Archean to Recent aeolian sand systems and their sedimentary record: Current understanding and future prospects

Abstract

The sedimentary record of aeolian sand systems extends from the Archean to the Quaternary, yet current understanding of aeolian sedimentary processes and product remains limited. Most preserved aeolian successions represent inland sand-sea or dunefield (erg) deposits, whereas coastal systems are primarily known from the Cenozoic. The complexity of aeolian sedimentary processes and facies variability are under-represented and excessively simplified in current facies models, which are not sufficiently refined to reliably account for the complexity inherent in bedform morphology and migratory behaviour, and therefore cannot be used to consistently account for and predict the nature of the preserved sedimentary record in terms of formative processes. Archean and Neoproterozoic aeolian successions remain poorly constrained. Palaeozoic ergs developed and accumulated in relation to the palaeogeographical location of land masses and desert belts. During the Triassic, widespread desert conditions prevailed across much of Europe. During the Jurassic, extensive ergs developed in North America and gave rise to anomalously thick aeolian successions. Cretaceous aeolian successions are widespread in South America, Africa, Asia, and locally in Europe (Spain) and the USA. Several Eocene to Pliocene successions represent the direct precursors to the presentday systems. Quaternary systems include major sand seas (ergs) in low-lattitude and mid-latitude arid regions, Pleistocene carbonate and Holocene-Modern siliciclastic coastal systems. The sedimentary record of most modern aeolian systems remains largely unknown. The majority of palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of aeolian systems envisage transverse dunes, whereas successions representing linear and star dunes remain under-recognized. STATE OF THE SCIENCEtemporal transition between different mechanisms of accumulation and preservation; and (iv) is it reasonable to assume that the deposits of preserved aeolian successions necessarily represent an unbiased record of the conditions that prevailed during episodes of Earth history when large-scale aeolian systems were active, or has the evidence to support the existence of other major desert basins been lost for many periods throughout Earth history?

Strongly seasonal Proterozoic glacial climate in low palaeolatitudes: Radically different climate system on the pre-Ediacaran Earth

“…The Whyalla Sandstone and the Bakoye 3 Formation are the only known examples of preCenozoic periglacial dunefields (Rodríguez-López et al, 2014).…”

Eolianite Grain Size Distributions as a Proxy for Large Changes in Planetary Atmospheric Density

“…However, the timing of deposition is not clearly constrained and broadly between the Neoarchean and Paleoproterozoic at around 2.5 Ga. Unfortunately, there are very few other identified Archean eolianites deposited near the time of the paleopressure measurements available in the literature, and most other known Precambrian eolianites are Proterozoic in age (Rodriguez‐Lopez et al, ).…”

Facies control on seismites in an alluvial–aeolian system: The Pliocene dunefield of the Teruel half-graben basin (eastern Spain)

“…Aeolian dunefields constitute sensitive depositional systems in which allocyclic controls are normally well recorded if an effective preservation of accumulated aeolian climbing system occurs (Rodríguez-López et al, 2014). The Pliocene aeolian dunefield of the Teruel Basin constitutes an excellent example of a synrift aeolian system associated with a variable phreatic level and intermittently affected by floods.…”