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Detailed history of Holocene climate variability in Australia from dust records in peat cores
Abstract   Peer reviewed

Detailed history of Holocene climate variability in Australia from dust records in peat cores

Samuel K Marx, B S Kamber, H A McGowan and J Denholm
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol.73(13, Supplement 13), p.A843
Goldschmidt Conference: Challenges to Our Volatile Planet, 2009 (Davos, Switzerland, 21-Jun-2009–26-Jun-2009)
2009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2009.05.011
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2009.05.011View
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Abstract

Geochemistry dust peat cores deposition
We present 8 to 10 Ka long high-resolution records of Australian dust export extracted from peat cores in bogs from Australia's Snowy Mountains and from New Zealand. The dust deposition history is reconstructed from the weight of ash after peat ignition. We then determine the extended trace element chemistry on samples as small as 0.5 mg to discriminate between local sediment and far-transported dust. The origin of long-travelled dust is established using a provenance model to fingerprint the source regions from where dust was entrained [1, 2]. This is achieved by matching the chemistry of dust with that from a database of samples collected from the major dust source regions in Australia (n = 220). This is possible due to the remarkable homogeneity of trace elements within Australia's many inland basins. Variability in the rates and sources of dust deposition through time are used to infer patterns of aridity, and climate variability through the Holocene. In the younger layers of peat, the deposition of anthropogenic aerosols also records a detailed history of European settlement in Australia, tracking early European development and industrialization, as well as the advent of intensive agriculture.

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