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Late-Pleistocene Eolian Sand Sheets in Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Peter D. Lea  and
Christopher F. Waythomas
Peter D. Lea
Affiliation:
Geology Department and Arctic Studies Center Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine 04011 USA
Christopher F. Waythomas
Affiliation:
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309 USA
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Abstract

Nonglaciated lowlands in central and southwestern Alaska contain extensive deposits of upper-Quaternary eolian sand, derived largely from major outwash rivers. Although surface dunes are common, deep exposures consistently reveal that subhorizontally stratified sand and silt deposits dominate over dune cross strata. We hypothesize that (1) many of the subhorizontally stratified deposits represent full-glacial eolian sand sheets, formed when sand supply was limited by seasonally variable combinations of ice cementation, snow cover, high groundwater tables, and vegetation, and (2) many surface dunes reflect late-glacial and postglacial reworking under conditions of increased short-term availability of loose sand. The morphology of some surface dunes may therefore reflect mainly the intensity of reworking since the last glacial maximum, rather than full-glacial paleowind vectors or the age of the bulk of the underlying deposits.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , November 1990 , pp. 269 - 281
Copyright
University of Washington

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