Speleogenesis in aeolian calcarenite: A case study in western Victoria

Most studies of karst landscapes and their processes have been concerned with consolidated, often well-jointed limestones. There are particular problems involved in the study of karst procesess in softer, less-compact limestones such as chalk, coral reefs, and aeolian calcarenite. Previous studies in aeolian calcarenite indicated these problems and a scheme was developed of speleogenesis in aeolian calcarenite. A study of karst processes in aeolian calcarenite at Bats Ridge in western Victoria has developed this scheme further. The karst features and processes at Bats Ridge are an integral part of the landscape of a mid-Pleistocene calcarenite dune system. The resolution of problems of the rapid subaerial speleogenesis in the area is achieved by the synthesis of the known karst features of the ridge and the geology and geomorphology of the area. Karst development on this aeolianite ridge depends on lithological conditions as well as the availability of aggressive water capable of solution. The diagenesis of the calcarenite is occurring now and must have been occurring by the mid-Pleistocene. This simultaneous lithification of the carbonate dunes into aeolian calcarenite rock and the development of solutional karst features in the dunes is the characteristic feature of the speleogenesis in this area. It is the formation of a hardened kankar layer (cap rock) in the dunes of sufficient compressive and tensile strength to support cavities, which is the result of these interrelated factors, that has strongly determined the formation of the karst features.     

Patterns in the sand: A pleistocene hominin signature along the South African coastline?

The Cape south coast of South Africa boasts one of the richest Middle Stone Age (MSA) archaeological records in the world. Here coastal caves and rock shelters contain well-documented archives of early humans, including early evidence of human adornment and jewelry, rock engraving and rock paSabstextinting. It has been suggested that palaeoenvironmental conditions in the area were critical to the survival of the human species. Humans travelled over dune surfaces, interdune areas and beaches during this period. These are now preserved as palaeosurfaces in aeolianites and cemented foreshore deposits, through which the ancient landscapes can be interpreted. Such contemporary sand surfaces may have formed potential canvases on which foraging behaviour or the creation of patterns or symbols could have been recorded. We question whether MSA humans left evidence of their presence other than their footprints when moving over these surfaces, and if so, whether such evidence can be discerned and interpreted today, as a hominin signature preserved in exposures of aeolianite and cemented foreshore deposits. We discuss other agents that could have caused similar patterns, and we consider the merits of eight sites that we have identified on the Cape south coast. In combination they encapsulate the complexity, challenges and potential of such study. We conclude that evidence at some of these sites suggests an anthropic origin, potentially constituting a previously undocumented form of MSA hominin expression and activity.     

Morphology, mineralogy and magnetic susceptibility of epikarst-Terra Rossa developed in late Quaternary aeolianite deposits of southeastern Saurashtra, India

The nature and development of epikarst and soil development in aeolianites under a monsoonal climatic regime has not yet been described. Late Quaternary aeolianites of the southeastern coast of Saurashtra in western India show a wide array of epikarst and red-soil formation, and serve to typify the character of aeolianite weathering under a monsoonal climate. Three varieties of epikarst are identified that represent down-profile increase in groundwater flow. Five types of Terra Rossae represent a transition from the karstified limestone to soil development. Terra Rossae differ in the content of residual aeolianite and show both simple and complex profiles. The latter at places shows ped development. The results show that an ontogenetic (growth) sequence exists from incipient epikarst to complex palaeosols. This ontogenetic sequence represents an incremental increase in the groundwater budget of the region in response to changing intensification of the Indian monsoon rainfall. Magnetic properties of the Terra Rossae formed under a monsoonal climate are described for the first time. The magnetic susceptibility together with its frequency-dependent and anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM) represents both the concentration of single domain and ultrafine superparamagnetic (SP) magnetite. The formation of single domain and superparamagnetic magnetite and hematite are linked genetically to weathering of the aeolianite that leads to the formation of Terra Rossa.     

Developing a 150 ka luminescence chronology for the barrier dunes of the southern Cape, South Africa

The southern coastline of South Africa exhibits extensive aeolianites and spectacular barrier dunes; the ages and palaeoenvironmental significance of which have, until recently, received limited attention. We present preliminary results for samples taken from a single 6.5 m section in the seaward barrier dune near to the town of Wilderness. The reliability of these ages has been investigated using a series of dose recovery and pulsed irradiation experiments, as well as through analyses of single aliquot and single grain D_e distributions. Results indicate that the SAR protocol is providing accurate and precise D_e determinations and that adequate sensitivity correction is being made. The application of pulsed irradiations does not result in significant changes in the dose–response curves or averaged D_e's. Single grain D_e distributions are broad, with significant levels of overdispersion, which may reflect beta dose heterogeneity effects.

