Mid-to late-Holocene coastal dune event stratigraphy for the north coast of Northern Ireland

Abstract

An event stratigraphy of dune stability/instability phases has been reconstructed, using 22 radiocarbon and 13 luminescence dates, for six dunefields along the north coast of Northern Ireland. There is no evidence for dune development prior to ċ. 7000 cal. years BP, during the early-Holocene rapid rise in RSL, and only limited evidence for sand accumulation in association with the RSL maximum. Dunefield dates correspond to either the subsequent regressive phase or, later, the gradual transgressive phase of RSL history in the mid-and late Holocene. At these times accommodation space for dune development and sediment supply were maximized. Episodes of climatic deterioration, particularly at 3100–2400 cal. years BP and 650–50 cal. years BP (the‘Little Ice Age’) were marked by widespread dune instability. A similar coincidence in timing has been recorded for dune systems elsewhere in northwestern Europe and is generally attributed to an increased frequency of storms and storm surges associated with the climatic downturns. However, between-site inconsistencies in the event stratigraphy suggest that site-specific factors (e.g., sediment availability) had a modulating influence on dune regional controls.

Holocene sea level fluctuations and coastal evolution in the central Algarve (southern Portugal)

“…Storminess was also pointed as an important process on dune development between 1770 and 1905 AD at the western Portuguese coast probably correlated with negative North Atlantic Oscillation index winter (Clarke and Rendell, 2006). The research developed by Wilson et al (2004) at the north coast of Northern Ireland aiming to correlate coastal dunefields development with sea level and climatic changes concluded that sea level change was the first-order forcing factor with superimposed climatic deterioration, some of which marking dunefield activity occurred.…”

Climate control on late Holocene high-energy sedimentation along coasts of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean

“…Onshore, HSPs are associated with the widespread formation of massive aeolian dune fields and coversands stretching along the coasts of western Europe (Alexanderson and Bernhardson, 2016;Bateman and Godby, 2004;Clarke et al, 2002;Clarke and Rendell, 2006;Clemmensen et al, 1996;Clemmensen and Murray, 2006;Clemmensen et al, 2009;Costas et al, 2013Costas et al, , 2012Costas et al, , 2016Gilbertson et al, 1999;Jelgersma et al, 1995;Nielsen et al, 2016;Sommerville et al, 2007;van Vliet-Lanoë et al, 2016;Wilson and Braley, 1997;Wilson et al, 2004), also recorded as the deposition of thin windblown quartz layers over soils (Jackson et al, 2005) and peat bogs (Björck and Clemmensen, 2004;de Jong et al, 2006de Jong et al, , 2007Kylander et al, 2016;Orme et al, 2015Orme et al, , 2016Sjögren, 2009;Tisdall et al, 2013). Aeolian activity was initiated during the last glacial termination (Costas et al, 2016) that gave rise to the periglacial "European Sand Belt" (Zeeberg, 2008), the most recent phase of dune formation being the LIA.…”

Centennial climate variability in the British Isles during the mid–late Holocene

“…Hebrides (Gilbertson et al, 1999) and 3400-2400 cal yr BP in Northern Ireland (Wilson et al, 2004) are more secure, but suggest patterns of dune formation may not have been synchronous during earlier times. The multi-centennial nature of the phases of dune formation means that all of them tend to overlap both wet and dry periods in the more highly resolved P-E records.…”