Developing a protocol for selecting and dating sandy sites in East Central Texas: Preliminary results

Vast areas of East Central Texas are overlain by deep unconsolidated sands, previously assumed to have been formed by in situ weathering and pedoturbation of the bedrock. This hypothesis would imply that palaeoenvironmental and archaeological reconstructions are of limited value. However, recent research has hinted that some elements of the landscape may have undergone repeated phases of erosion and redeposition, suggesting firstly that a reliable record of past environmental conditions may be gleaned from these deposits, and secondly that optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) may provide the key to unlocking this record. This research examines the depositional history of sites shown to provide a reliable chronology. Dates from these sites show that aeolian deposition occurred in East Central Texas at a number of times during the Holocene and Late Glacial, whilst three episodes of gullying occurred between approximately 123,000 and 44,000 years ago. The concordance of some of these results indicates that some phases of deposition may be regional.