Relative Age Dating of an Inland Dunefield in Eastern Lower Michigan, Using SoilData

摘要

A variety of inactive sand dunes are present in the Saginaw Lowland of eastcentral lower Michigan, far inland (>50 km) from the modern shorezone of Lake Huron. The dunes are parabolic, have northwesterly oriented limbs, and overlie glacio-lacustrine sediments approximately 12,000 years old. Thus, the dunes must be post glacial landforms. Using soils data (e.g., morphology, chemistry), Arbogast et al. (in press) suggested that dunes in three fields in the northern and western parts of the region last stabilized between 10 and 4 ka. This investigation examines previously unstudied dunes in the Deford State Game Area of Tuscola County, located in the southeastern part of the Saginaw Lowland, which could have stabilized concurrently with dunes to the northwest. To test this hypothesis, 19 surface soils (Entic Haplorthods) on dune crests were morphologically and chemically analyzed and compared to the surface soils in the nearby dunefields. Although results suggest concurrent stabilization of the dunes within the Deford area, the data imply that the dunes stabilized before the other lowland dunefields.