43, 198-208 .
28.
Mubs, D.R. and Maat, P.B.1993: The potential response of aeolian sands to greenhouse warming and precipitation reduction of the Great Plains, of the U.S.A . Journal of Arid Environments25, 351-361 .
29.
Muhs, D. and Zarate, M.2001: Late Quaternary aeolian records of the Americas and their paleoclimatic significance. In Markgraf, V. , editor, Interhemispheric climate linkages. New York: Academic Press , 183-216.
30.
Muhs, D.R. , Stafford, T.W. , Been, J. , Mahan, S.A. , Burdett, J. , Skipp, G. and Rowland, Z.M.1997: Holocene aeolian activity in the Minot dune field, North Dakota . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences34, 1442-1459 .
31.
Muhs, D.R. , Stafford, T.W. , Swinehart, J.B. , Cowherd, S.D. , Mahan, S.A. , Bush, C.A. , Madole, R.F. and Matt, P.B.2001: Late Holocene dune activity in the mineralogically mature Nebraska Sand hills . Quaternary Research48, 162-176 .
32.
Murray, A.S. and Wintle, A.G.2000: Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol . Radiation Measurements32, 57-73 .
Prescott, J.R. and Hutton, J.T.1994: Cosmic ray contributions to dose rates for luminescence and ESR dating: large depths and long-term time variations . Radiation Measurements23, 497-500 .
35.
Sala, O.E. , Parton, W.J. , Joyce, L.A. and Laurenroth, W.K.1988: Primary production of the central grassland region of the United States . Ecology69, 40-45 .
36.
Schlesinger, W.H. , Reynolds, J.F. , Cunningham, G.L. , Huenneke, L.F. , Jarrel, W.M. , Virginia, R.A. and Whitford, W.M.1990: Biological feedbacks in global desertification . Science247, 1043-1048 .
37.
Stahle, D.W. , Cook, E.R. , Cleaveland, M.K. , Therrel, M.D. , Meko, D.M. , Grissino, H.D.Watson, E. and Luckman, B.H.2000: Treering data document sixteenth century megadrought over North America . EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union81, 121-121 .
38.
Stokes, S. and Swinehart, J.B.1997: Middleand late-Holocene dune reactivation in the Nebraska Sand Hills, USA . The Holocene7, 263-272 .
39.
Wolfe, S.A. , Huntley, D.J. and Ollerhead, J.1995: Recent and late Holocene sand dune activity in southwestern Saskatchewan . Current Research Geological Survey of Canada,1995B, 131-40 .
40.
Wolfe, S.A. , Huntley, D.J. , David, P.P. , Ollerhead, J. , Sauchyn, D.J. and MacDonald, G.M.2001: Late 18th century drought-induced sand dune activity, Great Sand Hills, Saskatchewan . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences38, 105-117 .
41.
Wolfe, S.A. , Ollerhead, J. and Lian, O.B.2002: Holocene aeolian activity in south-central Saskatchewan and the southern Canadian Prairies . Geographie physique et Quaternaire56, 215-27 .
42.
Woodhouse, C.A. and Overpeck, J.T.1998: 2000 years of drought variability in the central United States . Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society79, 2693-2714 .
43.
Woodhouse, C.A. , Lucas, J.J. and Brown, P.M.2002: Drought in the western Great Plains, 1845-56 . Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society83, 1485-1493 .
44.
Worster, D.1979: Dustbowl, the Southern Plains in the 1930s. New York: Oxford University Press , 277-277 pp.