Peaks in aeolian activity date to 157–154 and 140–125 ka, with a slower rate of deposition recorded from 115 to 85 ka. Brief phases at 40 and 21 ka are also identified. Some ages, notably those from OIS 3 and OIS 2, are surprising from a geomorphological perspective, given the likely distance of the dune from the shoreline at such times, although they are not inconsistent with evidence from the east coast of South Africa. The results reveal multiple phases of Late Quaternary barrier dune accumulation, and suggest that aeolian activity in this region has been episodic and potentially more complex than previously thought.     

Shelf habitat distribution as a legacy of Late Quaternary marine transgressions: A case study from a tropical carbonate province

The legacy of multiple marine transgressions is preserved in a complex morphology of ridges, mounds and reefs on the Carnarvon continental shelf, Western Australia. High-resolution multibeam sonar mapping, underwater photography and sampling across a 280 km² area seaward of the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area shows that these raised features provide hardground habitat for modern coral and sponge communities. Prominent among these features is a 20 m high and 15 km long shore-parallel ridge at 60 m water depth. This ridge preserves the largely unaltered form of a fringing reef and is interpreted as the predecessor to modern Ningaloo Reef. Landward of the drowned reef, the inner shelf is covered by hundreds of mounds (bommies) up to 5 m high and linear ridges up to 1.5 km long and 16 m high. The ridges are uniformly oriented to the north-northeast and several converge at their landward limit. On the basis of their shape and alignment, these ridges are interpreted as relict long-walled parabolic dunes. Their preservation is attributed to cementation of calcareous sands to form aeolianite, prior to the post-glacial marine transgression. Some dune ridges abut areas of reef that rise to sea level and are highly irregular in outline but maintain a broad shore-parallel trend. These are tentatively interpreted as Last Interglacial in age. The mid-shelf and outer shelf are mostly sediment covered with relatively low densities of epibenthic biota and have patches of low-profile ridges that may also be relict reef shorelines. An evolutionary model for the Carnarvon shelf is proposed that relates the formation of drowned fringing reefs and aeolian dunes to Late Quaternary eustatic sea level.     

Pleistocene aeolianites at Cape Spencer,South Australia; record of a vanished inner neritic cool‐water carbonate factory

Aeolianites are integral components of many modern and ancient carbonate depositional systems. Southern Australia contains some of the most impressive and extensive late Cenozoic aeolianites in the modern world. Pleistocene aeolianites on Yorke Peninsula are sculpted into imposing seacliffs up to 60 m high and comprise two distinct imposing complexes of the Late Pleistocene Bridgewater Formation. The lower aeolianite complex, which forms the bulk of the cliffs, is a series of stacked palaeodunes and intervening palaeosols. The diagenetic low Mg‐calcite sediment particles are mostly bivalves, echinoids, bryozoans and small benthic foraminifera. This association is similar to sediments forming offshore today on the adjacent shelf in a warm‐temperate ocean. By contrast, the upper aeolianite complex is a series of mineralogically metastable biofragmental carbonates in a succession of stacked lenticular palaeodunes with impressive interbedded calcretes and palaeosols. Bivalves, geniculate coralline algae and benthic foraminifera, together with sparse peloids and ooids, dominate sediment grains. Fragments of large benthic foraminifera including Marginopora vertebralis, a photosymbiont‐bearing protist, are particularly conspicuous. Palaeocean temperatures are interpreted as having been sub‐tropical, somewhat warmer than offshore carbonate factories in the region today. The older aeolianite complex is tentatively correlated with Marine Isotope Stage 11, whereas the upper complex is equivalent to Marine Isotope Stage 5e. Marine Isotope Stage 5e deposits exposed elsewhere in southern Australia (Glanville Formation) are distinctive with a subtropical biota, including Marginopora vertebralis. Thus, in this example, palaeodune sediment faithfully records the nature of the adjacent inner neritic carbonate factory. By inference, aeolianites are potential repositories of information about the nature of long‐vanished marine systems that have been removed due to erosion, tectonic obliteration or are inaccessible in the subsurface. Such information includes not only the nature of marine environments themselves but also palaeoceanography.