The age of the palaeodunefield of the northern Murray Basin in South Australia: Preliminary results

Abstract

A vast field of old desert dunes extends from northwestern Eyre Peninsula, across Yorke Peninsula and the northern Adelaide Plains into the Murray Basin and northwestern Victoria. There are patches of parabolic forms but the sand ridges under review are of seif, linear or longitudinal type. They trend NW-SE in the west and west-east in the east. Here, we record luminescence dates for three dune sites in the Waikerie district of the northwestern Murray Basin. They range from, respectively, 151-25.3 ka, 157-33.3 ka, and a basal age of 59.6 ka, with sand movement also indicated around 1906 and 1933 CE. Apart from the last named, no unconformities are discernible in the sampled sections. Show more