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A 10,000 year record of dune activity, dust storms, and severe drought in the central Great Plains

¹ Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin, 160 Science Hall, 550 North Park St., Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
² Department of Geosciences and Conservation and Survey Division, University of Nebraska, 214 Bessey Hall, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, USA
³ State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710075, China

Dune fields and loess deposits of the Great Plains of North America contain stratigraphic records of eolian activity that can be used to extend the short observational record of drought. We present a 10,000 yr reconstruction of dune activity and dust production in the central Great Plains region, based on 95 optically stimulated luminescence ages. The integration of data from both eolian sand and loess is an important new aspect of this record. Clusters of ages define episodes of extensive eolian activity, which we interpret as a response to frequent severe drought, at 1.0–0.7 ka and 2.3–4.5 ka (with peaks centered on 2.5 and 3.8 ka); sustained eolian activity occurred from 9.6 to 6.5 ka. Parts of this record may be consistent with hypotheses linking Holocene drought to sea surface temperature anomalies in the Pacific or Atlantic oceans, or to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon, but the record as a whole is difficult to reconcile with any of these hypotheses.

Key Words: drought • eolian sand • loess • OSL dating • Great Plains • Holocene • Medieval Climate Anomaly

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