CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : David, P.P., Wolfe, S.A., Huntley, D.J., and Lemmen, D.S.
Date : 1999.
Title : Activity cycle of parabolic dunes based on morphology and chronology from Seward sand hills, Saskatchewan.
Publication : Holocene Climate and Environmental Change in the Palliser Triangle: a geoscientific context for evaluating the impacts of climate change on the southern Canadian Prairies; Edited by: Lemmen, D.S. and Vance, R.E. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin
Issue : 534
Page(s) : 223-238.
Abstract
Morphologic and chronological data are used to develop a conceptual model of parabolic sand dune reactivation and stabilization in response to changing climate, referred to as an activity cycle. The duration of an activity cycle is controlled by moisture availability. Optical ages from the back ridges and dune-track ridges of adjacent dunes in Seward sand hills demonstrate that the last cycle occurred during the nineteenth century. Ages of ridges behind the smaller of two dunes appear congruous, becoming older with depth and younger downwind, whereas those from the larger dune record depositional events subsequent to the formation of major morphological features. Initial rates of dune advance were rapid in response to climatic stress accumulated in the dunes. Water table fluctuations interrupted dune migration at least four times, producing dune-track ridges. Rates of advance following formation of the first dune-track ridge averaged about 2.2 m a-1, similar to those of presently active dunes in the region.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology