Reconstructing the timing, flux, and source of Last Glacial loess accumulation in the North American midcontinent

Details Reconstructing the timing, flux, and source of Last Glacial loess accumulation in the North American midcontinent Reconstructing the timing, flux, and source of Last Glacial loess accumulation in the North American midcontinent

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmpp13a1416r&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #PP13A-1416

Other

1105 Quaternary Geochronology, 1637 Regional Climate Change, 3337 Global Climate Models (1626, 4928), 3344 Paleoclimatology (0473, 4900), 9350 North America

Scientific paper

Terrigenous dust can be both a product and an agent of climate change. Ice core records show increased levels of continental dust during glacial periods compared to interglacials, with exceptional levels of dust being recorded during the last glacial maximum (LGM). The terrestrial deposits of wind blown dust known as loess also support these observations, preserving records of changes in climate and in atmospheric circulation, and documenting the changing sources and flux of dust over time. The greatest thicknesses of Last Glacial loess yet identified are preserved in the North American midcontinent, and termed "Peoria Loess". On the basis of thickness alone, these Peoria Loess deposits suggest high dust accumulation rates during the Last Glacial period across a large area of North America. Using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, we show that mass accumulation rates (MARs) for Peoria Loess in Nebraska and western Iowa are much higher than any other pre-Holocene location worldwide, and that these MARs fluctuate over time. The loess deposits at these sites are derived from both glacigenic and non-glacigenic sources. A combination of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and geochemistry is employed, providing a powerful tool for the reconstruction of what prove to be dramatic changes in the timing, flux, and source of dust; this information is important for the validation of models evaluating the role of dust in climate change. These loess records may not only serve as passive testimony to the response of dust to climate change, but may also provide evidence to support the active role of dust in forcing climate change.

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