Late Quaternary aeolian activity in the Southern Africa

Within both the winter and summer rainfall zones of Southern Africa are a range of geomorphic features indicative of aeolian activity, many of which are not presently active. Establishing the timing and regional significance of phases of activity will inform debates about the timing and extent of major Late Quaternary rainfall zone shifts, coastline reconfigurations and environments associated with the emergence of modern humans. This work has formed the basis of over 20 printed journal articles with past funding from Leverhulme Trust.

Key outcomes

An understanding of sediment 'memory' and dune dynamic responses to climate changes is critical for the extension of palaeoenvironmental records to incorporate multiple phases of aridity within specific regions.
That complex environmental responses of dunes to climate can only be understood through the integration of humid-arid palaeorecords using detailed site investigations and lacustrine/marine - aeolian sedimentary interfaces.
In the southern Cape coastal area there is the potential to integrate aeolian dynamics into the wider regional climatic and the archaeological record of early modern people.
Past sea-level fluctuations and coastal reconfigurations have had a major impact on dune dynamics in the southern Cape coastline of South africa over at least two glacial-interglacial cycles.

Coastal barrier dune Gullying

Schematic model of the Mid-Late Quaternary evolution

Late Quaternary aeolian activity in the Southern Africa

Key outcomes

Recent papers