A 200,000-year record of late Quaternary Aeolian sedimentation on the Southern High Plains and nearby Pecos River Valley, USA

Presently stabilized Southern High Plains (SHP) dune systems have been repeatedly re-activated during the past 200,000 years, providing an archive of environmental and related climatic change for the late Quaternary. Our data set of 38 optically dated samples from four different localities identifies eolian activity from late-middle Pleistocene to the historic period. Oldest eolian sediments are from the Blackwater Draw Formation and indicate accretion during late-middle to late Pleistocene. Younger sediments dating from the later Pleistocene through the Holocene are found in the Muleshoe, Lea-Yoakum, Mescalero, and Monahans dunes that overlie the Blackwater Draw Formation. Muleshoe dunes accreted during the Late Pleistocene between 31 ± 3 and 27 ± 2 ka, while Holocene deposition transpired 7.5 ± 0.4, 4.0 ± 0.7 ka through 3.6 ± 0.4 ka, and between 1.3 ± 0.2 and 1.1 ± 0.1 ka. A period of dune building for Lea-Yoakum dune sediments occurred during the late Pleistocene (48 ± 5 ka), and the later Holocene (3.6 ± 0.4 ka). Mescalero and Monahans dunes were accreting during the later Pleistocene between 29 ± 3 and 22 ± 2 ka followed by a sequence of eolian sand deposited ca. 15 ka. Holocene eolian sedimentation for the Mescalero and Monahans dunes occurred 7.5 ± 0.8, 5.1 ± 0.5, 4.3 ± 0.4, and 2.0 ± 0.3 ka. Historic eolian deposition is identifiable in the dune chronology with multiple optical age estimates overlapping established drought events recorded ca. 1890, 1910, 1920, and during the 1930’s when the North American “Dust Bowl” transpired. These Quaternary eolian deposits mantling the Southern High Plains are an important component of the surficial material of the region and provide a rich archive of past climatic change.

Research highlights
► Southern High Plains (SHP) dunes reactivated Pleistocene through historic time.
► Later Pleistocene dune activity on SHP occurred in a punctuated manner.
► Seven dune sedimentation episodes recognized throughout SHP during Holocene.
► SHP dune deposits coincident with drought episodes ca. 1890, 1910, 1920, and 1930.
► SHP Blackwater Draw Formation accreted during Pleistocene and ceased ca. 34 ± 7 ka.