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Optical Dating of Holocene Dune Sands in the Ferris Dune Field, Wyoming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Stephen Stokes  and
David R. Gaylord
Stephen Stokes
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, and School of Geography, Oxford University, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OXI 3QJ, England
David R. Gaylord
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, 99164-2812
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Abstract

Optical dating of late Quaternary quartz dune sands from the Clear Creek portion of Ferris dune field, Wyoming, demonstrates the considerable potential of the technique as a chronostratigraphic tool. A sequence of radiocarbon-dated Holocene interdune strata permit optical dating of the intercalated dune sand to be tested; the concordance is good. The optical dates for the aeolian deposits not datable by radiocarbon suggest that aeolian sedimentation at Clear Creek peaked during two relatively short phases at ca. 8500 and 4000 yr B.P. The dates indicate that aeolian accumulation maxima (at least in the Clear Creek area) may not be synchronous with previously defined phases of marked aridity.

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Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , May 1993 , pp. 274 - 281
Copyright
University of Washington

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